Children Missing Education Journey to compliance

Department for Education Statutory Guidance

First steps of the journey Read the Department for Educations guidance Review again to ensure your own understanding Identify the requirements for your school Appraise current internal processes Introduce and internally publish new protocols To learn the detail you must read, read and read again the regulations. Show of hands how many people have read

Keys to Success Understanding the guidance and its day to day application Clear protocols and service level agreements Meeting statutory deadlines Eradicating historical poor practice Building positive partnerships Open lines of communications Application of best practice to achieve compliance

Where are we now? Your views and questions Headline purpose of today is to achieve strong partnership (schools and LA) and to start the journey to compliance – step one, where are we? You are all in different places – staff changes, communications issues etc. Ask the floor for comments

Core Elements Children Missing Education Starters and leavers Children Missing Out Lost pupil database The regulations cover in detail what is required of all of us to ensure the safe guarding of our children and young people – today we are covering the core elements

Quick quiz According to the National Children’s Bureau Freedom of Information request for 2016/17. How many children were registered as missing from education? What percentage of these were known to Social Care? Based on free school meal eligibility figures do you think these children or more or less likely to be eligible? What does this all mean?

Children Missing Education Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.

Starters Sharing information with the local authority. All schools are required to notify the local authority within five days when a pupil’s name is added to the admission register at a non-standard transition point. Schools will need to provide the local authority with all the information held within the admission register about the pupil. This duty does not apply when a pupil’s name is entered in the admission register at a standard transition point – at the start of the first year of education normally provided by that school – unless the local authority requests for such information to be provided. As all schools co-ordinated ‘In Year’ admissions through Pupil Services this is delivered without action by schools

Leavers Sharing information with the local authority. Schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be removed from the admission register at a non-standard transition point under any of the fifteen grounds set out in the regulations, as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register. This duty does not apply at standard transition points – where the pupil has completed the school’s final year – unless the local authority requests for such information to be provided. This includes non starters being removed from the pre admissions register

Children Missing Out Children Missing Out are identified as those who have a named placement but are not in receipt of education: Key reasons Parent refusing named school Named school refusing admission Actions School must hold on their pre admissions register and initiate school attendance procedures LA will take action to ensure the school admits or where an academy refer to the ESFA to direct

Lost Pupils When a school is unable to locate the whereabouts of a new admission non starter or a pupil on their roll (after 20 days of non attendance) upon completion of the required tracking a Newham CME notification must be sent to the CME Team. Within 5 days of receipt this notification officers will respond to advise if they have established the pupils whereabouts or authorise the school to: Remove the pupil from your roll or pre admissions register and complete the LA off rolling form AND Create a single pupil transfer file using XXXXXXX as the destination and upload to the DfE.

Supporting your compliance To promote continuity and ensure compliance we introduced: New online forms to report: Pupils being removed from roll www.newham.gov.uk/offschoolroll Pupils identified as Children Missing Education referrals www.newham.gov.uk/schoolcme Each forms leads you step by step through the DfE requirements

Lead from the front! Best practice every time! Our proactivity is something to shout about: Pupil Services work to identify those at risk of missing education. Families who: Exercise their right of deferred entry into reception Chose to apply for summer born admission into reception Fail to submit an application for the normal transition rounds by the national closing dates Report their child as being in receipt of Elective Home Education but have not made themselves to known to our EHE Service

Do you comply or not comply? That is the question!