Statutory Instruments
1999 No. 251

EDUCATION, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Education (School Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1999

Made
30th January 1999

Laid before Parliament
5th February 1999

Coming into force
1st April 1999

In exercise of the powers conferred upon the Secretary of State by sections 537(1) to (4) and (6) to (8) and 569(4) and (5) of the Education Act 1996(1) and sections 92(1) and (6), 138(7) and (8) and 144(1) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998(2), the Secretary of State for Education and Employment hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement, application and interpretation

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Education (School Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 1st April 1999.

Amendment of the principal Regulations

2.  The Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1998(3) shall be amended in accordance with these Regulations.

3.  In regulation 3(1) after the definition of “the 1996 Act” there shall be inserted–

““the 1998 Act” means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;”.

4.  The following Part shall be inserted after regulation 7–

“PART IIIACOMPOSITE PROSPECTUS OF ADMISSION INFORMATION

Authority to publish composite prospectus

7A.—(1) The provisions of this Part–

(a)apply in relation to maintained schools (as defined by section 84(6)(4) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998) in England; and

(b)do not require the publication of a composite prospectus in respect of any admission school year(5) before the admission school year 2000/2001.

(2) In this Part “composite prospectus” means a composite document required to be published by regulation 7B(1).

7B.—(1) An authority(6) shall publish in a composite document the information required by this regulation with respect to all maintained schools in the composite prospectus area.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation, “the composite prospectus area” comprises–

(a)the relevant authority’s area; and

(b)all such parts of the appropriate relevant area or appropriate relevant areas as extend beyond that authority’s area.

(3) For the purpose of paragraph (2)(b), “appropriate relevant area” means any relevant area (within the meaning of section 89(3) of the 1998 Act) that applies for consultation about the proposed admission arrangements for a school maintained by the relevant authority.

(4) An authority may, if they wish, carry out their obligation under paragraph (1) in either or both of the following ways–

(a)by publishing separate composite prospectuses covering respectively primary schools and secondary schools; and

(b)by dividing the composite prospectus area into two or more parts and publishing a separate composite prospectus covering respectively schools in each part.

(5) A composite prospectus shall contain the information specified in Schedule 1A.

(6) The time and manner of publication of a composite prospectus shall be in accordance with regulation 7C.

Time and manner of publication of composite prospectus

7C.—(1) A composite prospectus shall be published before 1st October in the publication school year, and in any event no later than six weeks before the date up to which parents may express a preference in respect of the admission school year for any school mentioned in that prospectus.

(2) A composite prospectus shall be published–

(a)by copies being made available for distribution without charge to parents on request–

(i)at the offices of the authority who are publishing it, and

(ii)at every school maintained by that authority; and

(b)by copies being made available for reference by parents and other persons at the public libraries in that authority’s area.”

5.  The following regulation shall be inserted after regulation 13–

“Provision of information for composite prospectus

13A.—(1) For the purpose of enabling the authority to comply with their obligation under regulation 7B, the governing body of every maintained school to be included in a composite prospectus under that regulation shall, in respect of each admission school year, provide to the relevant authority the information specified in Schedule 1A to these Regulations.

(2) That information shall be provided no later than such time before the time required for publication of the prospectus as the authority may reasonably require.”

6.  The following Schedule shall be inserted after Schedule 1–

“SCHEDULE 1AINFORMATION TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE COMPOSITE PROSPECTUS

1.  As respects each school mentioned in the composite prospectus:

(a)the name, address and telephone number of the school and the name of a person to whom enquiries should be addressed, and

(b)the expected number of pupils at the school and their age range.

2.  The classification of each such school as–

(a)(after the appointed day) a community, foundation, voluntary controlled or voluntary aided school;

(b)a primary, middle or secondary school;

(c)a comprehensive, secondary modern, grammar or bilateral school;

(d)a co-educational or single-sex school;

(e)a day or boarding school or a school taking both day and boarding pupils;

except that for the purposes of sub-paragraph (b) or (c) other terminology may be used according to usage in the authority.

3.  A summary of the admissions policy determined for the school in relation to each age at which pupils are admitted to the school (including ages above and below compulsory school age).

4.  The affiliations, if any, of each such school with a particular religious denomination.

5.  In the case of each such school which is a secondary school, where the information is available–

(a)the number of places for pupils of the normal age of entry to the school which were available at the start of the school year immediately following the reporting school year; and

(b)the number of written applications for places from the start of that year, or (as appropriate) preferences expressed for places at the school pursuant to arrangements made by the relevant authority under section 86(1) of the 1998 Act (or as the case may require section 411(1) of the 1996 Act).”

Estelle Morris
Minister of State,
Department for Education and Employment
30th January 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Section 92(1) and (6) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 place local education authorities under a duty to publish such information about the admissions arrangements of maintained schools in their area in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations. Section 537 of the Education Act 1996 enables the Secretary of State by regulations to impose additional requirements relating to the publication of information.
These Regulations make amendments to the Education (School Information) (England) Regulations 1998 requiring local education authorities in England to publish for each school year a composite prospectus of admission information for schools in their area. The Regulations come into force on 1st April 1999.
Regulation 3 inserts a definition into the 1998 Regulations.
Regulation 4 inserts a new Part IIIA into those Regulations, containing three new regulations. The first new regulation states the application of the new Part (which does not cover special schools and does not require publication of composite prospectuses for admissions before the school year 2000/2001). The second regulation requires a local education authority to publish a composite prospectus containing specified information relating to admissions about all maintained schools in the authority’s area or in the consultative area for a school maintained by the authority. An authority may publish a single composite prospectus covering all these schools or may produce separate prospectuses each covering part of the total area. It may also produce separate prospectuses for primary and for secondary schools. The third new regulation contains requirements relating to the time and manner of such publication.
Regulation 5 places a duty on the governing body of every maintained school that will be covered in a composite prospectus to provide the necessary information to the local education authority.
Regulation 6 inserts a new Schedule 1A into the 1998 Regulations listing the information to be included about each school in the composite prospectus. This information relates to: the name and address of the school and contact details, classification of the school, a summary of the admissions policy, a statement of any religious affiliation, and (in the case of secondary schools) numbers of places and of applications for those places in the previous year.


(1)
1996 c. 56.

(2)
1998 c. 31.

(3)
S.I. 1998/2526.

(4)
In relation to any time before the appointed day, within the meaning of section 20 of the 1998 Act (1st September 1999 by virtue of S.I. 1998/2083), the definition of “maintained school” in section 84(6) of that Act is modified by S.I. 1998/2230.

(5)
See regulation 3(1) of S.I. 1998/2526 for the meaning of this term and certain other terms used in the present Regulations, including “publication school year”, “relevant authority” and “reporting school year”.

(6)
Defined by regulation 3(1) of S.I. 1998/2526 as meaning a local education authority.