CHILD MISSING IN EDUCATION
POLICY & GUIDANCE FOR WEST SUSSEX SCHOOLS
This policy and guidance are specifically for West Sussex schools and colleges and details how they must notify the Local Authority when they remove a child from the school roll at a non-standard transition point.
It also explains how schools and colleges must notify the Local Authority when adding a child to the school roll at non-standard transition points.
1. Statutory Guidance
Several significant updates were made in 2016. View the latest statutory guidance relating to Children Missing Education.
2. The Nominated Person for WSCC
The nominated officer for Children Missing Education in West Sussex is Nikki Humphrey, Senior Investigating Officer, Children Missing Education: 0330 2222120 / CME@westsussex.gov.uk
3. Overview
3.1 All children, regardless of their circumstances, are entitled to a full-time education which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. Local authorities have a duty to establish, as far as it is possible to do so, the identity of children of compulsory school age who are missing education (not on a school roll or in any other suitable provision) in their area.
3.2 Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.
3.3 The law requires all schools to have an admission register and, with the exception of schools where all pupils are boarders, an attendance register. All pupils must be placed on both registers.
3.4 This policy outlines what schools and colleges must do when they either remove a child from or add a child to, the school roll at non-standard transition points.
3.5 For those children who are removed from the school roll under one of the 15 specific criteria listed at 5 below, the school must notify the Local Authority using the process at 6 below as soon as possible.
3.6 The Local Authority Children Missing Education Team will then make enquiries and establish whether the child is in receipt of other suitable education provision or is to be regarded as a Child Missing Education.
3.7 Poor attendance or Children Missing Education.
Children Missing Education specifically relates to children who are not on a school roll or receiving suitable education elsewhere. Schools and colleges must be very clear not to confuse this with children who may be missing out on education through either poor attendance or truanting. For poor attendance and truanting issues contact should be made in the first instance with Pupil Entitlement Investigations: 03302 228200 / PEI@westsussex.gov.uk; or if the school and college consider the child with poor attendance or who is truanting to be at risk then contact should be made with MASH or for urgent cases, Police.
4. Safeguarding
Information in this policy is intended to support normal school safeguarding practice. Schools MUST follow the normal route of contacting IFD on 01403 229900 where they have safeguarding concerns about any child. If those concerns are urgent, then schools should call the police.
5. Removal from Roll at NON-STANDARD TRANSITION POINTS – when and how to notify the Local Authority
5.1 All schools (including academies, free schools and independent schools) must notify their local authority when they are about to remove a pupil’s name from the school admission register under any of the fifteen grounds listed in Section 8 of The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006.
1 8(1) (a) - where the pupil is registered at the school in accordance with the requirements of a school attendance order, that another school is substituted by the local authority for that named in the order or the order is revoked by the local authority on the ground that arrangements have been made for the child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his/her age, ability and aptitude otherwise than at school.
2 8(1)(b) - except where it has been agreed by the proprietor that the pupil should be registered at more than one school, in a case not falling within sub-paragraph (a) or regulation 9, that s/he has been registered as a pupil at another school.
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3 8(1)(c) - where a pupil is registered at more than one school, and in a case not falling within sub-paragraph (j) or (m) or regulation 9, that s/he has ceased to attend the school and the proprietor of any other school at which s/he is registered has given consent to the deletion.
4 8(1)(d) - in a case not falling within sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph, that s/he has ceased to attend the school and the proprietor has received written notification from the parent that the pupil is receiving education otherwise than at school.
5 8(1)(e) - except in the case of a boarder, that s/he has ceased to attend the school and no longer ordinarily resides at a place which is a reasonable distance from the school at which s/he is registered.
6 8(1)(f) - in the case of a pupil granted leave of absence in accordance with regulation 7(1A), that: (i) the pupil has failed to attend the school within the ten school days immediately following the expiry of the period for which such leave was granted; (ii) the proprietor does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil is unable to attend the school by reason of sickness or any unavoidable cause; and (iii) The proprietor and the local authority have failed, after jointly making reasonable enquiries, to ascertain where the pupil is.
Please note schools cannot unilaterally make the decision at point (iii). This MUST be done in consultation with the Local Authority Children Missing Education Team.
7 8(1)(g) - that s/he is certified by the school medical officer as unlikely to be in a fit state of health to attend school before ceasing to be of compulsory school age, and neither s/he nor her/his parent has indicated to the school the intention to continue to attend the school after ceasing to be of compulsory school age.
8 8(1)(h) - that s/he has been continuously absent from the school for a period of not less than twenty school days and: (i) at no time was her/his absence during that period authorised by the proprietor in accordance with regulation 6(2); (ii) the proprietor does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil is unable to attend the school by reason of sickness or any unavoidable cause; and (iii) The proprietor of the school and the local authority have failed, after jointly making reasonable enquiries, to ascertain where the pupil is.
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Please note schools cannot unilaterally make the decision at point (iii). This MUST be done in consultation with the Local Authority Children Missing Education Team.
9 8(1)(i) - that s/he is detained in pursuance of a final order made by a court or of an order of recall made by a court or the Secretary of State, that order being for a period of not less than four months, and the proprietor does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil will return to the school at the end of that period.
10 8(1) (j) - that the pupil has died.
11 8(1)(k) - that the pupil will cease to be of compulsory school age before the school next meets and: (i) the relevant person has indicated that the pupil will cease to attend the school; or: (ii) The pupil does not meet the academic entry requirements for admission to the school’s sixth form.
12 8(1)(l) - in the case of a pupil at a school other than a maintained school, an Academy, a city technology college or a city college for the technology of the arts, that s/he has ceased to be a pupil of the school.
13 8(1)(m) - that s/he has been permanently excluded from the school.
14 8(1)(n) - where the pupil has been admitted to the school to receive nursery education, that s/he has not on completing such education transferred to a reception, or higher, class at the school.
15 8(1)(o) where: (iii) the pupil is a boarder at a maintained school or an Academy; (iv) charges for board and lodging are payable by the parent of the pupil; and (v) Those charges remain unpaid by the pupil’s parent at the end of the school term to which they relate.
6. Notifying the Local Authority when removing from roll at non-standard transition point
6.1 The Local Authority must be notified when a school is to delete a pupil from its register under any of the above circumstances. This should be done as soon as the grounds for deletion are met, but no later than deleting the pupil’s name from the register. It is essential that schools comply with this duty so that local authorities can, as part of their statutory obligations, identify and track children missing education until they are back in school or receiving suitable education elsewhere.
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6.2 When schools or colleges are removing a child from the school or college roll in the above circumstances, the Local Authority MUST be informed using the following on line form which can also be accessed via the West Sussex Service for Schools website, within the Pupil Entitlement, Children Missing Education area.
6.3 The Local Authority will always welcome contact from schools and colleges with the Children Missing Education Team before a child is removed from roll.
7. Notifying the Local Authority when on-rolling at non-standard transition point
7.1 All schools must notify the Local Authority within five days of adding a pupil’s name to the admission register at a non-standard transition point. The notification must include all the details contained in the admission register for the new pupil. In such circumstances the Local Authority should be notified by completing the following relevant form, also found in the West Sussex Service for Schools site.
8. Further advice
The Nominated Person for Children Missing Education in West Sussex is
Nikki Humphrey,
Senior Investigating Officer,
Children Missing Education: 0330 2222120/
CME@westsussex.gov.uk;
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Approved by FGB |
September 2025 |
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Next review date: |
September 2026 |