Polish Supplementary Schools and OFSTED and the DFE
Polish Supplementary Schools and Ofsted
Ofsted is an independent body responsible for the regulation, monitoring and quality control of services provided by educational organisations and those offering childcare (e.g. nursery, daycare centres). After extensive consultation with Ofsted, the Polish Educational Society has obtained confirmation that the registration of Polish Supplementary Schools is not mandatory in the majority of cases. The source of this information is also published and accessible on the Ofsted website in the Childminders and childcare providers: register with Ofsted page.
In the When you do not have to register section, the paragraph titled “Tutoring, coaching and clubs” states:
You do not have to register if you provide tutoring or coaching in either one or two of the following activities to children aged 3 and over:
- school study support or homework support
- sports
- performing arts
- arts and crafts
- religious, cultural or language studies
However, you cannot look after children under 5 for more than 4 hours in any one day.
The activity needs to be the main focus of what you offer, such as drama club, choir practice, netball or swimming. This should be specific tuition or coaching to help children improve their skills, rather than offering childcare for working parents. We do not necessarily expect everyone working with children to be a specialist coach, but they should have particular skills in those areas to help children improve.
If the main objective (stream of activity) of a Polish Supplementary School is to teach Polish Language and Culture, the last clause of this section applies to the establishment. If the school offers others types of activities listed in the section e.g. ‘performing arts’ or ‘sports’ as a full-time activity offered alternatively to the Polish Language and Culture course, then registration with Ofsted would be required. However, if activities such as performing arts or sport are included within the main program of Polish Language and Culture classes and there is no autonomous course of these other types of activities, again the last clause of the section applies and registration is not needed.
This applies to childcare establishments providing childcare for children aged three and over, and where the establishment does not provide care for children aged under five for more than four hours in any one day.
This information is general and refers to Polish Supplementary Schools with a limited scope of activities of teaching Polish language and culture. For more information regarding the registration we recommend direct contact with Ofsted. Contact details available on the Ofsted website.
We also advise all Polish Supplementary Schools to examine objectives and activities undertaken against the Ofsted requirements regarding the need of registration. Founders and governing bodies of the supplementary school are responsible for the lawful operation of the establishment within British legal requirements.
Polish Supplementary Schools and the Department for Education
Please be also aware that Polish Supplementary Schools are not obliged to register with the Department for Education, unless they meet criteria of being an Independent School (Education Act 2002), which is defined as follows:
An independent school is defined as any school at which full-time education is provided for five or more pupils of compulsory school age, or for one or more such pupils with an EHC plan or a statement of special educational needs or who is “looked after” by a local authority, and is not a school maintained by a local authority or a non-maintained special school. A child is “looked after by a local authority” if he or she is in its care or is provided with accommodation for a continuous period of more than 24 hours by the authority under its social services functions (see section 22 of the Children Act 1989 and section 74 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014).
Further information is available in the DfE document Registration of Independent Schools.
This document describes full time education in the following way:
There is no legal definition of what constitutes ‘full-time’ education. However, we would 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.
Generally, we consider any institution that is operating during the day, for more than 18 hours per week, to be providing full-time education.
However, if your School provides education for more than 12 hours per week (this is recognised by HMRC as full-time education), please check whether registration with DfE is mandatory or not. In this case please contact DfE directly: registration.enquiries@education.gsi.gov.uk.
For any further information or help regarding the above-mentioned matters please contact our office.