19 February 2020
Dr Robert Shaw
[FYI request #14113 email]
Dear Dr Shaw
Thank for your email of 18 February 2021 following up on your Official Information Act request of 12
November 2020, which sought the following information:
1. With regard to Stratford High School, for each of the last five years, how many students were
enrolled, how many were suspended from school, how many under the age of 16 years were
expelled from school?
2. With regard to Stratford High School, does the school or the Ministry hold data on the whether
or not the expelled students enter any form of formal education or training within a year of
their expulsion? If there is such data please provide the summary for the last five years.
3. How many students at Stratford High school had counselling provided by the school in each
of the last five years (this means by a formally appointed and qualified counsellor)?
4. How many students at Stratford High School saw an educational psychologist in each of the
last five years?
Following
your
email
yesterday,
we
undertook
an
extensive
search
of
[email address] – the address which your original request was sent to – in
order to locate your 12 November 2020 email. We have been able to determine that your request
was not provided to the team to progress as a result of human error. Please accept my sincere
apologies for this oversight. We have put in place reminders to reduce the possibility of this occurring
again.
We have begun working on your request as an urgent matter. I can confirm that we do hold the data
requested in respect of Part 1 and Part 2 of your request above and will provide this to you as soon
as possible.
In the interim, we invite you to review publicly available information related to your request.
Our ref: 1251445
National Office, Mātauranga House, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140. Phone: 04 463 8000. Fax: 04 463 8001
education.govt.nz
Key statistics and information regarding Stratford High School is publicly available on the Education
Counts website:
https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/find-school/school/profile?district=34®ion=7&school=179 The publicly available information includes:
• A breakdown of school roll data by year group and ethnicity
• Age-standardised stand-down rate by gender and ethnic group.
The Ministry’s stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions guidelines are also publicly
available on the Ministry of Education website
: https://www.education.govt.nz/school/managing-and-
supporting-students/student-behaviour-help-and-guidance/stand-downs-suspensions-exclusions-
and-expulsions-guidelines/. These guidelines are designed to assist boards of trustees, principals, and teachers with their legal
options and duties and meet their obligations under relevant statutory requirements. These
guidelines are for use in all state and state-integrated schools.
We have made enquiries with the relevant Business Units and have determined that the information
you have requested in respect of parts 3 and 4 above is not held by the Ministry. I have therefore
transferred your request to Stratford High School in accordance with section 14(b)(i) of the Official
Information Act 1982.
You may expect a response from Stratford High School directly, concerning Parts 3 and 4 of your
request.
You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review this decision. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Dibley
Group Manager Government, Ministerial and Executive Services
Strategy, Planning and Governance
education.govt.nz
