The Education Development Plans (England) Regulations 1999

PART I GENERAL

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education Development Plans (England) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 16th February 1999.

(2) These Regulations apply only in relation to local education authorities in England.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

“the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996(1);

“the 1998 Act” means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;

“the 1998 Regulations” means the Education (School Performance Targets) (England) Regulations 1998(2);

“the 1999 Regulations” means the Financing of Maintained Schools Regulations 1999(3);

“the applicable period”, in relation to a school year, means the period starting with the beginning of that year and finishing with the end of the school day falling on the Friday before the last Monday in May in that year;

“the first plan” means the first education development plan to be prepared by a local education authority in accordance with section 6(1) of the 1998 Act;

“GCSE” means a General Certificate of Secondary Education;

“GNVQ” means a General National Vocational Qualification;

“level 4” means level 4 of the National Curriculum level scale as determined by the results of NC tests;

“maintained school” means, in the period ending immediately before 1st September 1999, a county, voluntary or maintained special school or a grant-maintained or grant-maintained special school and, in relation to any time on or after 1st September 1999, means a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school;

“NC tests” means National Curriculum tests administered to second key stage pupils for the purpose of assessing the level of attainment which they have achieved in English or mathematics, being tests laid down in provisions made by the Secretary of State under the appropriate order made under section 356(2) of the 1996 Act in force when those tests are administered(4);

“relevant day pupil”, in relation to a school and to a school year, means a pupil registered at that school apart from–

(a)

a boarder, or

(b)

a pupil who, before the beginning of the September immediately preceding 1st October in that school year, either–

(i)

has not attained the age of five years, or

(ii)

has attained the age of sixteen years;

“schools maintained by the authority” do not include schools which are not maintained schools as defined herein;

“second key stage pupils” means pupils who are in the second key stage referred to in section 355(1) (b) of the 1996 Act;

“the total number of possible attendances”, in relation to a local education authority and to any school year, means the number produced by multiplying the number of relevant day pupils at schools maintained by the authority by the number of school sessions in the applicable period in that year;

“unauthorised absence”, in relation to schools maintained by a local education authority, means an occasion on which a relevant day pupil is registered as absent from such a school without authority pursuant to the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995(5);

“the unauthorised absence rate”, in relation to a local education authority and to any school year, means the total number of unauthorised absences from schools maintained by the authority in the applicable period during that year, expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible attendances in that period.

“vocational qualification” means–

(a)

a Part One GNVQ,

(b)

an Intermediate GNVQ,

(c)

a Foundation GNVQ, or

(d)

a GNVQ Language Unit,

awarded by–

(i)

the EDEXCEL Foundation,

(ii)

the City and Guilds of London Institute,

(iii)

the Royal Society of Arts Examination Board,

(iv)

the Assessment and Qualification Alliance, or

(v)

Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations,

and approved by the Secretary of State under section 400 of the 1996 Act or section 37 of the Education Act 1997(6).

(2) In these Regulations a reference–

(a) to a numbered regulation is to the regulation in these Regulations bearing that number;

(b) in a regulation or Schedule to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph in that regulation or Schedule bearing that number.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to–

(a) a pupil achieving a grade in a GCSE examination, or

(b) achieving a vocational qualification,

by the end of a school year, shall be construed as a reference to that pupil achieving that grade or qualification in the school year in which he–

(i) takes that examination, or

(ii) (as the case may be) completes the course leading to the award of that qualification,

and irrespective of whether the decision to award the grade or qualification is made in a later school year.

Period to which the statement of proposals must relate

3.  The statement of proposals contained in the first plan must relate to the period beginning on 1st April 1999 and ending at the end of the school year beginning in 2001.

Submission of education development plan to the Secretary of State

4.  The date by which, in accordance with section 7(1) of the 1998 Act, a local education authority must submit the first plan to the Secretary of State is 28th February 1999.

Copies of the education development plan

5.  The persons to whom a local education authority must provide a copy of the first plan or a summary version of that plan, in accordance with section 7(9) of the 1998 Act, are the head teacher and chair of the governing body of every school maintained by the authority.

(1)

1996 c. 56.

(2)

S.I. 1998/1532.

(3)

S.I. 1999/101.

(4)

The appropriate order currently in force is the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 2) (England) Order 1995, S.I. 1995/2072, as amended by S.I. 1996/2115 and 1997/2176.

(5)

S.I. 1995/2089, as amended by S.I. 1997/2624.

(6)

1997 c. 44.