The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate and change the law relating to the registration of pupils at schools. They revoke and replace the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (“the 2006 Regulations”) and a number of amendments that have been made to those Regulations. This note mentions the main changes.

Every school in England must have a register of all its pupils (section 434 of the Education Act 1996). These Regulations set out how such registers must be kept, what information must be in the registers and other details. The Regulations also deal with the giving of leave of absence from some schools in England.

The proprietor of every school must make sure the school has an admission register and, unless all the pupils at the school are boarders, an attendance register (regulation 5). In a change from the 2006 Regulations, all registers must be kept electronically. Regulation 6 details how registers are to be updated and regulation 7 requires every entry in a register to be kept for at least six years. This is a change from the 2006 Regulations, in which the minimum period is three years.

Regulation 8 sets out the information that must be included in the admission register. The main changes from the 2006 Regulations are the addition of some supplementary information relating to names and addresses (paragraph (2)(a), (b), (d) and (e)) and a requirement to record a pupil’s starting day rather than their date of admission (paragraph (2)(h)).

Once a pupil’s name has been added to the admission register, it can and must be deleted if, and only if, one of the situations described in regulation 9 arises. Paragraph (1) lists the grounds of deletion for pupils of compulsory school age and paragraph (3) lists the grounds for other pupils. The main difference between those grounds and the ones in the 2006 Regulations is that there are additional requirements before a pupil’s name can be deleted on the basis that they have not returned from a leave of absence or have been absent for twenty school days (paragraph (1)(h) and (i) and paragraph (3)(c)).

Regulation 10 concerns the attendance register. Every school session, the attendance of every registered pupil who is not a boarder must be recorded in the attendance register. Unlike in the 2006 Regulations, attendance is to be recorded in the same way regardless of the pupil’s age, and is to be recorded by using a short code to represent each possible situation. Many of the specific situations that must be recorded are similar to those listed in the 2006 Regulations but some are new, while others that would have been recorded in the same way under the 2006 Regulations have been split into separate codes.

Regulation 11 sets out how a pupil can be given leave of absence from a school maintained by a local authority or a special school not maintained by a local authority. The main changes from the 2006 Regulations are the addition of specific provisions for giving leave of absence for a job interview or admission interview (paragraph (4)), to study for a public examination (paragraph (5)), as part of an agreed part-time timetable (paragraphs (6) to (8)) and to enable attendance outside the school premises for certain educational activities (paragraphs (9) and (10)).

Certain persons may examine and take extracts from schools’ admission and attendance registers (regulation 12). Where in the 2006 Regulations a local authority could only do this in relation to a school they maintained, they can now also do it in relation to any other school in their area (paragraph (4)(b)(iii)). The Secretary of State is also added to the list of persons who can examine registers and take extracts (paragraph (4)(b)(i)).

Regulation 13 requires specified information to be returned to the local authority when names are added to or deleted from a school’s admission register (paragraphs (1) to (6)), when pupils of compulsory school age (other than boarders) have specified kinds of absence (paragraphs (7) and (8)) and when pupils are unable to attend because of sickness and expected to be so for at least 15 school days (paragraphs (9) to (11)). The returns required by paragraphs (9) to (11) are new in these Regulations.

Schedule 1 makes amendments to other secondary legislation, and Schedule 2 revokes the 2006 Regulations and a number of other instruments that have amended them.

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

An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk. Hard copies are available from the Department for Education, Sanctuaty Buildings, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT.