Office of Public Sector Information

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, made under Article 24 of The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, revoke and replace The Education (Pupil Records) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998; The Education (Pupil Records) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001; The Education (Individual Pupils’ Achievements) (Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998; and The Education (Individual Pupils’ Achievements) (Information) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999. They impose duties on the Principal and Board of Governors of all grant-aided schools, with the exceptions specified below, relating to the recording, reporting and transfer of pupil assessment information in the transitional period between the previous assessment and reporting arrangements ending and the revised requirements being introduced by future subordinate legislation.

The Principal of a school is required to make available to parents before the 30th June, annual assessment information relating to their child in Language and Literacy and Mathematics and Numeracy, as well as brief particulars of the child’s achievement in any area of learning or activity which forms part of their curriculum, and a formative record of progress and achievements. The Principal must ensure that the results of any public examinations or end of key stage 3 information are also provided to parents, even if this is after the 30^th June. This requirement does not apply to nursery schools, or in respect of pupils in primary schools or special schools who have not attained the lower limit of compulsory school age.

The Board of Governors of a school are required to make arrangements for the transfer of an individual pupil’s records to another school when the pupil has transferred there. This must be within 15 school days. Boards of Governors must also make arrangements to ensure that certain other educational records, if kept as part of a pupil’s record, should be disclosed on request and a copy supplied to the pupil’s parent or any school in respect of which the pupil is accepted for admission. A fee may be charged for the supply of copies not exceeding the cost of such supply (regulation 9 (1)(c)). A request for disclosure and supply must be dealt with within 15 school days of its receipt.

These duties extend to any educational records kept about nursery school pupils, or about pupils in primary schools who are below compulsory school age. A copy of the arrangements made under regulations 6 and 9 must be available for inspection free of charge by any person entitled to disclosure and supply of a copy of a pupil’s record (regulation 9).

Regulation 10 provides that there must be provision for appeals to the Board of Governors against decisions to refuse disclosure or transfer of information about a pupil.

Regulations 11 to 13 exclude specified categories of information from the disclosure obligation. These are:

(a) statements of special educational needs maintained under the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996;

(b) reports for the purposes of proceedings to which the Magistrates’ Courts (Criminal Justice) (Children) Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 apply;

(c) certain information about the pupil’s home circumstances and his religious denomination; and

(d) the results of an individual pupil’s assessment.

Boards of Governors may translate the statement of transfer and disclosure arrangements kept under regulation 9(1)(d) into a language other than English (regulation 14).