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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, made under sections 408, 537 and 537A of the Education Act 1996, apply in relation to schools in England. They consolidate with amendments the Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 1996, as amended, which are revoked.

The Regulations relate to the collection and publication of information about the performance of schools.

Part I of the Regulations comprises general provisions.

Part II imposes duties on head teachers of maintained schools to make available information to governing bodies for the purpose of enabling them to comply with their obligations under these Regulations (regulation 5).

Part III contains detailed provisions relating to the provision of information to the Secretary of State.

The governing bodies of schools maintained by a local education authority with pupils at or near the end of the final year of the first key stage (mostly seven year olds) must provide information about the results of statutory National Curriculum assessments to that authority which then transmits that information to the Secretary of State (regulation 6(1) and (2) and Part I of Schedule 1). Grant-maintained and grant-maintained special schools with pupils in this age group must transmit their results to the Secretary of State directly (regulation 6(3)).

The governing bodies of all maintained schools with pupils at or near the end of the second key stage (mostly eleven year olds) must provide the Secretary of State with specified information about the results of statutory National Curriculum assessments as must the governing bodies of all maintained schools with pupils at or near the end of the final year of the third key stage (mostly fourteen year olds) and proprietors of city technology colleges and city colleges for the technology of the arts with fourteen year old pupils (regulation 6(4) and (5) and Parts II and III of Schedule 1). This information must be provided on or before 11th July each year.

Governing bodies of county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary schools (including middle-deemed secondary schools), in addition to the requirement under regulation 6, must provide information to the Secretary of State about second key stage results (regulation 7 and Schedule 2).

The governing bodies of maintained schools and the proprietors of non-maintained special schools and independent schools with pupils aged 15, 16, 17 or 18 must provide the Secretary of State with specified information about their results (regulation 8 and Schedule 3). A new requirement is that this is now to include “individual performance information”relating to the performance of pupils aged sixteen, seventeen or eighteen in Advanced GNVQs (paragraph 11 of Part II of Schedule 3).

Section 537A(2) of the Education Act 1996 defines “individual performance information”to mean:

  • “information about the performance of individual pupils (identified in the prescribed manner)—

    1. (a)

      in any assessment made for the purposes of the National Curriculum or in accordance with a baseline assessment scheme (within the meaning of Chapter 1 of Part IV of the Education Act 1997);

    2. (b)

      in any prescribed public examination;

    3. (c)

      in connection with the attainment of any vocational qualification; or

    4. (d)

      in any such other assessment or examination, or in connection with the attainment of any such other qualification, as may be prescribed”.

Local education authorities, the governing bodies of grant-maintained and grant-main tained special schools and the proprietors of independent and non-maintained special schools (not providing education for boarders only) must provide the Secretary of State with information about authorised and unauthorised absence (regulation 9 and Schedule 4).

Governing bodies of maintained secondary schools and the proprietors of secondary independent and non-maintained special schools must provide the Secretary of State with general information about the school (regulation 10 and Schedule 5). A new requirement is that this is now to include information as to the number of pupils aged 15 with a statement of special educational needs (paragraph 5 of Schedule 5).

Governing bodies of county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary schools (including middle-deemed secondary schools) must also provide the Secretary of State with general information about the school (regulation 11 and Schedule 6).

Part IV contains provisions relating to the publication of information. The governing bodies of secondary schools and primary schools with pupils in the final year of the second key stage are now no longer under a duty to provide parents and others with information about secondary schools. Local education authorities are required to publish certain information about the performance of pupils in National Curriculum assessments in the final year of the second key stage at county, voluntary and grant-maintained primary or middle-deemed secondary schools in their area and other general information relating to those schools. They are also required to provide certain supplementary information about schools, including information about average percentage figures for the performance of pupils in National Curriculum assessments in the final year of the second key stage at all maintained schools providing primary education in the area of the local education authority and at all such schools in England. Copies of the document containing the information to be published by the local education authority are to be provided to the Secretary of State, and governing bodies of all maintained schools and providers of nursery education in the authority’s area. They are also to be made available in public libraries in the area of the local education authority and to editors of newspapers circulating in that area (regulation 12 and Schedule 7).