School Children Missing Education Governance and Accountability Policy

This policy applies where the school is a maintained or academy primary or secondary school in England. It is to be read alongside the school’s child protection policy, admission arrangements, attendance arrangements, fair access protocol and local-authority procedures.

1. Purpose and scope

The school will use this policy to assign accountability for identifying and responding to attendance concerns, maintaining accurate admission-register information, responding to children missing education (CME), cooperating with the relevant local authority, escalating safeguarding concerns, complying with fair access arrangements and supporting pupils whose engagement with education may be at risk.

The governing body or academy trust, the school’s admission authority, school leaders, the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and relevant staff will carry out the responsibilities that apply to their role and to the school’s status.

2. Governance and accountability

The governing body or academy trust will provide oversight of this policy and will ensure that responsibility is assigned for attendance, admission-register accuracy, CME cases, safeguarding escalation, fair access and in-year admissions. The responsible body will record the accountable role as [accountable governing body or trust role].

The headteacher will coordinate implementation of this policy, ensure that relevant staff understand their responsibilities and maintain effective working arrangements with the admission authority, the DSL and the relevant local authority.

The admission authority will make and record admission decisions in accordance with the school’s determined admission arrangements and the applicable fair access protocol. The named admission decision-maker is [named admission decision maker].

The DSL will lead the safeguarding response where there are concerns about a child’s safety or welfare and will ensure that decisions about referral to local authority children’s social care or contact with the police are considered without delay.

The attendance and admissions leads will maintain clear records of attendance, admission-register information, contact attempts, decisions, referrals and actions. Their names and roles are [attendance and admissions leads].

3. Attendance and admission-register accuracy

The school will maintain accurate and current admission-register information and will use attendance and contact information to identify pupils whose education may be interrupted or whose whereabouts may be uncertain.

Where information is incomplete, inconsistent or indicates that a pupil may no longer be receiving education, the responsible staff member will record the concern, the information considered, the actions taken and the person accountable for the next decision.

The school will use the following internal route for raising and reviewing such concerns: [attendance and admission register escalation route].

4. Children missing education

When the school identifies a child missing education, it will work jointly with the relevant local authority to conduct reasonable enquiries immediately. The enquiries will be thorough and collaborative where possible, and actions will be based on the circumstances and evidence in the individual case.

The child’s welfare will be treated as the paramount concern. The school and local authority will exercise careful judgement about the sequence and nature of actions and will act without delay.

The school will agree with the relevant local authority how enquiries will be coordinated, who will communicate with the family and other relevant parties, how information will be recorded, and how decisions and closure will be authorised. The local-authority contact route is [relevant local authority cme contact route].

Each CME case record will identify the concern, the evidence considered, the enquiries undertaken, communications with the local authority, actions and decisions, the person responsible for each action, and the basis for any decision to close or transfer the case.

5. Safeguarding escalation

Where there is a concern that a child’s safety or wellbeing is at risk, school staff will take immediate action under the school’s child protection policy and involve the DSL.

The DSL, or another authorised safeguarding professional where appropriate, will immediately consider whether a referral to local authority children’s social care is needed and whether contacting the police is appropriate, particularly where there is a concern that the child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.

The safeguarding record will set out the concern, the date and urgency of consideration, the decision made, any referral or contact, and the rationale where no referral or police contact is made. The school’s safeguarding escalation route is [safeguarding escalation route].

6. Fair access and in-year admissions

The school will comply with the relevant local authority’s fair access protocol. This includes admitting children allocated to the school through that protocol.

The school will maintain access to the applicable local fair access protocol at [fair access protocol location] and will record allocations, admission actions and any relevant communication with the local authority.

An admission authority must not refuse to admit a child on behavioural grounds in the normal admissions round or at any point in the normal year of entry, except where the child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools.

For an in-year application outside the normal point of entry, where the admission authority has good reason to believe that the child may display challenging behaviour and does not wish to admit the child, the admission authority may refuse admission and refer the child to the fair access protocol.

Where the local authority is considering naming the school in a School Attendance Order, the school will engage with the local authority’s naming process, raise relevant concerns promptly and work with the local authority towards an agreement on the proposed admission.

7. Support for pupils at risk of disengagement

Where unmet special educational needs or disabilities may be contributing to reduced attendance or withdrawal from school, the school will work closely with the pupil and the pupil’s parents to put appropriate support in place and keep that support under regular review.

Where a pupil with an EHC plan has significant levels of unmet need, the school will liaise with the local authority about whether an early review of the plan is needed.

Support, adjustments, discussions with the pupil and parents, review decisions, attendance impact and relevant liaison with the local authority will be recorded in the pupil’s appropriate school record.

8. Information sharing and records

Staff will record information accurately, promptly and proportionately, using the school’s approved systems. Records will show the concern, the evidence considered, the action taken, the responsible person, relevant communications and the decision reached.

CME, safeguarding, attendance and admission records will be handled in accordance with the school’s information-governance arrangements and the access permissions set out at [school information governance location].

9. Review and accountability

The governing body or academy trust will determine the review arrangements for this policy. The review owner is [policy review owner] and the review frequency is [policy review frequency].

Reports provided to the governing body or academy trust will address the operation of the responsibilities in this policy, significant CME or safeguarding matters, fair access and in-year admission issues, and support provided where unmet needs may be affecting attendance or participation.