-3Factual Background
6.
The respondents to this appeal were three teachers at the Church of
Christ in China Heep Woh Primary School (the first three named respondents)
and a teacher in another school (the fourth respondent) who had been a classmate
of the second respondent.
7.
Children could seek admission to the school, which was government
subsidised, through an open admission process involving a competitive
interview-based assessment. The first three respondents were among teachers at
the school who were to conduct the open admission interviews on 14 June 2014.
They were briefed on the day before the interview by the teacher in charge of the
process for the 2014/2015 academic year.
8.
Each of the teachers being briefed, including the three respondents,
was provided with a plastic folder containing a copy of the Interview Questions
and the Marking Scheme. The first and second respondents used their mobile
phones to take photographs of the contents of the folders at the briefing and sent
the photographs to third parties using WhatsApp. The first respondent sent the
photographs to a friend in her church.
The second respondent sent her
photographs to the third respondent in the course of the briefing. The third
respondent used a school computer to type up the interview questions into a Word
document which was then sent by email on the school computer to the second
respondent and, using her mobile phone, to a friend. The second respondent sent
the Word document by email to the fourth respondent and a friend. The fourth
respondent used her mobile phone to take photographs of the questions and
transmitted them to two friends by WhatsApp.