Education — overviewAdmissions

Every child of compulsory school age must engage in full-time education. A child begins to be of compulsory school age:

• when they attain the age of five, if they attain that age on a prescribed day, and

• otherwise at the beginning of the prescribed day next following their attaining that age. In nearly every case, the child is enrolled at a school for this purpose

Prior to school, age early years provision is free but attendance cannot be enforced.

Admission to a school roll is often simple, but complications arise when the number of applicants for admission exceeds the school’s capacity. Each admission authority must set an admission number for each age group at which children are normally admitted.

The oversubscription criteria for selecting children for admission are important and often controversial.

The following criteria are lawful:

• catchment areas

• sibling priority (more acceptable at the primary phase rather than at secondary schools)

• travelling distance priority

• medical need priority

• social need priority

• random (lottery) allocations

• partial selection by aptitude or a well-regulated system of banding

Unfair criteria are:

• use of interviews

• asking for financial contributions

• preference to children from particular types of school (but the use of feeder schools is permissible)

• priority for applicants who named this school as their first preference

• priority to those who will commit to out-of-school activities

• most criteria relating to the child’s parental or family background or hobbies

• (at a boarding school) suitability of the child for boarding (but the Armed Forces and boarding need priorities (above) are mandatory)

• alphabetical priority of names

• chronological priority of ages

Appeals are heard by local area panels, which are entitled to examine the correctness of the admission authority’s procedure and the lawfulness of its oversubscription criteria.

Further appeals can be made:

• to the Local Government Ombudsman

• to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on limited grounds

• by judicial review

Attendance

Every school (maintained or independent) is obliged to keep a register of each child enrolled there and a register of their attendances and absences.

It is a criminal offence for a parent to fail to comply with a school attendance order (ie to fail to send their child to school).

Transport

As soon as a local authority in England has implemented an approved school travel scheme, its duties to provide free transport for every eligible child fall away.

The school may charge for trips that are essentially optional extras, including board and lodging on any residential trip, unless the trip is in school hours and the purpose is to deliver education within the National Curriculum. Schools must have (and use) a remission of charges policy to assist low-income families.

Special education needs

The statutory definition of special education needs (SEN) refers to a child who:

• has significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of their age, and/or

• has a disability that prevents or hinders them from using educational facilities generally provided for children of their age in that area and/or

• is below compulsory school age and is likely to fall within the above definitions, when older

A child assessed with SEN will usually have a statement of SEN describing the schooling they should receive.

Discipline and exclusion

The following disciplinary procedures are lawful:

• physical restraint of pupils by teachers, if the force used is reasonable force and if the sole purpose of the use of force is to prevent the pupil from committing a crime or from otherwise injuring another person, or himself/herself, or from causing damage to property

• detention of pupils by teachers after school hours, provided reasonable notice, of 24 hours, is given

• confiscation of property from pupils by teachers for disciplinary purposes

• physical searching of pupils and of their possessions (eg in school bags and lockers) by teachers for disciplinary purposes (and without the pupil’s consent)

• internal exclusion occurs when a pupil in school is separated from their fellow pupils, perhaps for several successive days

Exclusion or expulsion of pupils from school is now heavily regulated by statute in maintained schools. Only the head teacher can exclude pupils. Exclusion should usually be used only as a last resort, when all other methods have failed, unless the child has committed a serious offence.

Informal and unofficial exclusions are illegal, regardless to any agreement with parents. If a head teacher sends a pupil home for the afternoon to cool off, this is an exclusion and must be recorded the same as way as other fixed period exclusions would.