Service Children's Education

Service Children's Education (SCE) is responsible for providing schooling for the children of service personnel and civilian support staff working outside the United Kingdom. It was established in April 1996 and at that time subsumed the duties and responsibilities of both the Service Children's Schools (North West Europe) Defence Agency and those the Service Children's Education Authority based at Upavon in Wiltshire.

Like the earlier North West Europe Agency, it is a defence agency established under the Government's Next Steps Programme for the reform of the Civil Service. Service Children's Education provides schooling facilities for such pupils in Belize, Brunei, Cyprus, Denmark, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Naples and North West Europe; it is also responsible for the provision of help and advice to Service and Ministry of Defence personnel's families about to be posted overseas or returning thereafter to the UK.

This includes advice regarding boarding and other possible provision within the UK during their absence. Except for very small isolated detachments, primary schools are established in all overseas commands. Secondary school provision is available for all pupils in North West Europe and Cyprus, either at local secondary schools on a daily basis or in boarding schools in North West Europe at Rheindahlen, Gutersloh and Rinteln. All secondary schools are run on comprehensive lines. There are different arrangements for secondary aged pupils whose parents are posted to Brunei.

Transfer from primary to secondary schools is usually at age 11 although in some areas children will transfer at age 8 or 9 from a first school to a middle school and again into a secondary school at age 13. In Gibraltar, St Christopher's School caters for children aged 5 yrs to 12 yrs. Service Children's Education (UK) provides, from its office in Upavon, Wiltshire, a service to parents who wish to receive specialist advice on aspects of their children's education. This advice includes assistance in the selection of boarding schools and matters relating to boarding school allowance. SCE at Upavon provides information on education in overseas areas where there are no service children's schools and gives assistance with admission problems concerning UK LEA day schools and mandatory/discretionary grants.

In addition SCE (UK) at Upavon advises on matters related to children with special educational needs in the UK and overseas and liaises on behalf of parents with personnel branches and Local Education Authorities. SCE maintains a register of service children with Statements of Special Educational Needs in order that parents and children benefit from certain awards and appropriate educational provision. A free booklet is available from the address below. It is a comprehensive guide for parents in the Armed Forces who have school age children. The contents are:

Further Information:

Assistance is available to RAF families from the Children's Education Help Desk about their Children's education. The Help desk is available on Upavon Military 8244, or 01980-618244

HQ SCE, Building 5 Wegberg Military Complex British Forces Post Office 40

View School reports from the OFSTED web Site (All Schools within UK)

Click opposite for the DfEE Parents Centre Website. This site tells you about your child's education and how you can help, including what your child is learning, how they are tested, school administration policies for admissions, health and welfare, and learning at home.
View School reports from the OFSTED Website (All Schools within UK)

Admission Criteria

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has laid down guidance on admissions. Within these guidelines LEAs or Governors can apply any reasonable criteria they wish for deciding which pupils have priority for admission.

The admission criteria is available from the LEAs or school and often give priority to children:

with a brother or sister at the school.

who live closest to the school.

Who have special medical or social circumstances.

Admission criteria is not always as straight forward as these examples and you need to be clear of the specific criteria for the school you are applying to.

Admission Limits

Each school has an admission limit. If the number of applications is greater than the school limit your application can be refused if:

the school is full of children who have a stronger claim on the place than yours.

it is a church school and you do not meet its admission criteria.

It is a school that is wholly or partly selective by ability or aptitude and your child has not met the entrance requirement.

The Appeal

If you fail to get into a school of your preference, you have the right to appeal. This law does not apply to children with a statement of Special Educational Needs.

In the event of your child not being granted a place in the school of your choice, you can appeal against the decision to an independent local appeal committee. These committees have the power to decide an appeal on its merits one way or the other having heard the arguments put to them by both sides. Their decision is binding. If you intend to appeal, you should give notice without delay by writing to the LEA or school directly. At the same time, you should notify HQ SCE(UK) who will be able to support you in making your case.

Making a Case

It is in your interest to attend the appeal hearing. If you are not present, the appeal committee will decide your appeal on the basis of what you any other information which is available. You will usually be allowed to take a friend or advisor with you to the appeal session if you wish. If you want to be represented, you should inform the clerk before the hearing.

The hearing must be held in private and is kept as informal as possible. The chair or clerk will introduce everyone and explain the procedure for the hearing.

The result of your appeal will depend on the strength of your case. In most admission appeals, the panel goes through 2 stages:

The panel hears the case put by the admission authority, explaining why it did not offer you a place at your preferred school. The panel decides whether there was a good reason for turning down the application (the phrase sometimes used is "whether the admission would be prejudicial to efficient education or efficient use of resources"). An example might be where the school has very small classrooms and could not fit your child in without making the space too cramped for teaching and learning. If the panel does decide there was a good reason for turning down your application, it will begin the 2 stage of the appeal.

The panel hears your case, and why you are appealing against the decision. You can mention all the reasons why that school would be best for your child, and what factors justify your child being given a place in spite of good reason for turning you down. The panel then makes a "balancing judgement", and decides whether the benefits to your child going to the school outweighs the detrimental effects on the school and the other children of having 1 more pupil in the class. If the appeal panel decides that your case is stronger, it will uphold your appeal and the admission authority is then under duty to admit your child to the school. The decision of the appeal committee is binding on the admission authority and if you win your appeal, you must be given a place at the school.

Different rules Applying to the Admission of Children to Infant Classes

There is a statutory limit of 30 children in Infant classes. In the 2000/01 school year it applies to Reception and Year One. In Sept 01 it will apply to all Key Stage 1 (age 5-7).

In the type of appeal the appeal panel are only allowed to look at 2 things. The first thing is whether the admission authority kept to is own rules which were published in its admission arrangements. If the admission authority broke its own rules, either deliberately or by mistake, then your appeal can succeed, but only if your child would have got in if the rules had been applied properly. The second thing is whether the admission authority acted unreasonably. The law defines "unreasonable" very carefully in these cases. For the decision to be "unreasonable" it must be completely illogical, or not based on the facts of the case. The facts of the case include the published admission arrangements, the number of applicants, the number of classrooms at the school, and other factors to do with the school or the admission authority. The facts of the case do not include details particular to your child or any special reason you might have for wanting your child to go to that school (the convenience of the journey between your home and the school for example).

You are free to talk about personal factors at the appeal hearing if you wish, but this type of appeal the panel cannot take them into account unless they are relevant to one or other of the 2 things they are allowed to look at.

If your appeal succeeds, the admission authority must offer your child a place at the school. If your appeal does not succeed, you can ask the school to put your child on the waiting list (if the school has one), as places sometimes become free after the start of the school year. If you are unhappy about the way the hearing was carried out, you could complain to the local Government Ombudsman, who might recommend a new appeal.

SCE can provide specialist advice and assistance on many aspects of education.