Education Act 2005
| Year | 2005 |
Education Act 2005
CHAPTER 18
An Act to make provision about the inspection of schools, child minding, day care, nursery education and careers services; to make other provision about school education; to make provision about the training of persons who work in schools and other persons who teach, about the supply of personal information for purposes related to education and about the attendance of children at educational provision outside schools; and for connected purposes.
[7th April 2005]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part 1
School inspections and other inspections by school inspectors
Chapter 1
School inspectors and school inspections: England
Her Majesty's Inspectorate for England
1 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Schools in England
(1) Her Majesty may by Order in Council appoint a person to the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England (‘the Chief Inspector’).
(2) Her Majesty may by Order in Council appoint persons as Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools in England.
(3) Any person appointed as one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools in England is to serve, in accordance with the terms and conditions on which he is appointed, as a member of the staff of the Chief Inspector.
(4) The Chief Inspector holds and vacates office in accordance with the terms of his appointment, but—
(a) must not be appointed for a term of more than five years,
(b) may at any time resign by giving written notice to the Secretary of State, and
(c) may be removed from office by Her Majesty on the ground of incapacity or misconduct.
(5) The previous appointment of a person as Chief Inspector does not affect his eligibility for appointment.
(6) Schedule 1 makes further provision about the Chief Inspector and his staff.
2 Functions of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England
(1) The Chief Inspector has the general duty of keeping the Secretary of State informed about—
(a) the quality of the education provided by schools in England,
(b) how far that education meets the needs of the range of pupils at those schools,
(c) the educational standards achieved in those schools,
(d) the quality of the leadership in and management of those schools, including whether the financial resources made available to those schools are managed efficiently,
(e) the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at those schools,
(f) the contribution made by those schools to the well-being of those pupils,
(g) the extent to which those schools are developing rigorous internal procedures of self-evaluation, and
(h) the behaviour and attendance of pupils at those schools.
(2) When asked to do so by the Secretary of State, the Chief Inspector must—
(a) give advice to the Secretary of State on such matters as may be specified in the Secretary of State's request, and
(b) inspect and report on such school, or class of school, in England as may be so specified.
(3) In addition, the Chief Inspector must keep under review the extent to which any requirement imposed by or under this Part, or any other enactment, on any local education authority, proprietor of a school or governing body in relation to inspections of schools in England is complied with.
(4) The Chief Inspector may at any time give advice to the Secretary of State on any matter connected with schools, or a particular school, in England.
(5) The Chief Inspector is to have such other functions in connection with schools in England, including functions with respect to the training of teachers for such schools, as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of State.
(6) In exercising his functions, the Chief Inspector must have regard to such aspects of government policy as the Secretary of State may direct.
3 Annual and other reports to Secretary of State
The Chief Inspector—
(a) must make an annual report to the Secretary of State, who must lay a copy of it before each House of Parliament,
(b) may make such other reports to the Secretary of State, with respect to matters which fall within the scope of his functions, as he considers appropriate, and
(c) may arrange for any report made by him under this section to be published in such manner as he considers appropriate.
4 Powers of entry etc. for purposes of section 2
(1) For the purposes of the exercise of any function conferred by or under section 2, the Chief Inspector has at all reasonable times, in relation to any school in England—
(a) a right of entry to the premises of the school, and
(b) a right to inspect, and take copies of, any records kept by the school, and any other documents containing information relating to the school, which he requires for those purposes.
(2) For the purposes of the exercise of any function conferred by or under section 2, the Chief Inspector has at all reasonable times—
(a) a right of entry to any premises (other than school premises) on which, by virtue of arrangements made by a school in England, any pupils who—
(i) are registered at the school, and
(ii) have attained the age of 15, or will attain that age in the current school year, but have not ceased to be of compulsory school age,
are provided with part of their education by any person (‘the provider’),
(b) a right of entry to any premises of the provider used in connection with the provision by him of that education, and
(c) a right to inspect and take copies of—
(i) any records kept by the provider relating to the provision of that education, and
(ii) any other documents containing information so relating,
which the Chief Inspector requires for those purposes.
(3) It is an offence intentionally to obstruct the Chief Inspector—
(a) in the exercise of his functions in relation to the inspection of a school for the purposes of section 2(2)(b), or
(b) in the exercise of any right under subsection (1) or (2) for the purposes of the exercise of any other function.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (3) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
Inspections
5 Duty to inspect certain schools at prescribed intervals
(1) It is the duty of the Chief Inspector—
(a) to inspect under this section every school in England to which this section applies, at such intervals as may be prescribed, and
(b) when the inspection has been completed, to make a report of the inspection in writing.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), the schools to which this section applies are—
(a) community, foundation and voluntary schools,
(b) community and foundation special schools,
(c) maintained nursery schools,
(d) Academies,
(e) city technology colleges,
(f) city colleges for the technology of the arts, and
(g) special schools which are not community or foundation special schools but are for the time being approved by the Secretary of State under section 342 of the Education Act 1996 (c. 56) (approval of special schools).
(3) This section does not apply to any school—
(a) which is a closing school (as defined by subsection (4)), and
(b) in respect of which the Chief Inspector has decided, having regard to the date on which the closure is to take effect, that no useful purpose would be served by the school being inspected under this section.
(4) In subsection (3)(a)a ‘closing school’ means—
(a) any community, foundation or voluntary school, community or foundation special school or maintained nursery school in respect of which proposals to discontinue the school have been approved, adopted or determined under any enactment,
(b) a foundation or voluntary school in respect of which the governing body have given notice of discontinuance under section 30 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31),
(c) a community, foundation or voluntary or community or foundation special school in respect of which the Secretary of State has given a direction to discontinue the school under section 19 or 32 of that Act,
(d) a city technology college, city college for the technology of the arts or Academy in respect of which notice of termination of an agreement made under section 482 of the Education Act 1996 has been given, or
(e) a special school which is not a community or foundation special school but is for the time being approved by the Secretary of State under section 342 of the Education Act 1996 and which the proprietor has decided to close.
(5) It is the general duty of the Chief Inspector, when conducting an inspection under this section, to report on—
(a) the quality of the education provided in the school,
(b) how far the education provided...
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