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In exercise of the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by sections 105, 108(2), 138(7) and 144 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998[1], the Secretary of State for Education and Employment hereby makes the following Regulations, a draft of which has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.

"registered" except in regulation 5 and in the context of parents registered under regulation 5, means shown in the register kept under section 434 of the Education Act 1996[2] and the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995[3] and "register" shall be construed accordingly;

"relevant area" means - 

(a) the area of a local education authority specified in Schedule 1, and

(b) the area comprising the London borough of Sutton and the Nonsuch ward in the county of Surrey;

"relevant school", in relation to a petition or ballot, means - 

(a) in the case of an area ballot or petition for such a ballot, a school referred to in regulation 4(1)(a) or (b) in relation to the area in question, and

(b) in the case of a feeder school ballot or petition for such a ballot, a school which is a feeder school for the group of grammar schools or, as the case may be, the stand alone grammar school in question;

"school registered parent" means a parent who is an eligible parent by virtue of regulation 4(1)(a) or (b) or (2);

"stand alone grammar school" means a grammar school specified in Schedule 3 (maintained by the local education authority specified in the right hand column of Schedule 3 or, where the school is a grant-maintained school, situated in the area of that authority);

"summer holidays", in relation to any school, means a holiday period any part of which falls between 31st July and 1st September;

"transfer age group" means - 

(a) for a grammar school, the highest relevant age group (within the meaning of section 142(1) of the Act) for that grammar school, disregarding any relevant age group in which the majority of the pupils admitted to the school are over compulsory school age; and

(b) for a group of grammar schools, the highest of the transfer age groups for the grammar schools in the group; and

"valid petition" has the meaning given in regulation 7(1).

    (2) Any reference in these regulations to a ballot being in favour of retaining selective admission arrangements is a reference to the result of a ballot being that the school or schools to which the ballot relates should retain selective admission arrangements.

    (3) For the purpose of these regulations the date of an electoral list is the date on which the register by reference to which the electoral list is compiled has effect (and is, accordingly, the date referred to in regulation 19(4)).

Designation of body
     3. Electoral Reform (Ballot Services) Ltd. is prescribed for the purposes of section 105(3)(c) of the Act and that body is referred to in these Regulations as "the designated body".

Meaning of "eligible parent"
     4.  - (1) Subject to paragraphs (3) to (5) below, in relation to an area ballot or a petition for such a ballot a person is an "eligible parent" on any date if - 

(a) on that date the person is a registered parent of a child who is a registered pupil at a school - 


(i) maintained[4] by the local education authority for the relevant area in question, or

(ii) (where the area is that falling within paragraph (b) of the definition of relevant area) maintained by the council of the London borough of Sutton or maintained by a local education authority and situated in the Nonsuch ward in the county of Surrey;



(b) on that date the person is resident in the relevant area in question and is a registered parent of a child who is a registered pupil at an independent school situated in the area; or

(c) on that date the person is a parent who does not fall within sub-paragraph (a) or (b), is resident in the relevant area in question and is the parent of a child who - 



(i) is a pupil at a school (whether it is maintained by a local education authority, a special school not maintained by a local education authority or an independent school), or

(ii) is being educated otherwise than at school, or

(iii) has not begun to be of compulsory school age,



and who is registered with the designated body under regulation 5 below.

    (2) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (6) below, in the context of a feeder school ballot or a petition for such a ballot a person is an eligible parent on any date if that person is a parent of a child who is a pupil at a feeder school for the stand alone grammar school or group of grammar schools in respect of which the ballot is being held or the petition raised.

    (3) A parent of the following description is not an eligible parent - 

(a) a parent falling within paragraph (1)(a) or (2) who on the date in question is resident outside the United Kingdom, or

(b) a parent who is not an individual.

    (4) A child of a parent falling within paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c)(i) shall be disregarded for the purposes of that paragraph if he is over compulsory school age on the date in question.

    (5) A child of a parent falling within paragraph (1)(c) (ii) shall be disregarded for the purposes of that paragraph if the child is over 16 on the date in question.

    (6) A child of a parent falling within paragraph (2) shall be disregarded for the purposes of that paragraph if, on the date in question he is over the transfer age group for the group of grammar schools or stand alone grammar school in question.

    (7) In this regulation - 

(a) a parent's residence for the purpose of paragraph (1)(b) shall be determined by reference to the address contained in the admission register required to be kept by the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995; and

(b) a parent's residence for the purpose of paragraph (1)(c) shall be determined by the designated body.

Registration with the designated body
     5.  - (1) Where - 

(a) a person makes a written application to the designated body to register under this regulation, and

(b) the designated body is satisfied that the person falls within regulation 4(1)(c) in relation to any relevant area,

the designated body shall register that person in relation to that area.

    (2) The designated body may require an applicant for registration to provide such information or documents as the designated body may determine in order for the designated body to determine whether the person falls within regulation (4)(1)(c) and may decline to accept an application for registration unless such information or documents are provided.

    (3) Where a person applies for registration under paragraph (1), registration takes effect on the date on which the designated body notify the applicant that they have determined that the person falls within regulation 4(1)(c).

    (4) Where the designated body are satisfied (after making such enquiries as they think fit) that a person no longer falls within regulation 4(1)(c) they shall remove that person from the register on such date as they determine.

    (5) Subject to regulation 22(2), if the designated body have given the notification required by regulation 10(1) that a valid petition relating to the area has been received, a person shall not be registered in relation to that area after the date 4 weeks after the date of such notification unless the subsequent ballot is in favour of retaining selective admission arrangements and (where that is the case) until the end of the moratorium period for the area.

Meaning of "feeder school"
     6.  - (1) For the purposes of these Regulations - 

(a) in any school year the feeder schools for a group of grammar schools are each school from which at least 5 pupils have transferred to the group of grammar schools (taken together) during the relevant period; and

(b) in any school year the feeder schools for a stand alone grammar school are each school from which at least 5 pupils have transferred to the grammar school during the relevant period.

    (2) In determining for the purpose of this regulation the number of pupils who have transferred from a school to a grammar school in any school year, pupils who were over the age of the transfer age group for the grammar school when they transferred to the grammar school shall be disregarded.

    (3) In this regulation "relevant period" means the period consisting of the school year in question and the two preceding school years.

    (4) For the purposes of this regulation where a grammar school was established in substitution for an independent school the grammar school and the independent school shall be treated as the same school.

Form of petition
     8.  - (1) A petition shall on each sheet state - 

(a) the grammar school or schools to which it relates; and

(b) where it is a petition for an area ballot, the relevant area in question.

    (2) A petition shall, on each sheet, contain the following words: - 

" We the undersigned, being eligible parents, seek a ballot on whether those listed schools which select by academic ability should continue to do so."

    (3) In relation to each parent who signs a petition the following information shall be given - 

(a) the first name and surname and address of the parent;

(b) in the case of a petition for an area ballot - 


(i) the name of the parent's child or, where the parent has more than one child, the name of at least one of the parent's children who, at the date on which the petition is signed, is of compulsory school age (where the child is a pupil at a school) or is aged 16 or under (where the child is educated otherwise than at school); and

(ii) the name of the school which the child named in the petition is attending or, where the child does not attend a school, a statement to that effect; or



(c) in the case of a petition for a feeder school ballot - 



(i) the name of a child of that parent who is a pupil at a school which is a feeder school for the group of grammar schools or, as the case may be, the stand alone grammar school to which the petition relates who, at the date on which the petition is signed, is of compulsory school age; and

(ii) the name of the school which the child named in the petition is attending; and



(d) the date on which the parent signs the petition.

    (4) A petition shall, on each sheet contain a statement to the effect that a person signing it confirms that the information given in relation to that person is true and correct.

    (5) The petition shall give the name and address of the person (in these Regulations referred to as the "petition organiser") to whom notification should be given as to whether the petition is valid.

    (6) Where the designated body has given the notification required by regulation 10(1) that a valid petition has been received, any subsequent petition relating to the same relevant area, group of grammar schools or stand alone grammar school shall not be valid unless - 

(a) the subsequent ballot is in favour of retaining selective admission arrangements; and

(b) no person signs it before the end of the moratorium period for the area, group of grammar schools or stand alone grammar school.

Meaning of "relevant eligible parent" and "parent population"
     9.  - (1) A parent is a relevant eligible parent if he is a school registered parent at the date of the electoral list referred to in one of paragraphs (2) to (5) as appropriate.

    (2) Where none of the paragraphs (3) to (5) apply the electoral list referred to in paragraph (1) is that for the current term.

    (3) If - 

(a) at the time when the petition is received by the designated body they have not obtained the electoral list for the current term for the relevant school by reference to which a person is a school registered parent, and

(b) in the light of the date on which the petition is received they do not anticipate that they will be able to do so during that term,

the electoral list referred to in paragraph (1) is that for the next term after the current term for which a list is provided to the designated body.

    (4) If - 

(a) at the time when the petition is received by the designated body they have not obtained the electoral list for the current term for the relevant school by reference to which a person is a school registered parent, and

(b) (despite a request under regulation 19(4)) the designated body does not receive an electoral list for the current term but receives an electoral list for a later school term,

the electoral list referred to in paragraph (1) is the electoral list for the later term.

    (5) If - 

(a) paragraph (3) does not apply in respect of the relevant school by reference to which a person is a school registered parent, but||

(b) paragraph (3) applies in respect of another relevant school, and

(c) as a result of the operation of paragraph (3) in respect of that school, the electoral list which applies for the purposes of paragraph (1) is that for the school term after the summer holidays,

the electoral list referred to in paragraph (1) is the electoral list for the school term starting after the summer holidays or where (despite a request under regulation 19(4)) the designated body does not receive that list but receives a list for a later school term, the electoral list for the later school term.

    (6) A parent is also a relevant eligible parent if he is a ballot registered parent on the date on which the petition is received by the designated body.

    (7) For the purposes of regulation 7(7) "the parent population" means - 

(a) in the case of an area ballot, the total of school registered parents; and

(b) in the case of a feeder school ballot, the total of eligible parents,

in the case at the date determined under paragraph (8).

    (8) The date referred to in paragraph (7) is - 

(a) except in the circumstances described in sub-paragraph (b), the date of the first electoral list provided to the designated body for each relevant school for the petition period during which the petition is received, provided that if paragraph (4) applies in relation to any school and an electoral list is not provided to the designated body for that petition period, the date of the electoral list actually provided in relation to the petition in question shall, in relation to that school, be substituted for the date of the first electoral list for the petition period; and

(b) where paragraph (3) applies in relation to at least one school and, as a result of its application, the electoral list or lists which apply for the purpose of determining whether a parent is a relevant eligible parent is that for the school term after the summer holidays, the date of the first electoral list provided to the designated body for each relevant school for the next petition period.

and in this paragraph an electoral list provided "for" a particular petition period is an electoral list the date of which falls within the petition period in question.

    (9) In calculating, for the purposes of paragraph (7), the total of school registered parents or eligible parents each parent shall count only once (irrespective of the number of children a parent may have or the number of schools they attend).

    (10) In this regulation - 

"the current term" in relation to any school, is the term in which the date on which the petition is received falls, or

(a) where that date falls in any school holidays, the most recent term, except where sub-paragraph (b) applies; and

(b) where that date falls in the summer holidays, the subsequent term, except in a case where on that date the designated body has obtained an electoral list for that school for the term ending before the summer holidays; and

"the first electoral list" for any petition period means the electoral list obtained by the designated body on the first occasion in any petition period on which it obtains such a list whether in compliance with its obligations under regulation 18 below or in order to determine the validity of a petition,

and any reference to an electoral list for a particular term is a reference to the electoral list obtained by the designated body for that term whether in compliance with its obligations under regulation 18 or in order to determine the validity of a petition.