Provider responsibilities
Providers must ensure they are compliant with the most recent DfE guidance around legislation and the definition of an independent school.
Any provider of education should be registered as an independent school if it meets the criteria – that it provides full-time education to five or more pupils of compulsory school age, or one such pupil who is looked- after or has an EHC plan.
- all alternative provision academies and alternative provision free schools must be registered as schools whether or not they are full-time or part-time. Please refer to independent school registration
- maintain contact with the commissioning school and the pupil’s parent or carer, with regular updates on the pupil’s progress
- carry out an initial assessment of educational needs for the pupil within one week of referral to confirm what level of course and support is appropriate
- notify the school of attendance and absence; good practice would determine this is twice daily
- provide relevant policies and procedures that relate to the child’s welfare, education and safety for example; safeguarding policy including the use of social media and e-safety, health and safety policy and behaviour policy
- attend relevant multi-agency meetings around the pupil when required, for example: Personal Education Plan (PEP) for children looked after, CAF meetings, SEND review meetings and social care meetings
- have clear monitoring criteria to judge the quality of the teaching and learning, and report this to the commissioning school at agreed intervals
- provide a named contact for all matters pertaining to the pupils
- be aware of relevant policies, standards and procedures
- maintain individual learning plans, these set out the targets that the pupil will achieve on programme (for example, L1 functional skills english, pass grade) as well as the wider targets (for example, 95% attendance, behaviour). All targets must be agreed by the pupil, the alternative provision provider and the school