Freedom of information response

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from Thurrock, in the context of a research project on access to education for recently arrived secondary school aged migrant girls. Please may you provide me with answers to the following questions:

1. Do you collect data on children from migrant[i] families newly arrived in your area?

Education do collect data on applications received by families that have moved to England, however we would not be aware of a family unless they applied for a school place. We ask families for previous school details, this is how we identify those children that have moved to England, this includes every child that moved from abroad from any country.

Do you collect data on the gender of these children?

Yes

Do you collect data on the age of these children?

Yes

2)     If/where possible, we would like to see information on gender and age for the 4 below questions:

3)      Of the recently arrived migrant girls between 14 and 18 years old, how many:*

*If data cannot be disaggregated by gender and age, please include information for the overall number of migrant children entering secondary school or college

4)     A. In the past three academic years, how often have recently arrived migrant children been referred to the Fair Access Protocol in place?

2020/21 - No information available for the academic year as the data was not captured.

B. Once it had been decided that a recently arrived migrant child was to be placed via the FAP, how many of them have been allocated a school place within 20 days? How many have been allocated a school place after 20 days?

2021/2022 – Fewer than 5  children were referred to schools under FAP and admitted within the 20 school days. Fewer than 5 children was admitted to school under FAP and was admitted after 20 school days.

2022/2023 – 7 children were referred to schools under FAP and admitted within the 20 school days. Fewer than 5 children was admitted to school under FAP and was admitted after 20 school days.

There may be more children that have been referred to schools and were refused but we do not hold this information other than for the Ukrainian asylum seekers.

Those pupils admitted over number under fair access did not need to go to panel as schools automatically agreed to take over number where necessary.

The Gateway Learning Trust, manage their own in-year admissions therefore we do not hold their data. 

We are unable to provide an exact number for questions above as:

• There is a low number involved.
• The release of this information could identify individuals which would constitute their personal data under the Data Protection Act
• There is no prior expectation on the part of these individuals that their personal information would be published in the wider public domain under the FOI Act
• Personal data of any other person is exempt under section 40 (2) of the Data Protection Act.

However in the interests of transparency we are able to provide this information to you categorised as fewer than 5 to give you an indication of the figures

You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own use, including non-commercial research purposes.  However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.

Where the copyright is owned by Thurrock Council, you must apply to the Council to re-use the information.  Please email information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk if you wish to re-use the information you have been supplied. For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review. 

If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.