Guidance for staff: Pupils without a school place/not accessing a school
place
1. Statutory Duties
1.1
The responsibility to ensure that a child receives full-time education
while he or she is of statutory school age lies with the parent/ carer with
parental responsibility.
1.2
The 1996 Education Act states that the parent/carer of every child of
compulsory school age shall cause him or her to receive efficient fulltime education suitable to his or her age, ability and aptitude, and to
any special educational needs he or she may have, either by regular
attendance at school or otherwise.
1.3
Every child of statutory school age has the right to a school place and
the Local Authority (LA) where the child lives has the responsibility to
identify that school place.
1.4
Within the LA, the duty to place pupils rests with the Admissions team
when the child does not have a statement of SEN, and with the SEN
team when the child has a statement. The Exclusions Officer has
particular responsibilities for the placement of a pupil who does not
have a statement and who has been permanently excluded or for
whom a managed move is arranged. This officer will act in concert
with the admissions team should placement in another mainstream
school be sought.
1.5
Some parents/carers may decide to provide a suitable education by
educating their children at home, rather than seeking to enrol their child
at a school. This is known as Home schooling or Elective Home
Education and is where the parent/carer takes full responsibility for the
education of the child. Guidance for parents and carers may be found
at www.dorsetforyou.com.
1.6
Parents may request that a school enter an arrangement to flexi-school
but there is no right to do so. Guidance on flexi-schooling may be
found at www. dorsetforyou.com on the home school page
1.7
Local authorities are responsible for arranging suitable full-time
education for permanently excluded pupils, and for other pupils who –
because of illness or other reasons – would not receive suitable
education without such provision. Full time provision must be made
unless the pupil’s health (mental or physical) means that full-time
education would not be in his or her best interests. This applies to all
children of compulsory school age resident in the local authority area,
whether or not they are on the roll of a school, and whatever type of
school they attend. Full-time education for excluded pupils must begin
no later than the sixth day of the exclusion. (Section 19 of the Education Act
1996, as amended by section 3 of the Children, Schools and Families Act 2010)
1.8
Any school that is established and maintained by a local authority to
enable it to discharge the above duty is known as a pupil referral unit.
There is no requirement on local authorities to have or to establish a
pupil referral unit, and they may discharge their duties by other means.
1.9
PRUs in Dorset are known as Learning Centres. Provision in learning
centres is defined as Alternative Provision.
However AP also
encompasses education arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed
period exclusion; and pupils being directed by schools to off-site
provision to improve their behaviour.
1.10
Dorset has established 5 Learning Centres so that it can make suitable
provision for children and young people described in Section 19 of the
Education Act 1996. Places are commissioned in the five Dorset
learning centres to enable the LA to fulfil this function.
1.11
In addition Dorset Learning Centres are able to receive pupils who are
at risk of exclusion and for whom the school wishes to make off-site
provision. Such pupils are dual registered and may receive a
substantial part of their provision in school. The statutory basis for
making such provision rests with the right of a Head teacher and
governing body to direct a pupil off site for education to improve
behaviour.
They have the responsibility to ensure that the
parents/carers of the pupil concerned are fully informed of the
arrangements made for Alternative Provision. This is set out in the
new Statutory Guidance on Alternative Provision which was issued by
the DfE in September 2012 and has effect from 1st January 2013. It
may be found at www.education.gov.uk/g00211923/alternativeprovision
2. How are school places identified for pupils who have not been
allocated a place through standard processes?
2.1
The parent/carer must apply to the admissions team for a school place.
Where there are school places available and where there are no
indications that the pupil has experienced difficulties in school attendance
then a place may be allocated. In addition all LAs must operate an (In
Year) Fair Access (IYFA) scheme to
 ensure that the needs of vulnerable young people who are not
on the roll of any school are dealt with quickly and
sympathetically,
 reduce the time that hard to place pupils spend out of school,
 ensure that all schools admit their fair share (and that
undersubscribed schools do not admit a greater proportion) of
children with challenging behaviour,
 be fair and transparent.
Please see Dorset’s In Year Fair Access Policy
2.2
When a child/young person without a statement does not have a school
place and is known to members of the Locality Team, the allocated
worker will support the parent /carer to make an application for a school
place through the Admissions Team.
2.3
Where a pupil is now resident in Dorset but has attended a PRU
elsewhere, this is still dealt with by the admissions team as a school
admission. The Fair Access Panel will determine placement which is
likely to be at a Dorset PRU.
3. Placement at a Dorset Learning Centre
3.1
There is a central panel which meets every three weeks in term time and
hears and decides upon requests for involvement from a range of
professionals. The Chesil Partnership has its own panel. Both panels
have Head teacher, Inclusion Services, Admissions and Early
Intervention representation.
3.2
Dorset Learning Centres will admit those pupils whom the Admissions
panel have deemed to be appropriate admissions.
3.3
Both panels also function as Fair Access panels in a separate part of the
meeting which is chaired by an Admissions Manager and decide on
placement in both schools and learning centres under fair access
arrangements.
3.4
Admissions to learning centres may be agreed under the fair access
protocol (eg when a pupil has attended a PRU in another authority) but
only when there are demonstrable and defensible reasons for doing so.
Please see the Policy for Admission to Learning Centres (PRUs) in Dorset
for further information concerning who can make a request for
involvement and what criteria apply.
4. What happens when a pupil has a school place but is not attending?
4.1
It is the school’s responsibility to take steps to identify why the pupil is not
attending and to seek to support and secure his or her attendance. This
may involve other agencies and the use of CAF.
4.2
The school may request the involvement of the Early Intervention Service
and must do so if the non-attendance is problematic. There will also be
occasions when it is appropriate to follow procedures for Children Missing
Education. Please see the EIS document SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
4.3
It is important at this point that a thorough assessment is made of the
pupil and family’s needs and a plan made to effect re-engagement with
education. This may include a re-integration programme, consideration of
legal action and supporting the parent or carer to request an alternative
school place through admissions if the current school placement has
irretrievably broken down. Parents/carers are able to state their
preferences for school placement but there can be no guarantee that a
place can be identified at a specific school.
4.4
There may be occasions when the locality social worker believes that the
pupil may meet the criteria for learning centre provision. Requests for
involvement must be able to demonstrate fully that all avenues to support
re-integration and attendance at school have been explored, including the
consideration of appropriate legal action. Requests must evidence the
involvement of other agencies. We would expect most pupils referred in
this category to have a CAF and have been given team around the child
support and that the school would have sought advice from their link
educational psychologist .
4.5
Guidance concerning requests for learning centre involvement on medical
grounds (which may encompass home teaching and on-line lessons
where necessary), may be found on dcc-schoolsnet, Inclusion Guidance
and Templates. The title of this document is
Access to Education for Children and Young People with Medical Needs May 2012
Please note that, although school staff and/or locality social workers and
school staff will be involved in providing pupil information, the request for
out of school provision on medical grounds may only be made by a
Consultant or Community Paediatrician and that all avenues to support
the pupil to continue with provision in school should be explored.
Other helpful documents
Flexi schooling (schoolsnet – Inclusion guidance)
Part time attendance (schoolsnet – Inclusion guidance)
Out of school ….out of mind? LGO September 2011
(www.lgo.org.uk/publications/advice-and-guidance)
School Admissions Code
(www.education.gov.uk/g00213254/school-admissions-code-2012)
April 2014