Freedom of Information Policy

This is Belfast Royal Academy’s Publication Scheme on information available under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

The Board of Governors is responsible for maintenance of this scheme.

1. Introduction: what a publication scheme is and why it has been developed

One of the aims of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (which is referred to as FOIA in the rest of this document) is that public authorities, including all maintained schools, should be clear and proactive about the information they will make public.

To do this we must produce a publication scheme, setting out:

The classes of information which we publish or intend to publish;
The manner in which the information will be published; and
Whether the information is available free of charge or on payment.

The scheme covers information already published and information which is to be published in the future. All information in our publication scheme is available in paper form.

Some information which we hold may not be made public, for example personal information. This publication scheme conforms to the model scheme for schools approved by the Information Commissioner.

2. Aims and Objectives

The school aims to:

enable every child to fulfil their learning potential, with education that meets the needs of each child,
help every child develop the skills, knowledge and personal qualities needed for life and work,

and this publication scheme is a means of showing how we are pursuing these aims.

3. Categories of information published

The publication scheme guides you to information which we currently publish (or have recently published) or which we will publish in the future. This is split into categories of information known as ‘classes’. These are contained in section 6 of this scheme.

The classes of information that we undertake to make available are organised into four broad topic areas:

School Prospectus – information published in the school prospectus.
Governors’ Documents – information published in the Governors Annual Report and in other governing body documents.
Pupils & Curriculum – information about policies that relate to pupils and the school curriculum.
School Policies and other information related to the school - information about policies that relate to the school in general.

4. How to request information

If you require a paper version of any of the documents within the scheme, please contact the school by telephone, email, fax or letter. Contact details are set out below

Email: info@bfsra.belfast.ni.sch.uk

Tel: 028 90 740423

Fax: 028 90 750607

Contact Address: 3-17 Cliftonville Road

Belfast

BT14 6JL

To help us process your request quickly, please clearly mark any correspondence “PUBLICATION SCHEME REQUEST” (in CAPITALS please)

If the information you’re looking for isn’t available via the scheme, you can still contact the school to ask if we have it.

5. Paying for information

Information published on our website is free, although you may incur costs from your Internet service provider. If you don’t have Internet access, you can access our website using a local library or an Internet café. Single copies of information covered by this publication are provided free unless stated otherwise in section 6. If your request means that we have to do a lot of photocopying or printing, or pay a large postage charge, or is for a priced item such as some printed publications or videos we will let you know the cost before fulfilling your request. Where there is a charge this will be indicated by a £ sign in the description box.

6. Classes of Information Currently Published

School Prospectus – this section sets out information published in the school prospectus.

The statutory contents of the school prospectus are as follows (other items may be included in the prospectus at the school’s discretion):

the name, address and telephone number of the school, and the type of school
the names of the head teacher and chair of governors
information on the school policy on admissions
a statement of the school’s ethos and values
details of any affiliations with a particular religion or religious denomination, the religious education provided, parents’ right to withdraw their child from religious education and collective worship and the alternative provision for those pupils
information about the school’s policy on providing for pupils with special educational needs
number of pupils on roll and rates of pupils’ authorised and unauthorised absences
National Curriculum assessment results for appropriate Key Stages, with national summary figures
GCSE/GNVQ results in the school, locally and nationally
a summary of GCE A/AS level results in the school locally and nationally
the number of pupils studying for and percentage achieving other vocational qualifications
the destinations of school leavers¹
the arrangements for visits to the school by prospective parents
the number of places for pupils of normal age of entry in the preceding school year and the number of written applications / preferences expressed for those places

Governors’ Annual Report and other information relating to the governing body - this section sets out information published in the Governors’ Annual Report and in other governing body documents.

The statutory contents of the governors’ annual report to parents are as follows (other items may be included in the annual report at the school’s discretion):

details of the governing body and their category of membership, clearly identifying the chair, vice-chair and secretary.
a statement on progress in implementing the action plan drawn up following an inspection
a financial statement, including gifts made to the school and amounts paid to governors for expenses
a description of the school’s arrangements for security of pupils staff and the premises
information about the implementation of the governing body’s policy on pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and any changes to the policy during the last year
Arrangements made and facilities provided for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities to ensure they are no less favourably treated than other pupils. Article 8 of the 1996 order refers.
Description of the steps taken to implement special needs policies, in accordance with article 9 of the order.
a description of the arrangements for the admission of pupils with disabilities; details of steps to prevent disabled pupils being treated less favourably than other pupils; details of existing facilities to assist access to the school by pupils with disabilities; the accessibility plan covering future policies for increasing access by those with disabilities to the school
a statement of policy on whole staff development identifying how teachers’ professional development impacts on teaching and learning
number of pupils on roll and rates of pupils’ authorised and unauthorised absence
National Curriculum assessment results for appropriate Key Stages, with national summary figures
GCSE/GNVQ results in the school, locally and nationally
GCE A/AS and vocational qualification results in the school, locally and nationally
the number of pupils studying for and percentage achieving other vocational qualifications
the destinations of school leavers¹
a statement of the extent to which proposals in the post- inspection action plan have been carried into effect

Instrument of Government

• The name of the school

• The category of the school

• The name of the governing body

• The manner in which the governing body is constituted

• The term of office of each category of governor if less than 4 years

• The name of any body entitled to appoint any category of governor

• Details of any trust

• If the school has a religious character, a description of the ethos

• The date the instrument takes effect

Minutes ¹ of meeting of the governing body and its committees

Agreed minutes of meetings of the governing body and its committees in relation to meetings held from March 2004 onwards.

Some information might be confidential or otherwise exempt from the publication by law – we cannot therefore publish this.

Pupils & Curriculum Policies - This section gives access to information about policies that relate to pupils and the school curriculum.

Class	Description
Home – school agreement	Statement of the school’s aims and values, the school’s responsibilities, the parental responsibilities and the school’s expectations of its pupils for example homework arrangements
Curriculum Policy	Statement on following the policy for the secular curriculum subjects and religious education and schemes of work and syllabuses currently used by the school
Sex Education Policy	Statement of policy with regard to sex and relationship education

¹ Some information might be confidential or otherwise exempt from the publication by law – we cannot therefore publish this

Special Education Needs Policy	Information about the school’s policy on providing for pupils with special educational needs
Accessibility Plans	Plan for increasing participation of disabled pupils in the school’s curriculum, improving the accessibility of the physical environment and improving delivery of information to disabled pupils.
Race Equality Policy	Statement of policy for promoting equality as per Section 75 of the 1998 NI Act.
Careers Education Policy	Statement of the programmes of careers education provided for Key 4.
Child Protection Policy	Statement of policy for safeguarding and promoting welfare of pupils at the school. (from March 2004)
Pupil Discipline	Statement of general principles on behaviour and discipline and of measures taken by the head teacher to prevent bullying.

School Policies and other information related to the school - This section gives access to information about policies that relate to the school in general.

Class	Description
Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) published reports referring expressly to the school	Published report of the last inspection of the school and the summary of the report and where appropriate inspection reports of religious education in those schools designated as having a religious character.
Post-ETI inspection action plan	A plan setting out the actions required following the last ETI inspection and where appropriate an action plan following inspection of religious education where the school is designated as having a religious character
Charging and Remissions Policies	A statement of the school’s policy with respect to charges and remissions for any optional extra or board and lodging for which charges are permitted, for example school publications, music tuition, trips
School session times and term dates	Details of school session and dates of school terms and holidays
Health and Safety Policy and risk assessment	Statement of general policy with respect to health and safety at work of employees (and others) and the organisation and arrangements for carrying out the policy
Complaints procedure	Statement of procedures for dealing with complaints
Performance Management of Staff	Statement of procedures adopted by the governing body relating to the performance management of staff and the annual report of the head teacher on the effectiveness of appraisal procedures
Staff Conduct, Discipline and Grievance	Statement of procedure for regulating conduct and discipline of school staff and procedures by which staff may seek redress for grievance

Curriculum circulars and statutory instruments

Any statutory instruments, departmental circulars and administrative memoranda sent by the Department of Education to the head teacher or governing body relating to the curriculum

7. Feedback and Complaints

We welcome any comments or suggestions you may have about the scheme. If you want to make any comments about this publication scheme or if you require further assistance or wish to make a complaint then initially this should be addressed to

The Bursar, Belfast Royal Academy, 3-17 Cliftonville Road, Belfast, BT14 6JL

If you are not satisfied with the assistance that you get or if we have not been able to resolve your complaint and you feel that a formal complaint needs to be made then this should be addressed to the Information Commissioner’s Office. This is the organisation that ensures compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and that deals with formal complaints. They can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Enquiry/Information Line: 01625 545 700

E Mail: publications@ic-foi.demon.co.uk

Website: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk