The Education (Non-maintained special schools) (England) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/1627) were laid before Parliament on 8th July 2011 and will come into force on 1st September 2011. They are intended to align the requirements for non-maintained special schools with those for maintained special schools and they consolidate with amendments previous regulations from 1999. Notable effects of this SI include:

– Providing proprietors of such schools with an appeal to the First-tier tribunal against certain decisions of the Secretary of State (to withdraw approval etc.). Previously only judicial review was available

– Making provision for sixth-formers to withdraw from attending acts of religious worship. This aligns non-maintained schools with maintained schools.

– Removal of the requirement (previously in the 1999 regulations) for a non-maintained special school to provide a copy of its prospectus to the Secretary of State

You can read the regulations here and the explanatory memorandum here, both on the government’s helpfully tidied-up legislation.gov.uk website.