This page covers the technical changes made to CME Guidance to reflect two new sets of regulations that came into force on August 19th 2024. My main page on Children Missing Education is here https://edyourself.org/children-missing-education/
Two new sets of Regulations came into force on August 19th 2024: The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 [LINK] and The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 [LINK] Read more here https://edyourself.org/pupil-registration-regulations-2024/
As a result of these new regulations, several other documents have had to be updated, including Children Missing Education [CME] Guidance and Working Together to Improve School Attendance.
The Pupil Information Regulations 2024 represent a change to the law since for the first time schools must have an electronic management system to record attendance and absence that can be accessed by the Department for Education as explained here via this page Information about this is noted on pages 6-7 of the updated CME guidance.
Meanwhile under the new Pupil Registration Regulations schools must now make what is called “a sickness return” to the local authority if a pupil is marked absent through illness in the register for 15 days. This is noted on page 11 of the new CME Guidance.
2024 CME Guidance Deregistration
Page 7 of the 2024 CME Guidance says “Where a parent notifies the school in writing that they are going to be home educating their child after a certain date [my emphasis] the school must delete the child’s name from the admission register once that date has passed (unless a SAO is in place) and inform the local authority. However, where parents orally indicate that they intend to withdraw their child to be home educated, the school should consider notifying the local authority at the earliest opportunity.”
(This is a change from the 2016 guidance which said “Where a parent notifies the school in writing that they are home educating”. The sentence about parents orally indicating already appeared in the 2016 guidance.)
Annex A [Grounds for deleting a pupil from the school admission register] has been expanded from the 2016 CME guidance. Deregistration information can be found in Annex A on page 24 of the new CME Guidance which says “Relevant regulation 9(1)(f) – Where the pupil’s parent has informed the school in writing that the pupil will no longer attend the school after a certain day and will receive education otherwise than at a school and that day has passed, and there is no school attendance order naming the school in force in relation to the pupil.“
The new deregistration wording in the CME Guidance is derived from The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 [LINK] Read more here https://edyourself.org/pupil-registration-regulations-2024/
2024 CME Guidance Registration
Page 8 now says “Schools must enter pupils’ names on the admission register on the first day that the school and a person with control of the pupil’s attendance* have agreed that the pupil will attend the school. If no date has been agreed or notified, the pupil’s name must be entered on the first day they attend the school. Names must be entered from the beginning of the first session.” (* explained in a footnote as “the pupil’s parent and the pupil if they are over compulsory school age”)
(This is a change from the 2016 guidance which said “Schools must enter pupils on the admission register at the beginning of the first day on which the school has agreed, or been notified, that the pupil will attend the school” )
The new registration wording in the CME Guidance is derived from The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 [LINK] Read more here https://edyourself.org/pupil-registration-regulations-2024/
2024 CME Guidance School Register Returns
Pages 8 and 11 refers to schools making “an attendance return” to the local authority and signposts to new standardised attendance and absence codes in the new School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.
Page 10 refers to schools making “a deletion return” to the local authority when a pupil is removed from roll. This is a new expression. It also signposts to chapter 7 of Working together to improve school attendance for guidance on grounds for deletion.
Page 11 refers to schools making “a sickness return”. This is new. “All schools must also make a return to the local authority (a ‘sickness return’) where a pupil of compulsory school age has been recorded in the attendance register as absent using code I (illness) and the school have reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil will be, or will have been unable to attend school because of illness for at least 15 school days during the school year, whether consecutive or not.”
The new wording on school returns to the local authority in the CME Guidance is derived from The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 [LINK] Read more here https://edyourself.org/pupil-registration-regulations-2024/