School Admissions Information and Safeguarding September 2014

Transcription

1 School Admissions Information and Safeguarding September 2014 This applies to: All parents and carers seeking access to information regarding the location or education of a child. Policy updated: April 2014 Review date: November 2014 and then annually unless a need to review earlier is identified Description of Policy This policy describes how requests for information about children from persons claiming a right to that information will be managed. Linked Policies Page 1 of 11

2 School Admissions Information and Safeguarding September 2014 Section Contents Page Description of Policy 1 General Information and Contacts 3 Policy 1 Purpose of the Devon Schools Admissions Service 4 2 Equality and Safeguarding Statements 4 3 Introduction 5 4 What Information is Held by the LA? 6 Procedure 5 The Policy 7 6 Other Provisions 9 Employee Guidance 7 Guidance for Employees 10 Policy History 11 Appendix 1 - Equality Impact Needs Assessment is located at Appendix 2 - Glossary is located at Page 2 of 11

3 General Information and Contacts Date April 2014 Review date Approval Author Sponsors Key partners Sponsors Other contacts Useful links Annual by Cabinet Members of Devon County Council Schools Access Services Dr Phil Norrey, Chief Executive Jennie Stephens, Strategic Director, People Babcock Learning and Development Partnership Devon Association of Primary Headteachers Devon Association of Secondary Headteachers Devon Association of Governors Church of England Diocese of Exeter Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth Dr Phil Norrey, Chief Executive of Devon County Council Jennie Stephens, Strategic Director, People Lisa Boon, Access Services Manager School Admissions Team Jane Lake, Education Safeguarding Officer Department for Education Telephone Page 3 of 11

4 POLICY 1 Purpose 1.1 The Devon Schools Admissions Service operates within the People Directorate of Devon County Council to deliver the statutory responsibilities of the local authority (LA) with regard to admissions to school and to support schools in delivering their responsibilities. 1.2 The School Admissions Service will: Act as admissions champion for children and families; Offer advice to parents and schools; Monitor and challenge the admission arrangements and practices of schools within the Devon County Council area and those others affecting the residents of Devon; Operate a Fair Access Protocol to ensure children at risk of missing education are allocated a school place quickly, even where local schools have reached an admissions limit; Operate a scheme to co-ordinate admissions to school at other times during Year Groups Reception to 11; Assist schools to correctly rank applications according to their oversubscription criteria as necessary; Manage school waiting lists as required; Support schools in the preparation and presentation of school admissions appeals; Liaise with other teams within the local authority and beyond where this assists in the planning of school places across the county; Report no less than annually on school admissions within Devon as required to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator and partner organisations across the county; Offer a traded service to academy schools to support them in the delivery of their responsibilities. 2 Equality and Safeguarding Statements 2.1 Devon County Council will only commit to policies and practices which will eradicate discrimination and promote equality for all, regardless of age, gender, disability, religion and belief, race and ethnicity and sexual orientation. 2.2 This policy will be subject to an Equality Impact and Needs Assessment. This assessment will be integral to all future policy and guidance reviews. 2.3 Devon County Council and its partners recognise that safeguarding is everybody s responsibility. Whether their interest is in all young people staying safe in all aspects of our services, or whether they are working in specific areas of vulnerability, all staff will have appropriate training and induction so that they understand their roles and responsibilities and are confident in carrying them out. Settings, schools, children, young people and their parents or carers, or any member of the community should feel secure that they could raise any issues or concerns about the safety or welfare of children and know that they will be listened to and taken seriously. This will be achieved by maintaining an ethos of commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young Page 4 of 11

5 people. This is supported by a clear child protection policy, appropriate induction and training, briefings on and discussion of relevant factors and refreshed learning in line with current legislation and guidelines. 2.4 Devon County Council acts as a Corporate Parent for Children in Care. This means that the local authority has a legal and moral duty to provide the kind of support that any good parents would provide their own children. This policy has been written to comply with this principle. 3 Introduction 3.1 In very many cases, children will live with or close to both parents or carers. All persons with parental responsibility will know where the child lives and which school he or she attends. For other children, one parent will have become estranged or separated from the child and may not know the child s home address or school. In such circumstances, estranged parents may contact schools, the Schools Access Services Admissions Team or the My Devon helpline to seek information about their child s whereabouts. 3.2 In many cases, there will be no legal objection to the estranged parent being told where the child is. In other cases, a court order may provide that the estranged parent must not be told in the interests of safeguarding the child or others including the parent with whom the child resides. There will also be instances where there is no Court Order but a parent has moved with a child to a new area to remove themselves from domestic violence. 3.3 This policy intends to guide Admissions Officers, other LA Officers and school staff across Devon when contact is made by a person claiming a right to information about a child, where he or she states that the information is not available from the parent with whom the child is living. It aims to provide clear, consistent advice about how to respond to requests for information in a fair, transparent manner which supports the right to information of parents where this is the case and safeguards children and others. 3.4 This policy is made by Devon County Council, the LA for the county of Devon following discussion between the Education Welfare Service of Babcock Learning Development Partnership, the Schools Admissions Team and Social Care officers. 3.5 Where any other Officer of the LA is approached for the same purposes, he or she should exercise the same caution as if the approach had been made to the School Admissions Team or the My Devon Call Centre. 4 What Information is Held by the LA? 4.1 The LA holds information on where children live and their school history. This is collected from applications for admission to school either in Devon or other counties. It is also collected from data returns from pre-school settings, schools and academies across the county. 4.2 Information from admission application forms will include: the child s legal name current address the name of the person applying for a school place and his or her relationship to the child Page 5 of 11

6 Forms do not require information to be provided about other persons with parental responsibility or parents not holding parental responsibility status. 4.3 The admissions application process will not generally ask for proof of identity of the child or of the applicant. All information is self-verified by the applicant and will be accepted unless there is reason to question it. 4.4 Where the application is for a child not present in the United Kingdom, the child s nationality must be evidenced by sight of the passport or a copy of the passport. For citizens of European Economic Area countries with a right of abode in the UK, a copy of the passport will be sufficient to confirm nationality. For other citizens, applications will not be accepted until the child has been admitted to the UK, evidenced by sight of the passport itself. This minimises the risk that the offer of a school place will be used to influence an immigration decision by the UK Border Agency. 4.5 An application will be rejected where the applicant does not hold parental responsibility. Evidence will be required where there is doubt that the applicant holds parental responsibility. Any person seeking to make an application without holding parental responsibility will be referred to whomever does hold parental responsibility. 4.6 Further information will be required where the applicant indicates that somebody else may object. If that objection is a question of preference, advice will be given that the applicant has the right to apply and the application will be processed. Where the objection has a legal basis, such as a Court Order, the terms of the Order will determine whether the application is rejected. Copies of current Court Orders will be required. 4.7 In the interests of safeguarding, Senior Admissions Officers will seek further information whenever they believe this is necessary. This will include where: for in-year admissions, the child s previous education setting is not provided the child s address is not given the child is moving across a national border there is an unusual family or domestic arrangement and the child is not living with a parent the applicant s reasons for admission raise safeguarding concerns 4.8 Where a child is admitted to a school in the United Kingdom for the first time (usually at the first intake to a Reception class), the admitting school will require sight of the child s birth certificate or other suitable identity document. Where a birth certificate is provided, a short birth certificate will be sufficient. 4.9 Information will be held by the LA on the ONE database or on documents held by the Admissions Team. Where sharing that information would serve to identify the child s location or assist another person in identifying the location, it must only be shared where the LA is satisfied that there is neither a legal objection to it being shared nor an unresolved assertion that the child or others would be at risk if it were shared. Safeguarding will be the priority in all cases. Page 6 of 11

7 PROCEDURE 5 The Policy 5.1 The LA makes no assumption regarding the gender of adults where a person seeks information about the whereabouts of a child. In the majority of cases, the estranged parent seeking information from the Admissions Team has been male. In other cases, the contact has been made by a female. Decisions will be made and the same procedure followed without reference to gender. In this document, the person claiming to be the non-resident parent with a right to information will be referred to as the Caller, whether the contact is by telephone, , letter or personal visit. The person living with the child will be called the Resident Parent. 5.2 Where a parent makes contact and asks for information, this will be given on demand where the Caller would not be reasonably expected to know or have ready access to the information. For instance, a parent may call My Devon or the Admissions Team and ask for progress on an application he or she has submitted, confirmation of the school designated for a specific address or advice on the application process itself. Under these circumstances, there may be no reason to believe that this information would put a child at risk. 5.3 Where a Caller asks for information which he or she would reasonably be expected to know, no information will be provided or confirmed until the right to information has been established. For instance, a person with parental responsibility would be expected to know the child s address or be able to find it out from the Resident Parent. Similarly, the name of the school should be known. There should be no reason for Callers to contact the LA (or a school). However, in some cases, a Resident Parent will have moved away with the child without informing the Caller and may be withholding contact and information. On receiving contact from the Caller, the LA must establish whether he or she has a right to the information. 5.4 The LA Officer will ask the Caller to provide evidence of parental responsibility, including any Court Orders explain why information is not available from the Resident Parent, directly or via solicitors provide a contact number for the Resident Parent, if possible The Officer will not confirm whether the child is recorded on Devon County Council s central pupil database or otherwise, nor conduct any records search for the child while speaking to the Caller 5.5 After the call or on receipt of an or letter, the Officer will search records to try and identify the child. If he or she is known to Devon and contact details are available, the Officer will approach the Resident Parent. If the child is not known to Devon, the Officer cannot know whether there is a legal objection to the Caller being informed. The Officer will inform the Caller only that: Page 7 of 11

8 Devon County Council can provide no information regarding the residence or schooling of X. You are advised to seek independent legal advice. To advise further may be sufficient to confirm the Caller s belief that the child is living in a particular town elsewhere. The response should be neutral. In many cases, the Caller will already have instructed a solicitor and contact may be via the solicitor. 5.6 The Resident Parent will be advised that if the Caller has parental responsibility and there is no legal objection to the information being shared, it must be shared. While the Resident Parent may prefer the Caller not to know, there must be a legal objection to justify the information being withheld. The Resident Parent will be given a reasonable time to provide evidence of a legal objection a copy of a Court Order for example. This should normally be no more than 5 working days to allow time for the Resident Parent to secure a copy and post it to the LA. 5.7 However, if the Resident Parent states that there are no Court Orders; information may still be withheld if he or she makes an assertion that there are immediate concerns over safety. This may be the case where a parent has relocated with the child to escape alleged domestic violence. Here the LA may expect that the Resident Parent is supported by a Refuge or has been in contact with the police and/or social care officers. Where safeguarding concerns are raised in this way, the Admissions Team will ensure that the Caller s contact is known to social care who will then be able to advise whether information is to be shared or withheld. 5.8 If the Resident Parent provides evidence of a current legal objection or social care confirm that information should not be shared, the LA officer will inform the Caller only that: Devon County Council can provide no information regarding the residence or schooling of X. You are advised to seek independent legal advice. To advise further may be sufficient to confirm the Caller s belief that the child is living in a particular town or part of Devon or in Devon at all rather than another possibility. The response should be neutral. In many cases, the Caller will already have instructed a solicitor and contact may be via the solicitor. 5.9 An alert will be placed on the child s ONE record for viewers: Do not share data or acknowledge that the child is known to Devon without prior consultation with Karen Howes, Admissions Service x Other Provisions 6.1 Where the Caller asks for information regarding a Child in Care, the Officer must always refer the contact to the relevant Social Care Officer. 6.2 Where a Caller states that the information must be known before a forthcoming court hearing, this should be taken into account. It may be reasonably expected that an imminent court hearing will reach a definitive conclusion whether the Caller should be given information about the child and his or her whereabouts. The LA should not pre-empt the decision of a court in this regard. 6.3 Where a Caller requests information from My Devon, the contact should be referred to the Admissions Team or, for children below statutory school age and for whom a Page 8 of 11

9 place in the Reception intake as a Rising 5 has not yet been submitted, the Early Years Team. 6.4 Where a Caller requests a copy of an admissions application form, the LA must be mindful that the application is subject to the Data Protection Act. The applicant has a right to expect that personal information is not passed on without permission. 6.5 In all cases where the LA is satisfied that there is no legal objection to information being shared, both parties should be encouraged to communicate and come to agreements regarding their children s education and welfare. Page 9 of 11

10 EMPLOYEE GUIDANCE 7 Guidance for Employees 7.1 Where any Officer is unclear whether information should be shared, further advice should be sought from colleagues with responsibility for Data Protection and, above all, social care. In some cases, specific legal advice may be necessary from Legal Services. 7.2 Any queries regarding the operation of the policy should be referred to the Schools Access Services Team for advice and support. 7.3 All cases where a Caller makes a request for information must be recorded, including the outcome. Records will be maintained by the Admissions Manager. Page 10 of 11

11 Policy History Date Summary of change Contact Implementation Review date date 11/2012 Policy formulated Policy and 9/ /2013 Strategy Officer (Education) 12/2013 Policy updated New section 1 inserted; previous section 1 merged with 2. Policy and Strategy Officer (Education) 9/ / Page 11 of 11