Pupil Registration Regulations - what's changing?
The Education (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) have been amended. The revised Regulations, The Education (Pupil Registration)(England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 will come into effect on 1 September 2016
Following the publication of the Department for Education's response to the consultation Improving information in identifying children missing education which took place earlier in the year, The Education (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) have been amended.
The revised Regulations, The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 will come into effect on 1 September 2016.
The 2006 Regulations
Under the 2006 Regulations, schools can lawfully delete a pupil’s name from the register under fifteen grounds, but are only required to inform their local authority (LA) when they are about to remove a pupil’s name under five of the fifteen grounds:
- when the pupil has ceased to attend and is to be home educated
- has moved out of the area
- has been certified as medically unable to continue attending
- is detained under a court order
- has been permanently excluded)
The 2016 Regulations
The changes affect all non-standard transitions, that is whenever a child of compulsory school age leaves a school before completing the school’s final year or joins the school after the start of the first year. From 1 September 2016, all schools (including academies) are required to:
- inform their LA when they are about to delete a pupil’s name from the admission register under any of the fifteen grounds (Regulation 8 of the 2006 Regulations)
- record details of the pupil’s residence, the name of the person with whom they will reside, the date from which they will reside there, and the name of the destination school (where they can reasonably obtain this information)
- inform their LA of the pupil's destination school and home address if the pupil is moving to a new school
- provide information to their LA when registering new pupils within five days, including the pupil's address and previous school (where they can reasonably obtain this information)
The changes will also give LAs the discretion to require the same information on children leaving or joining the school at standard transition points, which occur when a child of compulsory school age begins school at the start of the first year or leaves at the end of the final year of that school.
The changes impose a further duty on schools to work collaboratively with LAs when making 'reasonable enquiries' to locate a pupil if he/she has not returned after 10 days authorised leave or 20 days without authorisation.
The Department of Education has confirmed that it will monitor the impact of the changes and undertake a review before 1 September 2019.
Part 3 of the Independent School Standards Regulations, which apply to academies, requires schools to maintain admission and attendance registers in accordance with the Regulations. Failure to comply with the revised Regulations is likely to lead to a finding of non-compliance on inspection.
More generally, as effective information sharing between parents, schools and local authorities is characterised as 'critical to ensuring that all children of compulsory school age are receiving a safe and suitable education', governors/proprietors will be required to ensure that those with leadership and management responsibilities in the school are discharging these expanded reporting requirements as part of their responsibility to actively promote the wellbeing of pupils.
The DfE has confirmed that it will publish amended statutory guidance and communicate the changes to schools later this summer.
What should you do now?
In the meantime schools should consider the resources available including the adequacy of any procedures and management information systems currently in place so that the increased reporting requirements can be met when the changes come into force.