Embedded Files
NOTE: The government had stated its intention to put new legislation before parliament, but this was dropped in December 2022 and it appears that the government will make this 'best practice' rather than a statutory requirement.
The law is very clear around when a pupil may be deleted from an admission register. In addition, it is important that we always put the safety of a child above wanting to improve attendance statistics so we must ensure that we follow all guidelines and are 100% satisfied with regard to removing a pupil from roll before we do this. That said, if you have checked and double-checked that you are removing a child from roll legitimately and your LA disagree with your decision, you should seek further advice from within the Trust but it does not mean that you cannot remove the child from roll once this advice has been sought. Your LA advisor is not the definitive source of information.
The DfE has provided guidance on what to do in the case of children missing education and you can find the guidance by clicking on the link below. It expands on all the points listed above and should always be checked before removing a child from roll. Always ensure that you have followed this guidance and that you have clear and written procedures in place to ensure that you fully comply with it. You are strongly advised to use the removal from roll form which is kindly provided by SoL Consulting (see bottom of page). All details regarding a change of school should be sent in an email and a copy of these kept with a copy of this form.
Bristol also have a very good set of CME guidance which can be accessed by clicking on this link.
Academies need to be particularly alert to Ofsted's focus on ensuring that schools are not 'off-rolling'. Whilst there is no legal definition for this Ofsted's description is as follows: "Off-rolling is the practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without using a permanent exclusion, when the removal is primarily in the best interests of the school, rather than the best interests of the pupil. This includes pressuring a parent to remove their child from the school roll." The most common types of removal from roll that may be a cause for concern for Ofsted are when a child becomes electively home-educated, is subject to a managed move or is attending another education establishment (in which case the pupil would normally continue to be dual registered with use of the D code when the pupil is attending the other establishment). Therefore check carefully any guidance and that the removal from roll does not meet the Ofsted definition. Please seek advice from Carol or Wendy if you are unsure about this.
Removal from roll request.docxDeletions from the admission register are covered under Section 8 of the Education Regulations 2006 and, in simple terms, state the following:
a pupil registered at a school under a school attendance order can only be removed if the order is revoked by the LA.
a pupils can be removed from roll if they are registered at another school (be careful with travellers and dual registration here) and the head teacher has given their consent for you to remove the child from roll at your school.
a pupil has ceased to attend school and the parents write to notify that the child is receiving education other than at school (ie home educated).
a pupil has ceased to attend the school and no longer resides at a place that is a reasonable distance from the school (reasonable distance varies according to age of the child).
a pupil can be removed if they do not return after a leave of absence that has been granted for 10 school days (after ensuring that there is no other good reason for absence such as sickness and after the school and LA have tried by reasonable means without success to find out the whereabouts of the pupil).
a pupil is certified by a medical officer as being unlikely to to be in a fit state of health to attend school whilst still of compulsory school age.
a pupil has been continuously absent from school for at least 20 schools days without authorisation, there are no reasonable grounds for the absence and both the school and the LA have tried by reasonable means without success to ascertain the whereabouts of the pupil.
the pupil has been detained by the courts for a period of not less than 4 months and there is no reason to believe that the pupil will return at the end of that period.
the pupil has died.
the pupil will cease to be of statutory school age before the next session of the school and the relevant person has indicated that they will not be returning (eg a sixth form pupil leaving)
the pupil has been permanently excluded (only from the point that an appeal period has expired).
the pupil has been admitted for nursery education but has not gone on into a reception class or higher at the school.
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