TBGS 2022 STT test Results for 2023 grammar school admissions.
Dear Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools,
Please provide me with the TBGS STT feeder school results for the test taken in 2022 for entry in September 2023. Please provide the information in an Excel file format which includes the following column headings:
Count,
Feeder primary school area,
Home LA,
Feeder primary school,
STTS score,
Weighted standardised Maths score
Weighted standardised Non-verbal score
Weighted standardised Verbal score
Grammar school required
SR Status - qualified at review?
Yours faithfully,
Derek Berry
Dear Mr Berry
Thank you for your email. You have requested information concerning the
2023 entry Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test. We are unable to
provide the data requested because this information is not yet complete
and is not due to be published until Autumn 2023. This information is
therefore subject to a Section 22 (future publication) exemption under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Under FOIA, Section 22 is a qualified exemption. This means that, even if
the requested information falls within it, the public authority must go on
to consider whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption is
greater than the public interest in disclosing the information. Where the
public interest is equally balanced, the authority must disclose the
requested information.
TBGS publishes a considerable amount of test data on the website for each
Secondary Transfer Test. This can be found on our website test data pages:
[1]https://www.thebucksgrammarschools.org/t.... The data sets are
produced for TBGS by our contracted Test Administrator, Buckinghamshire
Council at three stages in the annual testing process. The tests are
usually taken in September and we publish two sets of provisional data
just after results are released in October showing the number of children
who have taken the test, where they come from and the distribution of
scores. The following Spring we publish provisional information about how
many children have been allocated to each grammar school and which LA they
come from. Finally, in the Autumn that the children start at grammar
school we publish final data sets which confirm grammar school allocations
and locations and also separate pupil level data sets linking Secondary
Transfer Test Scores to feeder school, gender, ethnicity, weighted scores,
and date of birth.
In considering whether it is in the public interest to release the
information for 2023 entry requested, we took into account the fact that
the information that TBGS publishes on a routine basis throughout the year
is in the public interest (which is why it is proactively published), but
it is published at the point where it is finalised so that a complete and
accurate picture is provided. We also took account of the fact that
releasing incomplete information could be extremely misleading because
changes in the data can be quite significant. As TBGS cannot find any
clear public interest in releasing the incomplete data early, the public
interest in withholding the data until the point at which it is complete,
accurate and has been reviewed outweighs any arguments for release.
Kind regards
Mark Sturgeon
Chair
The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools
Dear TBGS,
Dear Mr. Sturgeon.
Thanks for your response my FOI. I can appreciate that it is possible the information in the format that I have requested may not yet be available. I am happy to receive the information in the way that TBGS possesses the requested data. In the meantime, please provide me with the following simplified data limited to the Buckinghamshire feeder school results. Please provide the STT results for each Buckinghamshire feeder school.
I trust that TBGS will appreciate that this information is important for parents and families to understand the context and objectivity of the STT information at an appropriate time.
Please provide the following information:
Results of the September 2022 STT for the 2023 entry.
The feeder school name.
The number of pupils tested
The number of pupils that passed with a score of 121 or greater.
The number of pupils who were assessed as suitable for a GS place by the review process.
Yours sincerely
Derek Berry
Yours sincerely,
Derek Berry
Dear Mr Berry
As I stated in my previous response to you on 20 December, TBGS will be
publishing the information you have requested in Autumn 2023 when the data
is complete. In my previous response I also provided you with a full
explanation as to why the information is subject to a S22 exemption and
why TBGS believes it is not in the public interest to publish any of it
early.
Kind regards
Mark Sturgeon
Chair
The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools
Dear TBGS,
Thanks for your reply. The freedom of Information act includes the requirement that a public body should consider whether "it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in paragraph (a)."
I am requesting that TBGS carry out an internal review of the reasons for delaying the feeder school results as you currently do.
There is a significant public interest for parents to have full disclosure of the Feeder school results as soon as they become available. Withholding this information until after the STT candidates are already attending their assigned Grammar or Secondary Modern schools is not a reasonable delay.
Yours sincerely,
Derek Berry
Dear Mr Berry
We have carried out an internal review of our handling of your request.
The outcome of that is attached.
If you are not content with our response you have the right to lodge a
complaint with the UK supervisory body, the Information Commissioner’s
Office (the ICO) here:- [1]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Kind regards
Mark Sturgeon
Chair
The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools
Dear TBGS,
Please provide me with copies of the minutes of the meetings at which:
1. TBGS discussed whether it would be “reasonable in all circumstances to withhold the information until the intended dates.”.
2. TBGS discussed and evaluated the public interest in publishing the full details of the STT results as soon as they become available.
3. TBGS made the decision to withhold the feeder school data until the intended dates.
Yours Faithfully
Derek Berry
Dear Mr Berry
Further to your email of 23 February, I can confirm that the information
requested is not held by TBGS. This is because no meetings were held to
discuss these matters.
Yours faithfully
Mark Sturgeon
Chair
The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools
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