The Provision of School Education for Children under School Age (Prescribed Children) (Scotland) Order 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 32 of the Standard in Scotland’s Schools Act 2000 amends section 1 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (“the 1980 Act”) by imposing a duty on an education authority to secure the provision of school education for categories of children as may be prescribed by the Scottish Ministers. Sub-sections (1A) and (1B) of the 1980 Act provide the power to describe the categories of eligible children and the amount of school education they are to receive.

Article 2 describes eligible children. Children are eligible from the start of the term following their third birthday until the end of the term immediately before they are first eligible to attend primary school (generally between the ages of 3 and 5).

Article 2(2) and (3) deal with the situations where children do not attend primary school when they are first eligible to do so.

Article 2(2) applies to children who have their fifth birthday after the start of the school year and whose parents opt to defer entry to primary school to the following school year. For those children whose fifth birthday falls in September to December an education authority is not under a duty to provide school education for the deferred year. (Those whose fifth birthday falls in January or February are eligible for school education during the deferred year).

Article 2(3) excludes from the scope of an education authority’s duty children who, for example, may not be educated at a primary school on reaching 5 years old, or who may seek to defer entry for second or subsequent years.

Article 3 provides that eligible children are to receive 412.5 hours of school education during the school year. Article 3(2) covers those 3 year olds whose birthdays fall between September and February and who become eligible for school education after the school year has begun, commencing either in the spring or summer terms. The amount of school education they receive that year will be reduced pro-rata with the period in which they are eligible to receive school education.