Access Arrangements - External Examinations 2023-24 Part 2

Summary

The request sought detailed statistics on approved access arrangements and modified examination papers for Level 2 and 3 exams across Isle of Man schools. The Department of Education provided partial data for specific schools like Ramsey Grammar and Queen Elizabeth II High School, while withholding information for others due to the requirement to create new data or to protect pupil anonymity.

Key Facts

• Ramsey Grammar School provided specific counts of access arrangements by difficulty type for GCSE and A Level exams.
• Queen Elizabeth II High School reported 73 pupils with approved access arrangements at Level 2 and 15 at Level 3.
• Ballakermeen High School and Castle Rushen High School had no modified paper requests recorded.
• Some data points were redacted because the number of pupils involved was less than five.
• The Department refused to provide data for schools where compliance would require creating or deriving new information.

Data Disclosed

• 2023-24
• 2024-12-31
• 2025-01-29
• 4342617
• 4294229
• 67
• 73
• 15
• 35
• 20
• 30
• 7
• 17
• 10
• 16
• 8
• 19
• 9
• 5
• 18pt Bold

Exemptions Cited

• Requirement to create or derive information (not required under the Act)
• Redaction for less than five pupils (anonymity)

Original Request

Further to FOI request 4294229 submitted 3rd December 2024 I now seek the outstanding information, namely: V) The number of approved access arrangements for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 by reason e.g. disability, pupil's first language not English etc; and VI) The number of modified paper requests for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations (i) made and (ii) granted for each school; and VII) For those modified requests granted for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations the number by type e.g. 24 point font etc. VIII) The number and type of access arrangements implemented by each school without recourse to external examination board approval for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Policy, Strategy and Governance Division Department of Education, Sport and Culture Thie Slieau Whallian Foxdale Road St Johns IM4 3AS

Telephone: (01624) 685808 Website: www.gov.im/dec Email: dec@foi.gov.im

Our ref: 4342617 29 January 2025

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 31 December 2024, which states:

"Further to FOI request 4294229 submitted 3rd December 2024 I now seek the outstanding information, namely:

V) The number of approved access arrangements for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 by reason e.g. disability, pupil's first language not English etc; and

VI) The number of modified paper requests for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations (i) made and (ii) granted for each school; and

VII) For those modified requests granted for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations the number by type e.g. 24 point font etc.

VIII) The number and type of access arrangements implemented by each school without recourse to external examination board approval for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations." Our response to your request is as follows:
V) The number of approved access arrangements for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 by reason e.g. disability, pupil's first language not English etc; and Ballakermeen High School While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance complying with your request for information would require the school to create or derive information from information that it holds and undertake research into, or analysis of information that it holds. Which the Department is not required to do under the Act.

Castle Rushen High School

Ramsey Grammar School GCSE Primary Difficulty Cognition & Learning x 30 Communication & Interaction x 7 Psychological Wellbeing x 17 Sensory, Physical & Medical x 7

GCSE Secondary Difficulty Cognition & Learning x 10 Communication & Interaction x [Redacted – Less than five pupils] Psychological Wellbeing x 16 Sensory, Physical & Medical x 8

A Level Primary Difficulty Cognition & Learning x 19 Communication & Interaction x 8 Psychological Wellbeing x 9 Sensory, Physical & Medical x 7

A Level Secondary Difficulty Cognition & Learning x 5 Communication & Interaction x [Redacted – Less than five pupils] Psychological Wellbeing x 7 Sensory, Physical & Medical x [Redacted – Less than five pupils]

St Ninian’s High School

By way of assistance the total number of pupils with approved access arrangements was 67.
Queen Elizabeth II High School
Level 2:

By way of assistance the total number of pupils with approved access arrangements was 73.
Level 3 (including collaboration students):

By way of assistance the total number of pupils with approved access arrangements was 15.
VI) The number of modified paper requests for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations (i) made and (ii) granted for each school; and

Ballakermeen High School Nil. Castle Rushen High School Nil. Ramsey Grammar School Nil. St Ninian’s High School Nil. Queen Elizabeth II High School
Level 2
[Redacted] - Less than five pupils required modified papers for their level 2 examinations.
Level 3
Nil.

VII) For those modified requests granted for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations the number by type e.g. 24 point font etc. Ballakermeen High School Nil. Castle Rushen High School Nil. Ramsey Grammar School Nil. St Ninian’s High School Nil. Queen Elizabeth II High School
Pupils required A4 Modified 18pt Bold.

VIII) The number and type of access arrangements implemented by each school without recourse to external examination board approval for (a) Level 2 and (b) Level 3 examinations.
(Clarification received 15/01/25 - I am seeking information regarding any access arrangements made by each school which has not been applied for and granted or consented to by the exam board, or which the exam board was not made aware of, for level 2 and level 3 exams, regardless of whether the candidates were entered by the school or privately).

Ballakermeen High School While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance complying with your request for information would require the school to create or derive information from information that it holds and undertake research into, or analysis of information that it holds. Which the Department is not required to do under the Act.

Castle Rushen High School

By way of assistance the total number of access arrangements implemented without recourse to external examination board approval for level two was 35 and for level three was 20.

Ramsey Grammar School

By way of assistance the total number of access arrangements implemented without recourse to external examination board approval for level two was 82 and for level three was 12.
St Ninian’s High School

By way of assistance the total number of access arrangements implemented without recourse to external examination board approval for level two was 61.
Queen Elizabeth II High School Level 2 Smaller room – 26 pupils
Separate room – [Redacted] - Less than five pupils Level 3 Separate room- [Redacted] - Less than five pupils Smaller room – 8

Redacted Content

S39 (1)(a)(b)- Qualified exempt personal information

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information held in the instances where information relates to five or less pupils as the Department determines that individual pupil's may be identifiable.

This information is exempt under Section 39 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Qualified exempt personal information) as it constitutes personal data of a person other than you and under section 8 of the Data Protection Act 2002 the data subject would be entitled to prevent disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under that Act.

As Section 39 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large.

Factors in favour of disclosing the information include:

To promote transparency & accountability.

Factors in favour of maintaining the exemption include:

That pupils have a general expectation that details of their exam access arrangements will remain anonymised. Disclosure of this information would contravene that expectation and cause an intrusion into the privacy of the data subject which may lead to some distress.

Whilst the Freedom of Information Act 2015 promotes transparency and accountability and therefore there may be some public interest in details of individual pupil’s access arrangements being disclosed, it is not sufficient to outweigh an individual pupil’s right for this information to remain private.

In assessing the weight to be attributed to each of the factors in favour of disclosing
the information and maintaining the exemption, the Department of Education, Sport
and Culture has taken the following into consideration:

•The severity of the impact of the prejudice. •The age of the information. •How far disclosure would further the public interests identified above. •Whether there is any similar information in the public domain and whether this affects the public interest.

Please quote the reference number 4342617 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.