Can I make an FOI request to school for anonymised exam results?

[herewegoroundthebastardbush]

I've just been advised my DD will be going into a mixed year 1/2 class next term as a year 2. I have some concerns around this, nothing drastic but I want to find out all I can about how this works and if I need to be worried about her falling behind.

I've asked the head for anonymised exam results data for previous cohort of year 2 SATs, divided by mixed/not mixed classes, to see if overall year 2s in the mixed class do as well as year 2s in straight classes. Not sure if she will give me this info, so was wondering if I can request it by FOI if I need to, or if given the small number of year 2s in the mixed class this would be too easily identifiable.

I know I'm going to get a good few responses telling me not to be so precious and to wait and see how my DD does in mixed; but I just feel better having as much general information as I can get as a context to my own ongoing assessments of my individual DD's needs.

Do you mean that in your DD's school there will be a class of all Year 2s and then a class of Year 1s and Year 2s? And that this has been the case for the past few years?

Not sure this will be particularly useful on its own. Do you know how they decide who goes in mixed 1/2 class? If it's not a random sample of children then their outcomes could be different because of this. (E g. Are those in mixed class with younger pupils lower ability? Are they the youngest in their year?)

Whether they will release under FOI depends on whether you'd be able to identify individual children (even with it being anonymous)

If they give you the data it might not mean much. What if the ones in the mixed class were the academically weaker ones to begin with? What if a bug went round that class on exam week? Conversely, what if the ones who needed additional support were grouped together in the non-mixed class?

I think the best thing to do is focus on your own child, and ask the teacher about how they differentiate work, how they group the children for different topics, how tasks are delivered and children assessed and stretched.

& honestly, even if you see data that says they do worse in sats with mixed class what will you do with that? Demand class change? Lots of schools refuse to move kids around after the classes are announced as it opens can of worms for every parent to come forward with requests.

Yes, the intake is 2.5 classes so every year there's two straight year 1 classes, two straight year 2 classes and one mixed y1/y2 class.

Will they have chosen children based on their social and academic needs? ie year 2 children in the mixed class last year were already lower attaining or younger or needed the benefit of smaller group teaching. And so those children would already have been predicted lower SATs scores.

What you’ve requested isn’t really helpful to your own child. If you’re worried about their learning then you’re better off asking for a meeting with the teacher to talk about their attainment and any barriers to learning so you can support them at home. Ask to go through their end of year report together. Email this request through so they have time to prepare. And find childcare so you can all speak openly.

As above, you need to know the progress of each pupil from beginning to end of the year, and the assess whether mixed class do not progress as much on average. I know even know they would have the starting measure to compare to Sats results.

I've asked this too! word of mouth says they do it randomly and there is no streaming in Key Stage 1. Evidence of one's own knowledge of the kids says different; but to their credit they do seem to try and keep friendship groups together. A parent friend who is a teacher (not at the school!) says to her eyes it looks like they select the most able reception children and the most compliant, middle-achieving children for the mixed class. This tallies with my daughter, who is meeting expectations in all areas in her report (exceeding in writing) but generally not super driven academically (but behaves very well in class and socially).

sorry, the most compliant/middle achieving year 1 children for the mixed class

If the head won’t give you the data, their reasons for not supplying it would likely be the same as ones that will mean an FOI is refused - most probably that the data set is too small and that individual pupils could be identified. And I’m also not sure what it would tell you anyway- some individual pupils do better in mixed ages, some don’t - depends on lots of factors such as specific age of the child ( sept born v August for eg) FOIs are a bit of a nuclear option and I would only resort if communication had broken down with school and you suspected they were sat on some damning data that proved your point.

Not at all, I'm not going to go in guns blazing - and anyway she's with her friends so don't want her moved. I'd just know there's the need for me to be a lot more proactive than I've been about reinforcing learning, making sure she's stretched, and keeping an eye generally to make sure she's not being ignored just because she's easy going. I'm usually a very easygoing parent (possibly to a fault) so if there's a chance she may be systemically disadvantaged I need to up my game a bit, that's all.

Composite classes are completed normal. They will have a smaller no of kids in the class.

You can avoid this by home schooling or going private.

What do you want to achieve by getting these results.

And I appreciate SATS results are not definitive, but they are one data point among many that may build a picture.

This was normal at DS' primary. I can't even recall which class he was in now, but he's been absolutely fine academically all the way through school. I really wouldn't concern yourself unless there's a burning reason to.

It won't be random, how the classes are selected. It will probably involve lots of different factors in order to produce a class that is suitable.

I don't know if they'll accept a FOI request if the information if it could be used to identify specific children. The 2022 SATS weren't published at all I think? Nor used to rank and compare schools.

Surely it would be more productive to have conversations with the class teachers now and for September, to discuss how they monitor progress in the split class compared to those in the wholly year 2 class. How they ensure that achievement is not affected by this arrangement.

Greater knowledge and understanding of how the system works.

This is just one thing I've asked! Also lots of other qs such as how they make the selections, how they manage the different needs/curricula, how they avoid repetition, how they ensure the year 2s are still stretched, what additional training/preparation time the teachers have to deal with the challenges of a mixed group, etc, etc. I just want a good understanding of how my child is learning, how it differs from the majority of year 2 (her peers), and for that knowledge to help me understand better how she is learning and how to support her.

Bit drastic to suggest leaving the school where she's settled and happy just over an allocation concern. I'm hoping the school don't take this kind of 'if you don't like it, you can go' knee jerk reaction, but will instead be open and reassuring so I can gather information to support my daughter.

Perhaps one of the questions you should be asking is about group work. My son has been through split classes in his primary and its done him loads of good in stretch with the older ones and kindness with the younger ones. They also do group work in their year group in core subjects.

OP, I mean this kindly but you are becoming 'that parent' and it won't benefit you or your child.

How do they select children for the mixed class?

If its random you might glean a tiny bit of info about prep for sats.

If its age or ability criteria all you will get is info reinforcing that age/ability impact on sats

I did try to talk to the class teacher yesterday at the 'meet the teacher' event but was (politely) fobbed off - lots of "oh, we make it work!" and "we've been doing this a long time!" stuff but nothing very concrete. Thus the email to the head to try and get some clear answers to some clear questions. We were told she was in mixed literally as we were walking in the door so I wasn't well prepared!

Are you saying the teachers would discriminate against my child because they don't like me? I'm sure they wouldn't, they seem like very caring professionals.

About the FOI part specifically - you don't need to specifically state you are requesting under the FOI act in order for them to consider it in that way ("for a request to be valid under the Freedom of Information Act it must be in writing, but requesters do not have to mention the Act") Basically if they say no the info is identifying then they won't give it you regardless of whether you formally request or not. You have some good questions about how they manage work and avoid repetition so I would go in and have a conversation with them rather than formally doing it via FOI requests

And while I want to have a good relationship with the school, it's not a good relationship if I can't ask perfectly reasonable questions about how my child will be taught and not get open answers. I don't mind being 'that parent' if the alternative is that I have to keep my mouth shut when I have concerns/knowledge gaps about what's happening at school.

Escalating to the head is probably a step beyond I think, unless that's what you were told to do. You could email the class teacher for September and also ask for a meeting with them individually to discuss this. Or the lead teacher for the key stage.