Status of the Review of Special Religious Education and Special Education in Ethics in NSW government schools
Dear NSW Department of Education,
I would greatly appreciate if you could send the most current documents containing information relating to the status of the Review of Special Religious Education and Special Education in Ethics in NSW government schools, including the date on which the ARTD Consultants Review was recieved, and the timeline for the release of the findings of the review.
Please treat this as an informal request if possible. If not, please proceed with this as a formal FOI request under the Act.
Thanks and regards,
Andrea Leong
Dear Andrea
Thank you for contacting the NSW Department of Education.
My sincere apologies if no one has replied to your email as yet.
I have been informed that the request would need to go through the
Information Access Unit at [1][email address].
Once again apologies for the delayed response.
Kind regards
Sharon Barker
Schools and Community Senior Information Officer
Communication and Engagement | Strategic Communication
T 02 9561 8999 | E [email address]
[2]https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/media/down...
Confidentiality: This email is from the NSW Department of Education. The
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Dear DECinfo,
Thank you Sharon for the response and information.
Would you be able to forward my original email to the Information Access Unit and CC me, just so everything stays together?
Thanks and best regards,
Andrea Leong
Dear Information Access Unit
Could you please arrange a response to Andrea Long’s email.
Regards
Jenny Small
Schools and Community Senior Information Officer
Communication and Engagement | Strategic Communication
T 02 9561 8999 | E [1][email address]
[2]https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/media/down...
Confidentiality: This email is from the NSW Department of Education. The
contents are confidential and may be protected by legal professional
privilege. The contents are intended only for the named recipient of this
email. If the reader of this email is not the intended recipient you are
hereby notified that any use, reproduction, disclosure or distribution of
the information contained in the email is prohibited. If you have received
this email in error, please reply to us immediately and delete the
document.
Sensitive
Dear Andrea
The information you have requested will need to be conducted formally
under the Government Information Public Access Act 2009 (GIPA Act).
Please find attached the following documents for you to complete in order
to request access to information held by the Department of Education:
1. GIPA Access application form;
2. GIPA Authority form (to be filled in if you are acting on
behalf of another person or a child over the age of 12 years); and
3. GIPA Information for applicants – which contains information
about the process.
Please complete the form and send back to the Information Access Unit,
inclusive of the $30 application fee to:
The Manager
IA Unit, Legal Services
GPO Box 33
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Alternatively, if you are paying by credit card, the completed application
form can be emailed to [1][DEC request email]
If you have any further questions, please contact the IA Unit by telephone
on 9561 8100 or via email at [2][DEC request email]
Kind Regards
Admin & Information Access Officer, Information Access
Department of Education
[3]DoE_Logo_K_RGB Legal Services | Level 7, 35 Bridge St| Sydney NSW
2000|
P: (02) 9561 8100 | F: (02) 9561 1157
E: [4][DEC request email] |
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which it is addressed, and may contain information that is confidential
and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of
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dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please reply to the
writer immediately and then delete this email.
Andrea Leong left an annotation ()
I received a phone call from the Information Access Unit this morning:
- Apologising for diverting me to the formal GIPA process when I was asking questions that could simply be answered; and
- Noting that my questions have been answered informally and my $30 fee has been refunded; and
- Saying that I should have these answers in my inbox about now; and
- Suggesting I check the department's disclosure log for other similar requests, as "a number" of people are asking about the same thing at the moment.
The only similar requests I can find in the disclosure log are two from 2015, requesting correspondence between the department and SRE providers. The information was "Released to applicant with deletions" (http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-us/infor...).
Andrea Leong left an annotation ()
(Correspondence was uncoupled from this thread when I made the request in person.)
After the phone call I did get an email at 3.21pm on 15 December. Attached was a letter from Jason Miezis, Early Learning and Primary Education.
Relevant content was as follows:
"The 2015 Review of SRE and SEE in NSW Government Schools is complete. The department received the final report for the review of SRE and SEE in NSW Government schools on 23 March 2016 from ARTD Consultants and the recommendations are under consideration. The review is not yet publicly available."
That's all.
Dear IA Unit,
I am writing to request an internal review of NSW Department of Education's handling of my FOI request 'Status of the Review of Special Religious Education and Special Education in Ethics in NSW government schools'.
I appreciate the the phone call that I received from the IA Unit to apologise for funneling my request through the formal process, and for the refund of my $30 fee. However, I would have preferred to pay the fee if it would have got my question answered.
I requested the timeline for the release of the findings of the review of SRE and SEE. In reply, I was told only that the findings were "not yet publically available".
I wish to know if there is a timeline for the release of the findings of the review, and if so, what it is; or if there is no projected date for the findings to be released.
Please proceed with this request informally if possible. Otherwise please proceed as a formal request under the Act.
Thank you for answering the first of my two questions (the date on which the report was received from ARTD Consultants).
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/s...
Yours sincerely,
Andrea Leong
Dear Andrea
I have received your email and I am dealing with your request.
You will receive a response as soon as is practicable.
Regards
Jenni Pendergast
Principal Information Access Officer |Information Access Unit |Legal Services
Level 7, 35 Bridge Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 | |: 02 9561 8447 | :: 02 9561 1157 | e [email address]
Dear Andrea
Attached is the response regarding the timeframe for the release of the 2015 review.
Regards
Jenni Pendergast
Principal Information Access Officer |Information Access Unit |Legal Services
Level 7, 35 Bridge Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 | |: 02 9561 8447 | :: 02 9561 1157 | e [email address]
Dear Jenni,
Thanks for chasing up this information for me, much appreciated.
Best regards,
Andrea Leong
Andrea Leong left an annotation ()
P.S. I'm blogging this and future requests here: http://nsw.scienceparty.org.au/not_findi...
I'm going to keep asking until I get an answer.
Andrea Leong left an annotation ()
I dropped off a paper form to the 35 Bridge St office requesting the same information, at 9.30am on 9th December. It would have been easier to mail it, but I wanted a receipt and I didn't want to send credit card details (for the $30 payment) in the post. Now we wait.