Children Missing Education
For the purpose of the Statutory Guidance on Children Missing Education (2016), children missing education are defined as children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation (including travel to conflict zones), and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.
There is no suggestion or evidence that home-educated children are at any greater risk of abuse or neglect than other children. However, it is possible that where abuse or neglect is already taking place, it can be easier to hide if the child is home-educated and is not necessarily being seen on a regular basis by professionals such as teachers. This potentially increases the chances that any parents who set out to use home education as a means to avoid their child having contact with agencies may be more successful by doing so.
Safeguarding concerns may not simply arise in relation to the family. Some parents who educate at home believe that by doing so, they are safeguarding their child from risk in the school environment (e.g. because their child was being bullied or their emotional well-being was being adversely affected by the school system).
Local authorities should approach all cases where they have concerns about the suitability of home education being provided using their powers in the Education Act 1996. However, they should also be ready, if a lack of suitable education appears likely to impair a child's development, to carry out their safeguarding responsibilities to protect the child's well-being, which includes their right to a suitable education.
These duties are set out in Elective Home Education - Guidance for Local Authorities and Schools About Children Educated At Home.
An unregistered school is a setting that is operating as an independent school, without registration. Independent schools in England must be registered by the Secretary of State for Education before operating. It is a criminal offence to operate an independent school that is not registered.
An ‘independent school' is defined as a school that is not maintained by a local authority or is not a non-maintained special school, and at which full-time education is provided for
- Five or more pupils of compulsory school age; or
- For at least one pupil of that age who is in the care of a local authority or has an education, health and care plan. See Regulating independent schools (GOV.UK) for more information.
The term “full-time” is not defined in legislation but Department for Education guidance states that an institution providing education for more than 18 hours per week is considered to be providing full-time education
Where unregistered schools are found to have been operating illegally, it may simply be because of a lack of awareness of legislation or an administrative oversight, however children in these settings are potentially at risk because there is no formal, external scrutiny of the arrangements for safeguarding, health and safety or the quality of education provided.
Should a child leave a County Durham school without the school being advised by the parent/carer of the new school the child is to attend, the school is required to make reasonable enquiries to establish the whereabouts of the child jointly with the local authority. These checks should not become delaying factors in the admissions process.
If a member of school/educational establishment/college staff becomes aware that a child may have run away or gone missing, they should try to establish with the parents/ carers, what has happened. If this is not possible, or the child is missing, the designated safeguarding teacher/advisor should, together with the class teacher, assess the child's vulnerability.
If there are specific safeguarding concerns, school must contact the family's allocated Social Worker or First Contact. If a child may be in immediate danger dial 999. The police can also be contacted on 101 if there is an urgent safeguarding concern. The Safeguarding Manager for Education Durham should also be contacted.
It is important to establish whether or not the child/family is still resident at the last known address. Where the whereabouts of the family remain unclear, school should contact First Contact and notify them of a child missing from education. School should share any known risks which may impact on visiting the home and steps already taken to trace the child including efforts made to trace the family to date. First Contact will triage the referral to One Point Duty Officers and the case will be allocated to a member of the One Point Service who will make up to three visits to the family home.
If the child is known to be of Gypsy, Roma or Traveller ethnicity, school can contact the GRT Team who will carry out further checks within the community.
If the child are still resident (or they have moved to another address within reasonable travelling distance of the school) and the child has not attended school for five or more days, a referral should be made to Attendance Improvement Officers to consider whether enforcement action is required.
If the child is located out of the area, the child should remain on the school roll until admission to another school is confirmed. At which time the child's Common Transfer File should be forwarded to that school.
If the child is not found, the allocated One Point worker will notify the school who will them inform the Local Authority Children Missing Education Officer. If the GRT Team cannot trace the child, the Local Authority Children Missing Education Officer should be notified.
After four school weeks (20 school days), should efforts to trace the child be unsuccessful, the school should remove the child's name from the school roll and create a “lost” Common Transfer File. This is a statutory requirement (The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2000. The Common Transfer File should be uploaded onto the DfE s2s secure site where it will be held in the Lost Pupil Database.
When removing a child from the school roll, schools should ensure information on the child's destination is entered on the School electronic system. Where the destination of the child is unknown at the time of leaving but the school receive subsequent information as to the child's whereabouts, the school should update the system with this new information.
- Statutory guidance for local authorities: Children missing education (September 2016);
- Elective Home Education Guidelines;
- Unregistered independent schools and out of school settings - non-statutory guidance for local authorities;
- School Admissions Code;
- School to school service: how to transfer information;
- The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, as amended (Education law regarding pupil registration where a child is on a school roll); The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013; as amended The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016.
The Children Missing Education (statutory guidance) emphasises the safeguarding duties placed on maintained schools by Section 175 of the Education Act 2002.
It also seeks to ensure that the duty to co-operate to improve the well-being of children under section 10 of the Children Act 2004 is discharged. All schools will have a Designated Teacher for Children in Care and Previously in Care Children. These teachers are ideally placed to assist when identifying those Children in Care children currently in school who may be at greater risk of going missing from education.
Last Updated: May 23, 2024
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