The Education (Provision of Full-Time Education for Excluded Pupils) (England) Regulations 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide—

(a) that the duty of school governing bodies and local education authorities in sections 100 and 101 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”) to provide suitable full-time education for excluded pupils is to apply from the sixth school day of exclusion (regulations 3 and 4);

(b) exceptions to that duty for pupils in Year 11 who have no further examinations to take, and for pupils with a statement of special educational needs specifying fewer hours’ education than the number of hours provided for pupils in full-time education (regulation 5);

(c) in relation to the notice to be given to parents under section 104 of the 2006 Act (about the full-time education to be provided following the exclusion, and the days on which the parent is required by section 103 of the 2006 Act to ensure that the pupil is not in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification)—

(i) for the time by which the notice must be given (regulation 6), and

(ii) for the information to be contained in the notice (regulation 7).

The times by which the notice under section 104 of the 2006 Act must be given in accordance with regulation 6 are as follows. Where a pupil is excluded during a morning session, the notice must be given by the start of the afternoon session. Where the pupil is excluded during the afternoon session, the notice must be given by the end of the afternoon session. The regulation provides for slightly later times – the end of the afternoon session and the end of the morning session of the next school day, respectively – where the information referred to in regulation 7 is not known to and cannot be ascertained without unreasonable difficulty by the head teacher to enable the notice to be given by the earlier time. If that information is unknown to the head teacher by the later time, it is not prescribed and need not be added to the notice (but the notice should still be sent containing the information in section 104(2) and (3) of the 2006 Act). In the case of a temporary exclusion, that information must nevertheless be given by the head teacher to the parent in writing at least 48 hours before the suitable full-time education is to be provided.

Regulation 8 allows the notice under section 104 to be combined with one or both of the notices given under section 52 of the Education Act 2002 about the exclusion (or a similar notice given by an Academy, city technology college or city college for the technology of the arts) and under section 102 of the 2006 Act about the reintegration interview.

Regulation 9 provides that a head teacher must give the notice even if the specified time for giving it has passed. It provides that a notice given late which is otherwise acceptable is effective to inform the parent of the days on which the parent must ensure that the pupil is not present in a public place at any time during school hours (section 103 of the 2006 Act) and the first day on which education is to be provided for the pupil (section 104 of the 2006 Act).

Regulation 10 amends the Education (Pupil Exclusions and Appeals) (Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/3178) so that the head teacher of a school must inform the local authority in whose area a permanently excluded pupil resides, if it is different from the school’s local authority, that the pupil has been permanently excluded. It amends the Education (Pupil Exclusions and Appeals) (Pupil Referral Units) (England) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/3179) so that the teacher in charge must inform the local authority in whose area a permanently excluded pupil resides, if it is different from the unit’s local authority, that the pupil has been permanently excluded.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.