Alternative provision guidance

Full-time education is not defined in law but the DfE consider an institution to be providing full-time education if it is intended to provide, or does provide, all, or substantially all, of a child’s education.

Relevant factors in determining whether education is full-time including:

• the number of hours per week that is provided - including breaks and independent study time
• the number of weeks in the academic term or year the education is provided
• the time of day it is provided
• whether the education provision in practice precludes the possibility that full-time education could be provided elsewhere

Generally, the DfE consider any institution that is operating during the day, for more than 18 hours per week, to be providing full-time education. This is because the education being provided is taking up the substantial part of the week in which it can be reasonably expected a child can be educated, and therefore indicates that the education provided is the main source of education for that child.

Inspectors from Ofsted may inspect any premises if they have reasonable cause to believe that an unregistered independent school is being conducted there. At such inspections, inspectors will assess whether the school meets the definition of an independent school, which will include assessing whether or not the school is intending to provide, or is providing, all or substantially all of a child’s education.

All pupils must receive full-time provision in total, whether in one setting or more, unless a pupil’s medical condition makes full-time provision inappropriate.