Department of Education, Sport and Culture
17 FOI requests | Full disclosure rate: 1382.4%
The Freedom of Information requests to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture reveal an authority deeply entangled in the controversy of the St Thomas' Primary School co-location proposal. A significant portion of the casework (over 14 related cases) focuses on this issue, where the Department frequently employed a 'practical refusal' or 'already public' defense to withhold decision-making correspondence (e.g., 354839, 354847), while simultaneously disclosing granular data on pupil catchments (354959) and the fact that the school paid no rent (467435). This pattern suggests a strategy of transparency on operational metrics but obstruction on political and strategic deliberations. The data also exposes a complex relationship between the state and religious groups; while the Department confirmed regular visits by the Child Evangelism Fellowship (354861), it actively blocked access for the abortion reform group HEAR (354831), highlighting a selective gatekeeping of external influences in schools.
Key Cases
Case 354861 — Reveals the systematic presence of the Child Evangelism Fellowship in Isle of Man schools, providing a detailed breakdown of visit frequencies, which raises questions about the separation of church and state in public education.
Case 354831 — Discloses a specific incident where the abortion reform group HEAR attempted to access pupils at St Mary's School and was declined, offering a rare glimpse into the Department's vetting of controversial external groups.
Case 361143 — Highlights a significant administrative error and subsequent correction regarding public objections to the St Thomas' co-location (initially 403 signatures, corrected to 413), demonstrating the volatility of the consultation process.
Case 467435 — Confirms that St Thomas' School paid zero rent to the Department for the building, parking, and playgrounds over three years, a crucial financial fact in the debate over the school's viability and the co-location proposal.
Case 354883 — Discloses that eight unqualified teachers were employed in training roles across four secondary schools, raising concerns about the quality of education and staffing standards during the 2016/17 academic year.
Related FOI Stories
The St Thomas' Co-location Saga — #354839, #354847, #354849, #358135, #354867
Home Education and Legal Enforcement — #354833, #354857, #354875, #358137, #354911
School Performance Data and Statistical Gaps — #354791, #354801, #354809, #354815, #354925
Religious Influence and External Visits — #354851, #354831, #354861, #354877, #512133
Staffing, Employment, and Discipline — #354805, #354813, #354883, #354945, #354947
| Date | Title | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-19 | Tribal / Etio External Validation Reports | Upheld - partial |
| The requester sought inspection dates, report publication dates, and page counts for Tribal/Etio external validations of Isle of Man schools from 2024, along with scheduled dates for unassessed schools. The authority partially upheld the request by directing the user to a public website for inspection and summary publication dates but withheld full report details and page counts citing the need to protect the integrity of the validation process and staff wellbeing. | ||
| 2025-03-31 | Headteachers' Reports to Governing Bodies (Selected Schools) | Upheld - partial |
| The request sought Headteachers' Reports for Island Secondary and Executive Primary Schools for the 2023-24 academic year, and the response partially upheld the request by disclosing the January 2024 report for Castle Rushen High School. | ||
| 2025-02-17 | School capacity | Upheld - partial |
| A requester sought data on school capacities, mobile classroom usage, and replacement plans across the Isle of Man, resulting in a partial disclosure of mobile classroom inventories but withholding specific capacity figures and strategic planning details. | ||
| 2025-01-28 | External validation reports | Upheld - partial |
| The requester sought full external validation reports and the quality assurance framework for schools, but the Department of Education, Sport and Culture only provided parent information leaflets and links to other government reports. The Information Commissioner upheld the request partially, ruling that the exemptions cited for withholding the full reports were inappropriate. | ||
| 2024-12-03 | External Validators | Upheld - partial |
| A requester asked for full external validation reports and the quality assurance framework used by Tribal for Manx schools since January 2024, but the Department of Education, Sport and Culture only provided parent summaries. The Information Commissioner upheld the complaint partially, ruling that exemptions for personal data and future publication were incorrectly applied to the withheld documents. | ||
| 2024-12-03 | Access Arrangements - External Examinations 2023-24 | Upheld - partial |
| A request was made for access arrangement policies and statistics for external examinations across Isle of Man secondary schools for the 2023-24 academic year. The Department of Education partially upheld the request, providing some policies and data while citing that certain information was not held or was already publicly accessible. | ||
| 2024-06-03 | IG 2029 Bid Document | Upheld - partial |
| A request was made for the Isle of Man's 2029 Island Games bid documents, drafts, and internal feedback, resulting in a partial disclosure of venue capabilities and technical official statistics. | ||
| 2023-11-27 | Latest Financial Accounts for the National Sports Centre | Upheld - partial |
| 2022-08-17 | Impact of Industrial Action by teachers | Upheld - partial |
| 2021-11-30 | GCSE and Other External Examination Attainment 2021 | Upheld - partial |
| A request for detailed 2020-21 GCSE and external examination attainment data for Isle of Man state secondary schools was partially upheld, resulting in the disclosure of subject-specific grade breakdowns and Average Point Scores (APS). | ||
| 2019-04-16 | Home Education Numbers | Upheld - partial |
| The request sought current home education statistics and details on children removed from the register, including ages and compulsory school status. The Department disclosed total family and child counts but withheld specific age data for removed children due to prior deletion of records following parental requests. | ||
| 2019-02-25 | Drafting instructions for the new Education Bill | Upheld - partial |
| A request was made for drafting instructions, correspondence, and legal advice regarding the new Education Bill, specifically concerning increased departmental powers and human rights impacts. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture partially upheld the request, releasing extracts of drafting instructions, correspondence, and draft bill text, while withholding specific legal advice and impact studies. | ||
| 2018-11-07 | GCSE attainment at KS4 - 2017/28 | Upheld - partial |
| The requester asked for detailed GCSE attainment statistics for 2017-18 across Isle of Man secondary schools, specifically excluding half-GCSEs and breaking down results by the number of passes (5 to 11+). The Department of Education provided aggregate Level 2 qualification data (including GCSEs) for 5 passes but refused the request for specific breakdowns of 6 to 11+ passes, citing that the information does not exist and creating it would require substantial analysis. | ||
| 2018-06-26 | Achievement Against Prior Attainment KS2 | Upheld - partial |
| A request was made for Key Performance Indicators, SSRE classification methods, and three years of primary school achievement data against prior attainment. The Department of Education partially upheld the request, explaining the value-added metrics and providing school-specific data for the requested period. | ||
| 2018-06-11 | Attainment data for the 3 strands making up overall English results | Upheld - partial |
| The requester sought detailed Year 6 English attainment percentages for Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing for 2013-2016, but the Department of Education refused to provide retrospective data for 2013-2015 as it would require creating new analysis, while providing links to available 2016 and 2017 reports. | ||
| 2018-06-08 | A-Level results for each subject and for each secondary school | Upheld - partial |
| The requester asked for detailed A-Level grade breakdowns by subject for five secondary schools and University College Isle of Man for the years 2015 to 2017. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture partially upheld the request, providing the data via attachments for most institutions while noting that one school's results were already publicly available. | ||
| 2018-04-30 | Characteristics of KS4 pupils taking GCSEs | Upheld - partial |
| The requester asked for detailed breakdowns of KS4 GCSE results by pupil characteristics (EAL, FSM, SEN) across five years, but the Department of Education only held and released aggregated FSM data for Summer 2017. | ||