[ A to Z of Abbreviations and Acronyms ]
| Action Plan | A plan that the governing body must formulate within 40 days to address the key issues identified in an OFSTED inspection. |
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| Admission criteria | The method of allocating places to schools which are over-subscribed. |
| Asset Management Plan | A 5-year plan which identifies the condition, suitability and sufficiency of accommodation within a school and the costs of making necessary improvements. |
| Banding | A method used by some schools for allocating pupils to teaching groups by ability. |
| Capital expenditure | Expenditure on the purchase of land or for major building work can also include major maintenance items and the purchase of expensive machinery. |
| Catchment area | The area from which a school traditionally draws the majority of its pupils. It dose not, however, take precedence over the published admission criteria for allocating places when schools are over-subscribed. |
| Core curriculum | The National Curriculum subjects that every child must study throughout their period of compulsory schooling - these subject are English, Mathematics, Science and Information Technology. |
| Directed time | Time when a teacher must be available to carry out duties under the direction of the head. A full-time teacher's directed time is 1,265 hours in any school year. |
| Disapplication | A term used where National Curriculum requirements may not apply to a pupil. |
| Exclusion | The removal of pupils from schools for serious breaches of discipline or misconduct. |
| Financial year | The budget of all schools runs in financial years. This runs from 1 April to 31 March of the following year. |
| In loco parentis | A legal term which literally means in the place of a parent. It means that a teacher/school must show the same duty of care towards a pupil as would a reasonable parent. |
| Instrument of Government | A legal document which sets out the constitution of the governing body League Tables Government analysis of assessment and examination results in rank order. |
| League Tables | Government analysis of assessment and examination results in rank order. |
| Mixed ability | A teaching group in which children of all abilities are taught together rather than being steamed or set. |
| Outturn | A statement of what the school actually spent by the end of the financial year. |
| Parental Preference | The legal right that parents have to express a preference for the school they would like their child to attend. |
| Quorum | The minimum number of people require to be present at a meeting of a governing body or Committee before decisions can be taken. |
| Revenue Expenditure | General running cost e.g. salaries, rates, fuel etc. |
| Rising 5s | Children admitted to school in the term before they reach statutory school age. |
| Setting | Putting pupils into different groups for a particular subject according to their ability in that subject. |
| Sibling | A brother or sister. |
| Standard Number | The number of pupils in each year group below which the governing body cannot legally refuse admission. |
| Statement of SEN | A statutory document that describes a child's special educational needs and how they are to be met. The process of making the assessment is know as statementing. |
| Statutory school Age | The period from the beginning of the term following a child's fifth birthday until the leaving date following his/her 16th birthday. |
| Streaming | A type of school organisation where children are placed according to their ability into groups in which they stay for most of their work. |
| Vertical grouping | Classes formed in primary schools from children of different age-groups. |
| Year Groups | Under the National Curriculum, year groups are numbered from Year 1 (5/6 year olds) to year 13 (17/18 year olds). Year R represents reception classes. |
