Nursery, reception and primary class numbers (FOI)

iii) Please list the number of staff or support staff that work in each class either on a full or part time basis.

B

Please can you confirm that if a class size is above 26 (maximum class size according to gov.je policy) additional funding is provided to the individual school to employ extra support staff to ensure all children across the island are given equal opportunities to access learning.

C

For the current Reception classes please list how many children have been placed in schools out of their residential catchment area.

Response

A

i) and ii)

Please the table in the attached document for the breakdown of the number of children in Nursery, Reception and Years 1 to 6 in each Government of Jersey Primary school, including a breakdown of the number of boys and girls in each class.

Attachment.pdf

The Department has determined that, to provide the figures fewer than 5 would likely breach the privacy of individuals therefore, disclosure control has been applied under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law. 

Please note, the data was taken as of 22 September 2023 (Census Day).

La Sente have 7 pupils in total and Mont à l'Abbé have 59 pupils in total (17 female and 42 male). The Department has determined that to provide figures fewer than 5 would likely breach the privacy of individuals therefore disclosure control has been applied under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law.

iii)

Please see the table below which provides a breakdown of staff per Government of Jersey Primary schools.

Please note, we can only provide a total employed per school as we know staff and support staff may not be placed in one particular class or year group and schools can move around.

B

The Government of Jersey Funding Formula has been developed following the Independent School Funding Review which took place in 2020. The review recommended that Jersey adopt a simpler funding formula to offer all Government of Jersey schools and colleges equitable and flexible budgets.   

For Reception to Year 6, funding is not added for class sizes over 26 pupils, however, when an additional whole class is required, further funding will be allocated. Funding is differentiated based on need (Jersey Premium, Special Educational Needs, Record of Need and so forth).

School nursery classes are funded based on a minimum staff ratio of 1 adult to 10 children. The majority take up to 30 children and are funded to have three staff. School nurseries which take numbers above this would have more resource to meet the required staffing ratio. 

Additional funding from Jersey Premium is made available to those schools who have eligible nursery children. If children require extra support to meet their needs, then funding would be made available.             

Information on the Government of Jersey Schools class size formula is published and can be found here:

School funding formula published (gov.je)

C

In order to respond to this request, each child address data would need to be compared to their catchment school.  This information is not held in a reportable format. To search each record to produce the data would take in excess of 12.5 working hours therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Parents and carers can request an out of catchment school and these requests are considered as per the admissions policy. Where there are places available, most requests will be granted. 

Information on the Government of Jersey Schools Admission Policy can be found here:

Applying for a school (gov.je)

Articles applied

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. 

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.