Statutory Instrument 1996 No. 2585

The Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1996

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© Crown Copyright 1996

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1996 No. 2585

EDUCATION, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1996

In exercise of the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by section 55(5) of the Education Act 1944^[1] sections 8(5), (5A), (5B), (6), (7) and 35(4) of the Education Act 1980^[2], sections 22 and 232(5) and (6) of the Education Reform Act 1988^[3], sections 16 and 19(3) of the Education (Schools) Act 1992^[4], and section 153(1) and 301(6) of the Education Act 1993^[5], and after consulting with those persons with whom consultation appeared to her to be desirable, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and application
    1.—(1)  These Regulations may be cited as the Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 4th November 1996.

    (2)  These Regulations apply in relation to maintained schools in England.

Revocation
    2.    The Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1994^[6], the Education (School Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1994^[7] and the Education (School Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1995^[8] are hereby revoked.

Interpretation
    3.—(1)  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

"the 1980 Act" means the Education Act 1980;


"the 1988 Act" means the Education Reform Act 1988;


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


"assess" means assess pursuant to orders made under section 4(2) of the 1988 Act^[9], and "assessment" shall be construed accordingly;


"attainment targets" has the meaning given by section 2 of the 1988 Act;


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


"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 examinations respectively;


"GCSE" means General Certificate of Secondary Education;


"level" means a level on the levels of attainment set out in any document of a kind referred to in section 4(4) of the 1988 Act the provisions of which have effect, or (as the case may be) have effect as amended, by virtue of any order made under section 4(2)(a) and (b) of that Act^[10] and, unless the context otherwise requires, means such level determined in accordance with the statutory arrangements;


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


"maintained school" means:
 (a) any county or voluntary school;
 (b) any special school maintained by an authority which is not established in a hospital;
 (c) any grant-maintained school or grant-maintained 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 tests" in relation to pupils in the final year of the first key stage, means National Curriculum standard tasks administered to pupils pursuant to article 5 of the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 1) (England) Order 1995^[11] and, in relation to pupils in the final year of the second or third key stage, "NC tests" and "NC tasks" mean respectively National Curriculum tests and National Curriculum tasks administered to pupils to assess the level of attainment which they have achieved in any of the core subjects being tests and tasks laid down in provisions made by the Secretary of State under orders made under section 4(2)(c) of the 1988 Act^[12] which have been published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office;


"non-maintained special school" means a special school which is neither maintained by an authority nor a grant-maintained special school (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 section 106 of the 1988 Act^[13];


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


"relevant authority", in relation to a county or voluntary school or a special school maintained by an authority which is not established in a hospital, means the authority by which the school is maintained and, in relation to a grant-maintained school or a grant-maintained special school which is not established in a hospital, means the authority in whose area the school is situated;


"reporting school year" means the school year immediately preceding the publication school year;


"school prospectus" means the document described in regulation 11;


"special educational needs" and "special educational provision" have the same meanings as in section 156 of the Education Act 1993;


"special school" has the meaning assigned to it by section 182(1) of the Education Act 1993;


"the statutory arrangements" means assessment arrangements specified by orders made under section 4(2)(c) of the 1988 Act;


"teacher assessment" means assessment of a pupil's level of attainment in any of the core subjects 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.

    (2)  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a numbered regulation is a reference to the regulation bearing that number in these Regulations, any reference to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph of that regulation bearing that number, any reference in a paragraph to a sub-paragraph is a reference to a sub-paragraph of that paragraph and any reference to a Schedule is to a Schedule to these Regulations.

    (3)  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 6(1) of the 1980 Act, a parent wishing education to be provided for his child in the exercise of the authority's functions should express such a preference.

    (4)  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to publication by the governing body of a school includes a reference to publication on behalf of the governing body by the relevant authority by virtue of section 8(6) of the 1980 Act.

    (5)  In these Regulations references to the first key stage, the second key stage and the third key stage are references to the periods set out in paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 3(3) of the 1988 Act.

    (6)  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, references to pupils of a particular age are to pupils who attained that age during the period of twelve months ending on the 31st 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.

    (7)  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.

    (8)  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 117 of the 1988 Act.

    (9)  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 governing bodies and authorities by virtue of these Regulations in respect of provision, publication or making available of 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 is required to be provided, published or made available as the case may be.

[1] 1944 c. 31; section 55 was amended by section 93 of, and paragraph 5 of Part I of Schedule 8 to, the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (c. 13). back

[2] 1980 c. 20; section 8(5) and (6) were amended and section 8(5A) and (5B) inserted by paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 4 to the Education (Schools) Act 1992. back

[3] 1988 c. 40; section 22 was amended by paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 to the Education (Schools) Act 1992 and (in ways not relevant to these Regulations) by paragraph 123 of Schedule 19 to the Education Act 1993. It applies in relation to grant-maintained special schools and their governing bodies by virtue of S.I. 1994/653. For matters to be prescribed, seesection 235(7) of this Act and section 114(1) of the Education Act 1944 (c. 31), and for the transfer of functions to the Secretary of State seeS.I. 1964/490, 1970/1536 and 1978/274. back

[4] 1992 c. 38; section 16 applies in relation to grant-maintained special schools and their governing bodies by virtue of S.I. 1994/653. For the meaning of "prescribed"seesection 18(1) of this Act. back

[5] 1993 c. 35; section 153 applies to grant-maintained special schools by virtue of S.I. 1994/1048. back

[6] S.I. 1994/1421. back

[7] S.I. 1994/2387. back

[8] S.I. 1995/2480. back

[9] The orders currently in force are the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 1) Order 1995, S.I. 1995/2071 as amended by S.I. 1996/2114; the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 2) Order 1995, S.I. 1995/2072 as amended by S.I. 1996/2115; and the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 3) Order 1996, S.I. 1996/2116, (which came into force on 12th August 1996 and revoked S.I. 1995/2073). back

[10] In relation to Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, the relevant Orders now in force are S.I. 1995/51 (English), 1995/52 (Mathematics) and 1995/53 (Science). back

[11] S.I. 1995/2071 as amended by S.I. 1996/2114. back

[12] SeeS.I. 1995/2071 as amended by S.I. 1996/2114 (Key Stage 1), 1995/2072 as amended by S.I. 1996/2115 (Key Stage 2) and 1996/2116 (Key Stage 3). back

[13] The current regulations are the Education (Prescribed Public Examinations) Regulations 1989 (S.I. 1989/377). back

Explanatory Note