The Education (School Curriculum and Related Information) Regulations 1989

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations impose requirements on local education authorities (“education authorities”), governing bodies and head teachers to provide information about the curriculum in county and voluntary schools, maintained special schools not established in hospitals, and grant-maintained schools (referred to in the Regulations as “maintained schools”). Regulation 2(2) provides that where information is required to be provided in a form specified in the Regulations, it may be supplied in computer-readable form.

Regulation 3 amends the Education (School Information) Regulations 1981 by substituting two new paragraphs for the existing paragraph 4 of Schedule 2. These require information to be provided by education authorities or governing bodies about various aspects of the school curriculum and apply to schools in Wales and England respectively. In the case of schools in England, regulation 3 further amends the 1981 Regulations to provide that where the information is to be published by the local education authority, it shall be supplied to them by the governing body and shall be published without material alteration.

Regulation 4 requires the governing bodies of maintained schools to include in their annual report particulars of the dates of terms and of half-term holidays, and a summary of any changes to information contained in the school prospectus since it was last published. Copies of the report are to be supplied to the head teacher and to the local education authority or, in the case of a grant-maintained school, to the Secretary of State.

Governing bodies are to give head teachers copies of any statements they have made as to their policy on the curriculum; the head teacher is to make them available for inspection by the public (regulation 5).

Regulation 6 requires the head teachers of maintained schools to provide other information relating to the organisation of the curriculum, and regulation 7 requires head teachers to supply on request copies of the documents referred to in regulation 5 and allows for the supply of copy documents containing the information required by regulation 6; a charge not exceeding the cost of supply may be made.

Regulation 8(1) requires the governing bodies of maintained schools (other than grant-maintained schools) to make available to the education authority the statistical information set out in regulation 8(3) by 30th June in each year in respect of the current school year; the head teacher is to make the same information available to the governing body by 30th June in respect of education provision which is intended to be made in the next school year (regulation 8(2)).

Regulation 8(4) requires governing bodies to make the information supplied to them by the head teacher available on request to the education authority and the Secretary of State. Regulation 8(5) imposes a further requirement on governing bodies to supply the education authority with details of pupils without statements of special educational needs for whom the provisions of the National Curriculum have been modified or disapplied, and of pupils with such statements.

The particulars required by regulation 8(1) and (2) are to be in the relevant form set out in Schedule 1, and those required by regulation 8(5) in the relevant form set out in Schedule 2 (regulation 9).

Regulation 10 makes similar provision to regulations 8 and 9 in respect of grant-maintained schools, but provides that the information should be sent to the Secretary of State and, where it relates to pupils with statements of special educational needs, to the education authority.

Regulation 11 provides for the education authority to send the Secretary of State copies of the particulars supplied to them under regulation 8(1) and (5).

Education authorities are required to notify the Secretary of State of new syllabuses of religious education and to make annual returns by 30th September of determinations by their standing advisory councils as to whether the requirement for Christian collective worship is to apply in particular cases (regulation 12).

Regulation 13 contains supplementary provisions relating to the translation of documents. Finally, regulation 14 places a duty on head teachers and governing bodies to supply information to each other where this is necessary for the other to comply with the Regulations.