
2015 No. 1599 (W. 198)
Education, Wales
The Education (Inspection of Nursery Education) (Wales) Regulations 2015
Made 5 August 2015
Laid before the National Assembly for Wales 10 August 2015
Coming into force 1 September 2015
The Welsh Ministers in exercise of the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by sections 122(1) and 138(7) and (8) of, and paragraphs 6B(1)(a) and 13B of Schedule 26 to, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, and now vested in them make the following Regulations:
Title, commencement, application and revocation
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(1) The title of these Regulations is the Education (Inspection of Nursery Education) (Wales) Regulations 2015 and they come into force on 1 September 2015.
(2) These Regulations apply in relation to nursery education provided in Wales.
(3) The following regulations are revoked—
(a) the Education (Inspection of Nursery Education) (Wales) Regulations 1999;
(b) regulation 23 of the Education Act 2002 (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2005;
(c) regulation 2 of the Education (Amendments Relating to the Intervals for the Inspection of Education and Training) (Wales) Regulations 2010; and
(d) regulation 2 of the Education (Amendments Relating to the Inspection of Education and Training) (Wales) Regulations 2014.
Interpretation
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In these Regulations—
 “the Act” (“y Ddeddf”) means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;
 “bank holiday” (“gŵyl banc”) means a day which is a bank holiday in Wales under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971;
 “Chief Inspector for Wales” has the meaning given to it in section 122(4) of the Act;
 “nursery school” (“ysgol feithrin”) has the meaning given to it in section 6 of the Education Act 1996;
 “the registrar of independent schools” (“y cofrestrydd ysgolion annibynnol”) means the Welsh Ministers;
 “working day” (“diwrnod gwaith”) means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, a bank holiday or part of a holiday longer than a week taken by the school in question.
Inspection reports
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(1) For the purposes of paragraph 13B(1) of Schedule 26 to the Act the period within which a report of an inspection under paragraph 6B of that Schedule is to be made is 45 working days from the day on which the inspection began.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph 13B(2) of Schedule 26 to the Act the authorities and persons to whom a copy of the report of an inspection under paragraph 6B of that Schedule must be sent are—
(a) in the case of nursery education provided at a school maintained by a local authority—
(i) the head teacher of the school;
(ii) the school’s governing body; and
(iii) the local authority;
(b) in the case of nursery education provided at a school having foundation governors, the person who appoints those governors;
(c) in the case of nursery education provided at an independent school—
(i) the head teacher of the school;
(ii) the proprietors of the school;
(iii) the registrar of independent schools; ...
(iv) where the school was approved under section 347 of the Education Act 1996 (approval of independent schools providing special education) before 1 September 2021 and remains approved immediately before that date, a local authority which is paying the fees in respect of the attendance of a registered pupil at the school in relation to whom Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Education Act 1996 continues to apply; and
(v) where a registered pupil at the school has an individual development plan in which the school is named under section 14(6) or 19(4) of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, the local authority that maintains the individual development plan under that section 14 or 19;
(d) in the case of nursery education provided at a special school which is not maintained by a local authority—
(i) the head teacher of the school;
(ii) the proprietors of the school; and
(iii) a local authority which is paying fees in respect of the attendance of a registered pupil at the school;
(e) in the case of nursery education provided by a local authority under  Parts 2 and 4 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, that local authority and the person in charge of the place at which the education is provided;
(f) in the case of nursery education provided by a person registered by the Welsh Ministers under sections 20 or 22 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010, that person and the Welsh Ministers;
(g) in the case of nursery education provided by a person who would be required to be so registered if the Act applied to the Crown, that person and the Welsh Ministers; and
(h) in the case of nursery education provided by a local authority at a home for children with special education needs, that local authority.
Inspection intervals
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(1) The Chief Inspector for Wales must secure that relevant nursery education is inspected under paragraph 6B(1)(a) of Schedule 26 to the Act—
(a) where there has been no previous inspection under that paragraph, within 6 years of the date on which relevant nursery education was first provided at the premises concerned; and
(b) in all other cases, at least once within  the  period beginning on 1 September 2016 and ending on 31 August  2024  and at least once within every subsequent six year period beginning on the expiry of the previous period.
(2) For the purposes of this regulation the date on which the last inspection was completed is the date of the report of the last inspection under paragraph 6B of Schedule 26 to the Act.
Huw Lewis
Minister for Education and Skills, one of the Welsh Ministers
5 August 2015