Nottinghamshire Children Missing Education Strategy Survey

Overview

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 a school. Local Authorities have a legal duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education. Additionally, Nottinghamshire’s Children Missing Education Strategy outlines actions the Council takes to ensure access to appropriate education for children who are registered with a school but where it appears that they are not accessing or being provided with their educational entitlement.

The proposed Children Missing Education strategy is designed to enable the County Council to fulfil its statutory duties in relation to education provision and the safeguarding and welfare of vulnerable children. It is intended to guide the work of local authority officers, schools and other agencies in the procedures and practices to be followed in order to track, monitor and maintain contact with children and young people at risk of or already missing education. This will prevent vulnerable children and young people becoming ‘unknown’ to relevant professionals and therefore becoming even more high risk.

Why we are consulting

The current Nottinghamshire Children Missing Education strategy was last updated in 2014 and requires review to reflect the current council strategy and the publication of statutory guidance and recommendations: 

• DfE Children Missing Education: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities September 2016 
• The Timpson Review of School Exclusion published May 2019
• DFE Alternative Provision Market Analysis Research Report published October 2018.

You can give your views on the consultation between 16 October 2019 and 20 November 2019. The views of parents, schools and other stakeholders are important to Nottinghamshire County Council and all responses will be considered prior to a final updated Nottinghamshire Children Missing Education Strategy being agreed.