Children's residency in Les Quennevais school catchment (FOI)

​​Request

Over the past five years, broken down by year, how many school placements have been withdrawn or changed due to the provided address being found false, inaccurate, or outdated?

This comes after the complaints board annual report cited a complaint against the Minister for Children and Education regarding the process by which places were allocated at Les Quennevais Secondary School. 

The report reads: “The Chair undertook to write to the Minister for Children and Education expressing his concern that there was no check of a child’s actual residence, when places were allocated largely on the basis of place of residence and that this appeared to be a fundamental failing in the system.” 

In response, the Education Department said in a statement: “Parents and carers are asked to ensure the home address held by their child’s current primary school is still accurate, during the child’s autumn term of Year 6. 

“The Education Department will investigate cases where evidence suggests that an address has been incorrectly used to gain a school place. 

“The department reserves the right to withdraw/change a school placement if the offer was based on information which is later found to be false, inaccurate or outdated.”

​Response

Due to the small numbers involved, the release of details regarding how many school placements have been withdrawn or changed due to the provided address being found false, inaccurate, or outdated may lead to the release of personal identifiable information which would breach the privacy of the individual(s) concerned. The Department has determined that to disclose the exact number would likely breach the privacy of individuals and therefore, Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law has been applied.

The overall total for the past five yeas is fewer than five​.

Article applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.​