5 March 2021
Dr Robert Shaw
[FYI request #14113 email]
Tēnā koe Dr Shaw,
Thank you for your email of 12 November 2020 to the Ministry of Education requesting 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?
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
As mentioned in our letter dated 19 February 2021, I am again confirming that this response
is in relation to the data requested in respect of Part 1 and Part 2 of your request above. Parts
3 and 4 of your request were transferred to Stratford High School and you can expect a
response from them directly.
Part One: 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?
Please note that stand-downs and suspensions are measures of schools’ reactions to
behaviours, as much as they are a measure of the behaviours themselves. What one school
may suspend for, another may not, and our data does not capture the severity of an individual
action. Expulsions and exclusions are subsets of suspension where an enrolment is
terminated.
An expulsion is the termination of a student's enrolment following a suspension meeting.
Expulsions are given to students aged 16 years and over. There is no requirement that
these students stay in the schooling system, so students can decide to enrol at another school
or finish school altogether.
An exclusion is the termination of a student's enrolment following a suspension meeting.
Exclusions are given to students under the age of 16, with the requirement that the student
enrols at another school.
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140. Phone: 04 463 8000. Fax: 04 463 8001
education.govt.nz
In Table 1 below, we have provided you with the number of suspensions,
exclusions, and
total student roll at Stratford High School between the years of 2015 and 2019. Data for the
year of 2020 is not yet available.
Table 1: Number of suspensions, exclusions, and total student roll at Stratford High
School (179) from 2015 - 2019
Year
Number of suspensions Number of exclusions*
Total Student Roll
2015
4
2
529
2016
10
1
520
2017
1
0
525
2018
13
3
512
2019
30
2
499
* = The number of exclusions has been provided instead of expulsions as students under
the age of 16 are excluded instead of expelled.
Note that this data is the count of events, not the count of students.
Part Two: With regard to Stratford High School, does the school or the Ministry hold data on
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.
The Ministry does collect data on the outcomes of an exclusion or expulsion, however because
there has only been one expulsion at Stratford High School over the last five years, we are
refusing this part of your request under section 9(2)(a) of the Act to protect the privacy of this
student.
Thank you again for your email. 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.
Nāku noa, nā
Cathryn Ashley-Jones
Group Manager
Evidence, Data and Knowledge
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140. Phone: 04 463 8000. Fax: 04 463 8001
education.govt.nz