Association of Young People with ME

Registered charity number 1082059

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Friends, Relationships and ME

Getting LEAs to co-operate

School Meetings

The Complaints Procedure

Reintegration

Guidance for Home Tutors

Distance Learning

Looking to the Future

Taking a Gap Year

University

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School Rolls

Q. My daughter's school has threatened to take her off the school roll because she is too ill to attend. Can they do that?

A. There are three reasons why young people with ME cannot be be taken off the school roll.

a) The Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995, regulation 9 sets out "the grounds on which the name of a pupil of compulsory school age shall be deleted from the school register". Subsection (f) makes the only reference to sick children. It says a child can be taken off the school roll on the grounds:

that he is certified by the school medical officer unlikely to be in a fit state of health to attend school before ceasing to be of compulsory school age

Whilst this might apply to a few severely ill ME students coming to the end of their compulsory schooling at sixteen and who are too ill to receive any form of education, for younger puplis it would be impossible to predict their state of health in the long term.

b) In the case of young people receiving home tuition or attending a hospital unit, the school attendance team at the DCSF tells me that educational provision provided by the LEA (e.g. home tuition) would qualify as an 'approved educational activity' as set out in The Education (Pupil Registration) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2001 paragraph 5 and would, therefore, prevent removal of a young person from the school roll.

c) Young people who are receiving alternative provision by the LEA should have authorised absences. This means the school and the Education Welfare Service are aware of the reasons why a young person with medical needs is absent from school and the register is marked accordingly.Young people receiving authorised absences may not be removed from the register.

Finally, it is important that young people who intend taking GCSEs, either at home or at school, remain on roll at a school. This means the school then has responsibility for entering the young person as a candidate for their examinations.

Any difficulties with authorised absences or schools threatening deregistration should be discussed with the Education Welfare Officer.

The regulations and amendments are available from
www.dcsf.gov.uk/schoolattendance - click on legislation.

Article last edited on Thursday 12th August 2010 Printable Version

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