CME Guidance for Schools
Published: 12 September 2016
A briefing on the updated CME (Children Missing in Education) guidance. This briefing has been written by John Bigley, Manager, Admissions and Access from Sheffield City Council.
Background
Following Ofsted reports at Birmingham and Tower Hamlets in June 2015, Inspectors found that there were many cases where schools had no destination of pupils that had left. Concerns were raised about inconsistent practices between schools and Local Authorities when exchanging information. This in turn raised serious safeguarding issues with children potentially being exposed to the risk of harm, exploitation or radicalisation. As a result HMI’S Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilsher recommended that the Government strengthen regulations to ensure that schools provide regular and accurate information to their Local Authority about children as they are removed or added to school admission registers.
Consultation on proposed changes took place from 19 January to 7 March 2016. The consultation set out proposed amendments to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 to improve communication and co-ordination between schools (including independent schools) and Local Authorities.
The proposed changes were laid before Parliament in July 2016 as the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016.
The Regulations will come into force on 1 September 2016 and apply to all schools and Local Authorities in England. You should have received a communication from the DfE recently to confirm this new requirement.
The new Regulations affect all non-standard transfers whenever a child of compulsory school age leaves a school before completing the school’s final year or joins the school after the start of the first year. Otherwise known as in-year transfers.
A summary of the new requirements and consultation responses can be seen at:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/identifying-children-who-are-missing-education
The revised Regulations which amend the 2006 Registration Regs can be seen at:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/792/regulation/3/made
The Authority will be providing further communication as the implications of these changes are understood in more detail.
For now Headteachers and Governors are asked to read and share this information and introduce the necessary changes to ensure that all schools fully comply with the new requirements.
Summary of new requirements:
The new law requires all schools (including independent schools) to:
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· Inform their Local Authority when they are about to remove a pupil’s name from the school roll or delete them from the admission register under all fifteen grounds. Currently schools are only required to inform the LA when a child:
(i) Has ceased to attend and is to become home educated,
(ii) Has moved out of the area;
(iii) Has been absent for at least 20 days;
(iv) Is detained under a court order;
(v) Has not returned after extended leave
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· Record details of the pupil’s residence, the name of the person with whom they will reside, the date from which they will reside there and the name of the destination school (where they can reasonably obtain this information)
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· Inform their Local Authority of the pupil’s destination school and home address if the pupil is moving to a new school; and
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· Provide information to their Local Authority when registering new pupils within 5 days, including the pupil’s new address and previous school (where they can reasonably obtain this information.
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The new requirements also give Local Authorities the discretion to require the same information on children leaving or joining schools at standard admission points, i.e at the start of Reception, Year 3 (Separate Junior Schools) and Year 7 and at the end of the final year of school.
Children can be vulnerable and go “missing” between standard admission points and it is the Local Authority’s intention to require schools to provide this information.
For further information or clarification please contact:
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