Admission register entry and agreed start procedure

Use this procedure when a maintained or academy primary or secondary school in England is admitting a pupil. It applies where the school and a person with control of the pupil’s attendance have agreed that the pupil will attend, or where the pupil attends without an agreed or notified starting date.

1. Confirm the basis for registration

Before entering the pupil’s name, confirm that the place has been accepted by a person with control of the pupil’s attendance, either through agreement of a starting day in advance or through the pupil attending on that day. An offer of a place alone is not an agreement.

Record the agreed starting day or the notified starting information available to the school. Where the local authority has communicated an accepted place and starting day on behalf of the parent, use that information when determining the starting day.

2. Enter the pupil 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 [admissions responsible role] must enter the pupil’s name on the admission register.

If no starting day has been agreed or notified, enter the pupil’s name on the first day the pupil attends the school.

Add the pupil’s name before or at the beginning of the first session on that day.

3. Follow up non-attendance on the agreed starting day

If the pupil does not attend on the agreed starting day, the [attendance follow up role] must follow up the non-attendance and try to establish the reason for the absence.

Record the follow-up undertaken, any explanation received and any resulting update to the admission or attendance records.