The report examines pupil registration practices in Wales, and in particular: a school taking a pupil off its roll completely without the use of a formal permanent exclusion (‘off-rolling’); and a school changing the registration status of a pupil between the January of Year 10 and the January of Year 11 so that the pupil’s outcomes are not included in the school’s key stage 4 performance data.
Recommendations
Schools and governing bodies should:
- R1 ensure that pupils repeat Year 10 only under exceptional circumstances
- R2 routinely review registration practices and pupil movements as part of the school’s evaluation and improvement arrangements
- R3 ensure that governors monitor pupil movements between Years 10 and 11
Local authorities should:
- R4 monitor the registration practices of schools to provide assurance that schools are always acting in the best interests of individual pupils
- R5 ensure that both local authorities and schools have clear criteria and protocols for allowing schools to register pupils as repeating Year 10
- R6 monitor and investigate any instances where pupils are repeating Year 10 or progressing from Year 10 into a school year other than Year 10 or Year 11
Welsh Government should:
- R7 review the registration of EOTAS pupils and consider using destination data to measure the effectiveness of EOTAS provision
- R8 work with local authorities to set up databases of compulsory age pupils in their area
- R9 review arrangements for PLASC to ensure greater transparency of pupil movement