(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations, which are made under sections 6 and 7 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (“the 1998 Act”), apply in relation to local education authorities in Wales.
Section 6 of the 1998 Act requires every local education authority to prepare an education development plan (known in Wales as an education strategic plan) for their area. The Regulations make provision with respect to full plans covering a period of 3 years and supplementary plans for interim years, including the period to which the statement of proposals contained in the plans must relate (regulation 3), the date by which plans must be submitted to the Secretary of State or National Assembly for Wales (regulation 4) and provisions as to publication of plans and supply of copies (regulation 5).
Part II of the Regulations sets out matters with which the statement of proposals in a full plan must deal. These include the authority’s priorities for raising standards and activities to be undertaken to address those priorities (regulation 6); the authority’s policy for pupils with special educational needs and activities to promote those policies (regulation 7); the setting of final, reviewed and provisional targets for the first, second and third years respectively of the plan (regulation 8); achievements in respect of which targets must be set for pupils in the second and third key stages and for pupils who will attain the age of 16 years (regulations 9, 10 and 11); targets for examination entries for pupils who will attain the age of 16 years (regulation 12); targets for permanent exclusion of pupils (regulation 13); targets for fixed term exclusions and unauthorised absences (except in the first full plan) (regulations 14 and 15); and a summary of the information used by the authority in setting targets (regulation 16).
Part III of the Regulations sets out the material which the annexes in a full plan must contain. These include a description of the key characteristics of the authority (regulation 17); a table showing the authority’s use of resources in support of a full plan (regulation 18); a table showing supplementary information on children with special educational needs and a description of the authority’s arrangements for monitoring the educational standards of such children (regulations 19 and 20); an explanation of the authority’s proposals for monitoring their performance under the plan (regulation 21); a description of the consultation undertaken by the authority in preparing the plan (regulation 22); and a description of the authority’s committee and organisational structure (regulation 23).
Part IV of the Regulations sets out the requirements for supplementary plans. These include a statement of proposals containing an update of all the authority’s targets for the forthcoming 3 years (regulation 24); an annex containing a description of how the authority’s unauthorised absence targets relate to any unauthorised absence targets set by the governing bodies of schools where this has not been stated in a previous plan (regulation 25); and an annex containing the authority’s assessment of the extent to which targets have been met and their proposals as to how shortcomings are to be addressed (regulation 26).