School Standards and Framework Bill

School Standards and Framework Bill - continued	House of Commons

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	PART III
	SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
	CHAPTER I
	ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS
	Code of Practice
Code of Practice.	75. - (1) The Secretary of State shall issue, and may from time to time revise, a code of practice containing such practical guidance as he thinks appropriate in respect of the discharge by-
	(a) local education authorities,
	(b) the governing bodies of maintained schools,
	(c) appeal panels, and
	(d) adjudicators,
	of their respective functions under this Chapter.
	(2) The code may include guidelines setting out aims, objectives and other matters in relation to the discharge of their functions under this Chapter by local education authorities and such governing bodies.
	(3) It shall be the duty of-
	(a) each of the bodies and persons mentioned in subsection (1) when exercising functions under this Chapter, and
	(b) any other person when exercising any function for the purposes of the discharge by a local education authority, or the governing body of a maintained school, of functions under this Chapter,
	to have regard to any relevant provisions of the code.
	(4) The Secretary of State shall publish the code as for the time being in force.
	(5) In this Chapter-
	"admission arrangements" and "the admission authority" have the meaning given by section 79;
	"appeal panel" means a panel constituted under Schedule 24 or 25 for the purpose of hearing an appeal under this Chapter;
	"child" (except in sections 87 and 88) includes a person who has not attained the age of 19;
	"maintained school" means a community, foundation or voluntary school;
	"the relevant standard number", in relation to a maintained school, a relevant age group and a school year, means the standard number applying under Schedule 23 to the school in relation to that age group and year.
Making and approval of code of practice.	76. - (1) Where the Secretary of State proposes to issue or revise a code of practice under section 75, he shall prepare a draft of the code (or revised code).
	(2) The Secretary of State shall consult such persons about the draft as he thinks fit and shall consider any representations made by them.
	(3) If he determines to proceed with the draft (either in its original form or with such modifications as he thinks fit) he shall lay a copy of the draft before each House of Parliament.
	(4) If, within the 40-day period, either House resolves not to approve the draft, the Secretary of State shall take no further steps in relation to the proposed code.
	(5) If no such resolution is made within the 40-day period, the Secretary of State shall issue the code (or revised code) in the form of the draft, and it shall come into force on such date as the Secretary of State may by order appoint.
	(6) Subsection (4) does not prevent a new draft of a proposed code from being laid before Parliament.
	(7) In this section "40-day period", in relation to the draft of a proposed code, means-
	(a) if the draft is laid before one House on a day later than the day on which it is laid before the other House, the period of 40 days beginning with the later of the two days, and
	(b) in any other case, the period of 40 days beginning with the day on which the draft is laid before each House,
	no account being taken of any period during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days.
	(8) In this section references to a proposed code include a proposed revised code.
	Parental preferences
Parental preferences.	77. - (1) A local education authority shall make arrangements for enabling the parent of a child in the area of the authority-
	(a) to express a preference as to the school at which he wishes education to be provided for his child in the exercise of the authority's functions, and
	(b) to give reasons for his preference.
	(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (6) and section 78 (pupils excluded from two or more schools), a local education authority and the governing body of a maintained school shall comply with any preference expressed in accordance with arrangements made under subsection (1).
	(3) The duty imposed by subsection (2) does not apply-
	(a) if compliance with the preference would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources;
	(b) if the preferred school is a foundation or voluntary aided school and compliance with the preference would be incompatible with any special arrangements under section 82; or
	(c) if the arrangements for admission to the preferred school-
	(i) are wholly based on selection by reference to ability or aptitude, and
	(ii) are so based with a view to admitting only pupils with high ability or with aptitude,
	and compliance with the preference would be incompatible with selection under those arrangements.
	(4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(a) prejudice of the kind referred to in that provision may arise by reason of measures required to be taken in order to ensure compliance with the duty imposed by section 1(4) (duty of local education authority and governing body to comply with limits on infant class sizes).
	(5) No prejudice shall, however, be taken to arise for the purposes of subsection (3)(a) from the admission to a maintained school in a school year of a number of pupils in a relevant age group which does not exceed-
	(a) the relevant standard number, or
	(b) the admission number fixed in accordance with section 84,
	whichever is the greater.
	(6) Where-
	(a) the admission arrangements made by two or more maintained schools provide for co-ordinated admissions on the part of those schools ("co-ordinated admission arrangements"), and
	(b) those arrangements are approved by the Secretary of State,
	any preference expressed in accordance with arrangements under subsection (1) shall be dealt with in accordance with the co-ordinated admission arrangements.
	(7) Where the arrangements for the admission of pupils to a maintained school provide for applications for admission to be made to (or to a person acting on behalf of) the governing body of the school, a parent who makes such an application shall be regarded for the purposes of this section as having expressed a preference for that school in accordance with arrangements made under subsection (1).
	(8) The duty imposed by subsection (2) in relation to a preference expressed in accordance with arrangements made under subsection (1) shall apply also in relation to-
	(a) any application for the admission to a maintained school of a child who is not in the area of the authority maintaining the school, and
	(b) any application made by a parent as mentioned in section 438(4) or 440(2) of the Education Act 1996 (application for a particular school to be specified in a school attendance order);
	and references in subsection (3) to a preference and a preferred school shall be construed accordingly.
	(9) Where admission arrangements for a school provide for all pupils admitted to the school to be selected by reference to ability or aptitude, those arrangements shall be taken for the purposes of this section to be wholly based on selection by reference to ability or aptitude, whether or not they also provide for the use of additional criteria in circumstances where the number of children in a relevant age group who are assessed to be of the requisite ability or aptitude is greater than the number of pupils which it is intended to admit to the school in that age group.
No requirement to admit children permanently excluded from two or more schools.	78. - (1) The duty imposed by section 77(2) does not apply in the case of a child to whom subsection (2) below applies.
	(2) Where a child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools, this subsection applies to him during the period of two years beginning with the date on which the latest of those exclusions took effect.
	(3) Subsection (2) applies to a child whatever the length of the period or periods elapsing between those exclusions and regardless of whether it has applied to him on a previous occasion.
	(4) However, a child shall not be regarded as permanently excluded from a school for the purposes of this section if-
	(a) although so excluded he was reinstated as a pupil at the school following the giving of a direction to that effect to the head teacher of the school; or
	(b) he was so excluded at a time when he had not attained compulsory school age.
	(5) In this section "school" means-
	(a) in relation to any time before or after the appointed day, a school maintained by a local education authority; or
	(b) in relation to any time before the appointed day, a grant-maintained or grant-maintained special school within the meaning of the Education Act 1996.
	(6) For the purposes of this section the permanent exclusion of a child from a school shall be regarded as having taken effect on the school day as from which the head teacher decided that he should be permanently excluded.
	(7) Nothing in this section applies to a child unless at least one of the two or more exclusions mentioned in subsection (2) took effect on or after 1st September 1997.

Prepared 4 December 1997