Other provisions relating only to Wales
Sections 196 to 198
Section 196: Publication and provision of material
379.This section provides powers over and above the existing, but limited, powers under section 537 of the EA 96.
380.This section allows the NAW to provide “qualifying material” to governing bodies and LEAs and to require them to provide it to specified persons or to publish it. “Qualifying material” is material which will help parents choose schools for their children, increase public awareness of the quality and standards of education and assist in assessing how well schools manage resources.
381.It is the intention that the qualifying material which LEAs and governing bodies will be required to publish or provide under this new power will be such as to enable parents and others to measure progress made by pupils while at the school (value-added), and that it may also take into account the socio-economic conditions of the area in which the school is located.
Section 197: Partnership agreements and statements
382.This section enables the NAW to make regulations requiring any LEA in Wales to enter into a partnership agreement with the governing body of any school maintained by that authority. A partnership agreement will set out how an LEA and a governing body will carry out their functions in relation to a school.
383.The regulations may, for example, require the agreements to cover the procedures to establish agreed common objectives for pupils’ educational progress; the actions which the LEA will take to promote high standards in schools; the actions to be taken to support transition for pupils moving from a maintained primary school to a maintained secondary school.
384.If no agreement can be reached the LEA has the power to draw up a statement covering how it and the governing body are to discharge their functions. Both the LEA and governing body are under a duty to have regard to the agreement (or the LEA's statement) in carrying out their functions.
Section 198: Transition from primary to secondary school
385.This is a new power for the NAW to require the governing bodies of secondary schools and their feeder primary schools to draw up plans together to facilitate the transition of pupils from the one to the other. It includes a power for the NAW to specify in regulations the content and timing of the plans and to give guidance on matters such as the making of the plans or which schools are to be considered as “feeder schools”.