JMC Education are here to guide you through DfE Registration and every step to becoming an Alternative Provision or Specialist Independent School. Our expert service includes:
- Free professional consultation
- DfE registration support
- Policy guidance
- Compliance & Health and Safety checks
- Safeguarding audits
- Premises & Regulations checking
- Curriculum and Assessment Planning
- Pre-registration review visit to make sure everything is in place
- Ofsted Mock Inspections for Non- Association Independent schools
- Ongoing Support and Advice.
Do we need to DfE Registration ?
Alternative provisions that are unregistered under the Ofsted framework are only allowed if they don’t meet the criteria for registration as a school.
You must register if you’ll provide full time education for:
- 5 or more pupils of compulsory school age
- 1 or more pupils of compulsory school age with an education, health and care (EHC) plan
- 1 or more pupils of compulsory school age who are looked-after by the local council
The punishment for running an unregistered school can be a fine or imprisonment so it is important to stay within the rules.
Pre- registration Review Visit
We have experienced (former)* HMI’s ready to carry out a pre-registration visit to check the suitability of the premiss and to make sure all the relevant policies and paperwork are in place in advance.
Getting Local Authority approval for Alternative Provision
There is no consistent approach between local authorities. Some have no approval processes; others have stringent checks of every provision. You need to approach all the local authorities from which you take students to work through their approval processes. We can support and guide you through this minefield.
Policies and Paperwork for DfE Registration
Ofsted will require a full list of complaint policies, but the following policies are a good starting point when setting up:
- Curriculum plan & policy
- Behaviour policy (including your approach to sanctions, suspensions and exclusion)
- Anti-bullying policy
- Complaints procedure
- Admissions Policy
- Data protection policy
- E-safety policy
- Fire safety policy.
- First Aid policy
- Health and Safety policy
- Managing allegations policy
- Safeguarding policy (including safer recruitment)
There are some additional documents asked for by local authorities sometimes, particularly during tendering processes. This can include a range of more detailed documents such as financial records or critical incident plans.
Mock Inspections for Newly set up Independent Schools & Alternative Provision
All non-association independent schools & APs will have a ‘standard inspection’ every 3 years. Standard inspections are carried out using the current Ofsted education inspection framework (EIF) and the Independent School Standards. We have a unique understanding of both of these frameworks and their application to schools.
All our inspection teams are led by an experienced lead Inspector (LI). The collective depth and breadth of experience of our inspection team is unrivalled.
Amongst our inspection team are:
- Former Senior Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI)*
- Former Ofsted National Subject leads
- Current Ofsted Inspectors
- Former Senior Local Authority School Improvement Advisors
- Former Education Directors of Multi Academy Trusts
- Former DfE National Leaders of Education (NLE)
- Former Headteachers & Executive Headteachers
*NB Current HMIs are prohibited by Ofsted from carrying out any school improvement work
The LI will be your first point of contact once you have decided to take advantage of our ‘mock inspection’ service. Although they are referred to as ‘mocks’ they are designed with school improvement in mind, your lead inspector will act as an informed guide to help your school prepare effectively. Our inspection teams offer a mixture of training, coaching and mentoring throughout the process.
The inspection will encourage both reactive and proactive improvement in the quality of education & pastoral care provided by school.
