The Statutory Role of the Local Authority

The role of the Local Authority continues to evolve, and Buckinghamshire Council is committed to working in collaboration with stakeholders and partners.

Buckinghamshire Council has the following core responsibilities in education:

1. Champion for Children

Responsible for championing educational excellence, Buckinghamshire Council remains accountable for securing good outcomes for all children and young people and has a duty to promote high standards.

2. Supporting vulnerable children

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to ensuring fair access for every child and standing up for the interests of parents and children.

Local authorities retain responsibilities to manage Fair Access Protocols and ensure the provision of full‐time education for pupils excluded from school.

Buckinghamshire Council also retains duties to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

3. Tackling underperformance in schools and ensuring high standards

Side by Side is the Buckinghamshire model for a local, school to school improvement system. It aligns with the Buckinghamshire Education Strategy http://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/educationstrategy  

Side by Side builds on the established, strong relationships across Buckinghamshire and enables all schools across the county to work collaboratively to support county wide school improvement. (See page 6 for more details)

Ensuring a sufficient supply of school places

This involves supporting parents and families through promoting a strong and diverse range of schools, school place planning and the Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme.

There are numerous teams and services within Buckinghamshire Council who support this work, as detailed in this handbook.

A summary of the work of the various teams can also be found through the links in this handbook on the Buckinghamshire Council website, SchoolsWeb, with more detailed information on the A-Z of Services at https://schoolsweb.buckscc.gov.uk

4. Ensuring a sufficient supply of Early Education places

Buckinghamshire Council is required to secure sufficient funded early years provision for eligible children aged two, three and four years of age.

This involves ensuring there is sufficient flexible choice of early education places across the maintained, voluntary, independent and private sector for all children across Buckinghamshire.

5. Ensuring a sufficient supply of childcare places for children from 0-18 years

Buckinghamshire Council has a duty to ensure that there is sufficient childcare for working parents, or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 to 14 or up to 18 for children with a disability.

Childcare includes breakfast and after-school clubs, childcare places in preschools, day nurseries and childminders as well as holiday clubs.