The Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 2002

PART 1 General

Citation and commencement

l.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 20th January 2003.

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

Revocation and Savings

2.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1998(1), the Education (School Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1999(2) and the Education (School Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002(3) are hereby revoked.

(2) The Regulations revoked by paragraph (1) shall continue to have effect in relation to the publication school year ending in 2003 and nothing in these Regulations shall have effect in relation to that publication school year.

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996;

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

“the 2000 Act” means the Learning and Skills Act 2000(4);

“the 2002 Act” means the Education Act 2002(5);

“admission number” means the number of pupils in any relevant age group intended to be admitted in any school year as determined by an admission authority in accordance with section 89A(1) of the 1998 Act(6);

“admission school year” means a school year at the beginning of which pupils are to be admitted to any school;

“appropriate relevant area” means any relevant area (within the meaning of section 89(3) of the 1998 Act) that applies for consultation about the proposed admission arrangements for a school maintained by the relevant authority;

“assess” means assess pursuant to orders made under section 87(3)(c) of the 2002 Act and “assessment” shall be construed accordingly;

“associated documents” means the documents published by the Stationery Office, setting out any levels of attainment and attainment targets in relation to the core subjects, which documents have effect by virtue of the respective orders made under section 87(2)(a) and (b) of the 2002 Act for those subjects for the time being in force;

“authority” means a local education authority and, in relation to an authority, “the offices” means the education offices;

“composite prospectus” means a composite document required to be published by regulation 8;

“core subjects” means English, mathematics and science;

“GCE ‘A’ level examinations” and “GCE ‘AS’ examinations” means General Certificate of Education advanced level and advanced supplementary or advanced subsidiary examinations respectively;

“GCSE” means General Certificate of Secondary Education;

“GNVQ” means a General National Vocational Qualification;

“indicated admission number” means the number of pupils in any relevant age group referred to as such in, and determined in accordance with the net capacity assessment method set out in, the guidance, Assessing the Net Capacity of Schools, issued by the Department for Education and Skills in August 2002(7);

“IT Key Skills Unit” means a qualification known as such and approved by the Secretary of State under section 98 of the 2000 Act for the purpose of section 96 of that Act;

“local average figures” means the average figures for all schools maintained by the relevant authority (other than any special school established in a hospital), and all city technology colleges and city colleges for the technology of the arts and Academies, in the area of that relevant authority;

“looked after children” has the same meaning as in section 22 of the Children Act 1989(8);

“maintained school” except in Part 4 means—

(a)

any community, foundation or voluntary school, or

(b)

any community or foundation special school which is not established in a hospital, but excludes any nursery school;

“national average figures” means the average figures for all schools in England;

“national summary figures” means the summary figures in respect of National Curriculum assessments of pupils for all schools in England;

“NC tasks” means National Curriculum standard tasks administered to pupils in the final year of the first key stage pursuant to article 5 of the Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 1 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 1999(9);

“NC tests” means National Curriculum tests administered to pupils in, as the case may be, the final year of the second key stage or the final year of the third key stage pursuant to, respectively, article 5 of the Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 2 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 1999(10) and article 10 of the Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 3 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 1999(11);

“non-maintained special school” means a special school which is not maintained by an authority (and which is not established in a hospital);

“previous school year” means the school year immediately preceding the reporting school year;

“publication school year” means the school year immediately preceding the admission school year;

“public examinations” means public examinations which are for the time being prescribed by regulations made under sections 402, 451, 453 and 454 of the 1996 Act;

“primary education” does not include such education provided at a middle school;

“relevant authority” in relation to a school means the authority which maintains the school;

“reporting school year” means the school year immediately preceding the publication school year;

“school prospectus” means the document described in regulation 14;

“special educational needs” and “special educational provision” have the same meanings as in section 312 of the 1996 Act;

“special school” has the meaning given to it by section 337(1) of the 1996 Act;

“the statutory arrangements” means assessment arrangements specified by orders made under section 87(3)(c) of the 2002 Act;

“teacher assessment” means assessment of a pupil by a teacher as specified in the statutory arrangements;

“unit” in relation to a vocational qualification, means a module or part of a course leading to that qualification which, when successfully completed, can be counted together with other modules or parts towards obtaining that qualification;

“VCE” means a vocational certificate of education known as such and accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in accordance with its functions set out in section 24(2) of the Education Act 1997(12);

“vocationally related qualification” means a qualification known as such and accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in accordance with its functions set out in section 24(2) of the Education Act 1997; and

references to levels and attainment targets are references to, respectively, the levels of attainment of the National Curriculum level scale and attainment targets set out in the associated documents.

(2) In these Regulations, any reference to a date up to which parents may express a preference for a school is a reference to the date by which, in accordance with arrangements made by the relevant local education authority under section 86(1) of the 1998 Act, a parent wishing education to be provided for his child in the exercise of the authority’s functions should express such a preference.

(3) In these Regulations, references to the first key stage, the second key stage, the third key stage and the fourth key stage are references to the periods set out in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 82(1) of the 2002 Act.

(4) In these Regulations, references to pupils of a particular age are to pupils who attained that age during the period of twelve months ending on the 3lst August immediately preceding the commencement of the reporting school year and who were registered pupils at the school on the third Thursday in January in the reporting school year.

(5) In these Regulations—

(a) except where otherwise provided, where a percentage which is required to be calculated by virtue of these Regulations is not a whole number it shall be rounded to the nearest whole number, the fraction of one half being rounded upwards to the next whole number;

(b) where an average point score which is required to be calculated by virtue of these Regulations is not a whole number, it shall be calculated to one decimal place.

(6) In these Regulations, references to examinations for which pupils at the school were entered include examinations for which they were entered otherwise than in pursuance of section 402 of the 1996 Act.

(7) For the purposes of these Regulations, any examination for the GCSE for which a pupil aged 15 was entered during the previous school year or any earlier school year shall be treated as such an examination for which the pupil was entered during the reporting school year.

Qualification of duties

4.  The duties imposed on a governing body and an authority by virtue of these Regulations in respect of provision, publication or making available information apply only to the extent that that information is available to the governing body or the authority in time for it to be reasonably practicable to provide, publish or make available the information before the latest occasion on which the information is required to be provided, published or made available as the case may be.

(1)

S.I. 1998/2526.

(2)

S.I. 1999/251.

(3)

S.I. 2002/1172.

(4)

2000 c. 21.

(5)

2002 c. 32.

(6)

Section 89A was inserted by section 47(2) of the 2002 Act.

(7)

Reference DfES/0739/2001 REV, ISBN 184185610X.

(8)

1989 c. 41.

(9)

S.I. 1999/1236.

(10)

S.I. 1999/2188.

(11)

S.I. 1999/2189.

(12)

1997 c. 44.