The School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2012/1035 |
2012 No. 1035
Education, England
The School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012
Made 14th April 2012
Laid before Parliament 19th April 2012
Coming into force 1st September 2012
The Secretary of State for Education makes the following Regulations in exercise of the power conferred by sections 19(1A), (2), (3), (4A), (4B) and (8), 20(2), (3) and (4), 24, 25, 34(5), 35(4) and (5), 36(4) and (5) and 210(7) of the Education Act 20021and section 3(6) of the Academies Act 20102.
PART 1
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Citation, commencement and application
1. These Regulations may be cited as the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012 and come into force on 1st September 2012.
2.—(1) These Regulations apply to governing bodies of maintained schools in England that are either federated governing bodies or are proposing to federate, subject to paragraph 2.
(2) Parts 3 and 4 of these Regulations apply to a governing body only if—
(a)
(a) the governing body are constituted under an instrument of government that takes effect on or after 1st September 2012; or
(b)
(b) where the governing body are constituted under an instrument of government that takes effect before 1st September 2012 , the governing body or local authority—
(i) review the instrument of government on or after that date, and
(ii) decide under regulation 32(2) of the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 20073that the instrument of government should be varied.
Revocation, saving and transitional provisions
3. The School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 20074are revoked subject to regulation 4(1).
4.—(1) Regulations 1 to 3 and 13 to 30 of the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2007 continue to apply to a federated governing body constituted under an instrument of government that takes effect before 1st September 2012 unless and until Parts 3 and 4 of these Regulations apply to the governing body by virtue of regulation 2(2).
(2) A decision by a governing body under regulation 32(2) of the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2007 is to be treated for the purposes of these regulations as a decision of the governing body under regulation 30(2) of the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 20125.
Interpretation
5.—(1) In these Regulations—
“ERA 1988” means the Education Reform Act 19886;
“SSFA 1998” means the School Standards and Framework Act 19987;
“EA 2002” means the Education Act 2002;
“EIA 2006” means the Education and Inspections Act 20068;
“AA 2010” means the Academies Act 20109;
“appropriate diocesan authority” has the meaning given by section 142(1) and (4) of SSFA 1998;
“appropriate religious body”, in relation to a school designated under section 69(3) of SSFA 1998 as having a religious character that is not a Church of England school or a Roman Catholic Church school, means the body or person, if any, that represents the specified religion or religious denomination and that is prescribed under section 88F(3)(e) of SSFA 1998;
“the Constitution Regulations 2012” means the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012;
“day” means school day as defined by section 579 of the Education Act 1996;
“the federation date” means the date on which governing bodies federate;
“governing body” means a governing body incorporated under section 19(1) of EA 2002 or these Regulations as appropriate;
“the local authority” means the local authority by which a maintained school is, or a proposed school is to be, maintained;
“new school” has the same meaning as in the New Schools Regulations;
“the New Schools Regulations” means the School Governance (New Schools) (England) Regulations 200710
“parent” includes any individual who has or has had parental responsibility for, or cares or has cared for, a child or young person under the age of 19;
“relevant local authority” means the local authority in which a federated school is situated and which is responsible for maintaining that school;
“the Procedures Regulations” means the School Governance (Procedures) (England) Regulations 200311;
“qualifying foundation school” means a foundation or a foundation special school which has a foundation which meets any one or more of the conditions in section 23A(2),(3) and (4) of the SSFA 199812; and
“the Staffing Regulations” means the School Staffing (England) Regulations 200913.
PART 2
ESTABLISHING OR JOINING A FEDERATION
Prescribed cases
6.—(1) Regulations 7 to 10 apply where at least two governing bodies propose to federate in accordance with section 24 of EA 2002.
(2) Regulations 11 and 12 apply where it is proposed to establish a new school and either—
(a)
(a) the temporary governing body wish to federate with one or more governing bodies;
(b)
(b) the local authority propose that the school should be a federated school; or
(c)
(c) where the school is to be a foundation or voluntary school proposals for the establishment of which were published by proposers, the proposers propose that the school be a federated school.
Procedure for schools proposing to federate
7.—(1) Where a governing body are proposing to federate, they must first consider a report on the proposal.
(2) The consideration of the report must be specified as an item on the agenda for the meeting of which notice has been given in accordance with regulation 11(4) of the Procedures Regulations.
8.—(1) Where a governing body propose to federate with the governing body of a federation, they must give notice of the proposal to the governing body.
(2) Upon receipt of the notice, the governing body of that federation must consider whether to—
(a)
(a) give preliminary consent to the governing body joining the federation (“preliminary consent”); or
(b)
(b) reject the proposal for the governing body to join the federation.
9.—(1) Where a governing body propose to federate with one or more other governing bodies and, where necessary, preliminary consent has been given, they must jointly with the other governing body or bodies publish proposals for federation.
(2) The proposals must contain the following—
(a)
(a) the name or names of the governing body or bodies with which the governing body propose to federate and confirmation that that governing body, or those governing bodies, agree with the proposal to federate;
(b)
(b) the proposed size of the governing body of the federation;
(c)
(c) the proposed number of governors for each category of governor;
(d)
(d) the proposed arrangements for staffing the schools within the federation;
(e)
(e) the proposed federation date;
(f)
(f) the identity of the admission authority or authorities for the schools within the federation;
(g)
(g) the date, not less than six weeks after the publication of the proposals, by which written representations may be made to any governing body regarding the proposals and the address to which they should be sent; and
(h)
(h) such other matters as the governing bodies consider appropriate.
(3) The governing bodies proposing to federate must publish the proposals by sending them to—
(a)
(a) the Secretary of State;
(b)
(b) the relevant local authorities;
(c)
(c) the head teacher of each school;
(d)
(d) in the case of any school with a foundation—
(i) the foundation governors; and
(ii) the trustees of any trust relating to the school;
(e)
(e) where any of the schools are designated under section 69(3) of SSFA 1998 as having a religious character, the appropriate diocesan authority in the case of a Church of England or Roman Catholic Church school, or the appropriate religious body in the case of any other school;
(f)
(f) all staff paid to work at any of the schools;
(g)
(g) every person known to them to be a parent of a registered pupil at any of the schools; and
(h)
(h) such other persons as the governing bodies consider appropriate.
(4) A copy of the proposals must be made available for inspection at all reasonable times at each school.
10.—(1) The governing bodies proposing to federate must jointly consider any responses to the proposals and each governing body must determine whether—
(a)
(a) to proceed with the proposals for federation as published;
(b)
(b) to proceed with the proposals for federation with such modifications as the governing body consider appropriate; or
(c)
(c) not to proceed with the proposals for federation.
(2) The modifications referred to in paragraph (1)(b) may not include a change in the identity of the governing bodies proposing to federate.
(3) All the governing bodies which determine to proceed must jointly give notice of that fact to the relevant local authority or authorities and the Secretary of State within one week of that determination.
(4) Any governing body which determines not to proceed must give notice of that fact to the Secretary of State within one week of that determination.
New schools proposing to federate
11.—(1) Where it is proposed that a new school should federate with one or more schools or a federation, paragraph (2) or (3) applies as appropriate.
(2) Where a temporary governing...
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