Regulation 2 Interpretation

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 1980 Regulations” means the Education (Middle Schools) Regulations 1980^f1;

• “the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996^f2;

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

• “the 1998 Regulations” means the Education (School Performance Targets) (England) Regulations 1998^f3;

• “the applicable period”, in relation to a school year, means the period starting with the beginning of that year and finishing with the end of the school day falling on the Friday before the last Monday in May in that year;

• “absence”, in relation to maintained schools in the authority’s area, means a school session in respect of which a relevant day pupil is recorded as absent from such a school pursuant to the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995^f4;

• “breakdown by ethnic origin” means a breakdown as follows—

• White—UK Heritage

• White—European

• White—other

• Black—Caribbean Heritage

• Black—African Heritage

• Black—other

• Indian

• Pakistani

• Bangladeshi

• Chinese

• Any other minority ethnic group

• “children leaving public care” means children who are or have any time been, but are no longer—

  1. (a)

     looked after by a local authority within the meaning of section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989^f5; or

  2. (b)

     the subject of a supervision order within the meaning of section 31(11) of the Children Act 1989;

  and in respect of whom the local authority looking after the child or designated for the purposes of the supervision order is the same as the local education authority preparing the second plan;

• “the first plan” means the education development plan which was prepared by a local education authority in accordance with section 6(1) of the 1998 Act;

• “GCSE” means a General Certificate of Secondary Education;

• “GNVQ” means a General National Vocational Qualification;

• “level 4” means level 4 of the National Curriculum level scale as determined by the results of the NC tests;

• “level 5” means level 5 of the National Curriculum level scale as determined by the results of the NC tests or teacher assessment;

• “NC tests” means National Curriculum tests administered to second and third key stage pupils respectively for the purpose of assessing the level of attainment which they have achieved in English, mathematics or science, being tests laid down in provisions made by the Secretary of State under the appropriate order made under section 356(2) of the 1996 Act in force when those tests are administered^f6;

• “the overall absence rate”, in relation to a local education authority and to any school year, means the total number of absences from maintained schools in the authority’s area in the applicable period during that year, expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible attendances in that period;

• “relevant day pupil”, in relation to a school and to a school year, means a pupil registered at that school apart from—

  1. (a)

     a boarder, or

  2. (b)

     a pupil who, before the beginning of the September immediately preceding 1st October in that school year, either—

     1. (i)

        has not attained the age of five years, or

     2. (ii)

        has attained the age of sixteen years;

• “second key stage pupils” means pupils who are in the second key stage referred to in section 355(1)(b) of the 1996 Act;

• “the second plan” means the second education development plan to be prepared by a local education authority in accordance with these Regulations;

• “teacher assessment” means assessment by a teacher in accordance with the Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 3 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 1999^f7;

• “third key stage pupils” means pupils who are in the third key stage referred to in section 355(1)(c) of the 1996 Act;

• “the total number of possible attendances”, in relation to a local education authority and to any school year, means the number produced by multiplying the number of relevant day pupils at maintained schools in the authority’s area by the number of school sessions in the applicable period in that year;

• “vocational qualification” means—

  1. (a)

     a Part One GNVQ;

  2. (b)

     an Intermediate GNVQ;

  3. (c)

     a Foundation GNVQ;

  4. (d)

     a GNVQ Language Unit, or

  5. (e)

     a Vocational GCSE,

  approved by the Secretary of State under sections 96 and 98 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000^f8.

In these Regulations a reference—

Any reference in these Regulations to—

by the end of the school year, shall be construed as a reference to that pupil achieving that grade or qualification in the school year in which he—

irrespective of whether the decision to award the grade or qualification is made in a later school year.

The references to pupils achieving particular grades in GCSE examinations in regulations 9 and 14 shall be construed for the purpose of those provisions so as to include references to pupils achieving corresponding awards in an equivalent number of vocational qualifications.

Schedule 1 to these Regulations shall have effect for determining for the purposes of regulations 9 and 14—