Off Rolling in Schools

Summary

A request was made for data on pupils 'off-rolled' from Isle of Man schools over the last five years, but the Department of Education, Sport and Culture responded that the information is not held because the practice of off-rolling does not exist in the jurisdiction.

Key Facts

• The Department of Education, Sport and Culture does not hold data on 'off-rolling' as the practice is not possible on the Isle of Man.
• All pupils on the Isle of Man remain 'on roll' throughout their compulsory education.
• The Isle of Man lacks fixed-term exclusions, permanent exclusions, and census declaration periods which facilitate off-rolling in England.
• The Department contacted all primary and secondary schools, which confirmed no pupils have been off-rolled in the last five years.
• The request was received on 30 October 2019 and the response was issued on 26 November 2019.

Data Disclosed

• 2019-10-30
• 2019-11-26
• 1019301
• 5 years
• 0 pupils

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held

Original Request

How many pupils have been off-rolled in both primary and secondary schools (left the state funded school sector without being permanently excluded) in the last five school years? Please provide the breakdown of pupils by age and the school year they were excluded.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Corporate Services Division Department of Education, Sport and Culture Hamilton House Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EZ Telephone: (01624) 685808 Website: www.gov.im/dec Email: dec@foi.gov.im Our ref: 1019301 26 November 2019

Dear ###,

We write further to your request which was received on 30 October 2019 and which states:

"How many pupils have been off-rolled in both primary and secondary schools (left the state funded school sector without being permanently excluded) in the last five school years? Please provide the breakdown of pupils by age and the school year they were excluded."

In order to identify and locate the information that you asked for, we needed to understand and clarify the definition of ‘off-rolled’ in schools and if ‘excluded’ in the second part of the request referred to being removed from the school as opposed to being excluded from the school. You advised: The definition of ‘off-rolled’ is where a pupil has been removed from school but has not been permanently removed - deregistered as a pupil. Here is the definition from Ofsted: “The practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without a formal, permanent exclusion or by encouraging a parent to remove their child from the school roll, when the removal is primarily in the interests of the school rather than in the best interests of the pupil.” Off-rolling is understood to be a way in which schools lose pupils without having to exclude them formally. The second part of the request refers to the pupils that have been excluded by off- rolling as opposed to those students who have been expelled / excluded from the school. Our response to your request is as follows:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. This is because the practice of ‘off-rolling’ a pupil from school, as described above, is not possible on the Isle of Man. All pupils are continually ‘on roll’ throughout their compulsory education. The practice of alleged ‘off-rolling’ occurs in England either between the stages of fixed term exclusion (FTE) and permanent Exclusion (PEX) or following the period where schools declare their cohorts for counting in results tables (January of year 11). The Isle of Man does not have fixed term exclusion, permanent exclusion or a census declaration period. Instead the suspensions process and disapplication process is in place for schools on the Isle of Man.

By way of advice and assistance the Department contacted each of the Primary and Secondary schools after receiving your Freedom of Information request and they have all confirmed that no pupils have been ‘off-rolled’ in the last 5 years.

Please quote the reference number 1019301 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Coordinator