Commissioning AP well - Best practice for a school using AP.

What is best practice for a school using alternative provision?

Having worked across schools and alternative provisions and with a lot of young people who are struggling I believe that AP is a great, potentially life-changing tool to use for those young people. Whilst there are many advantages to a child being kept, and provided for, in school, sometimes a strong AP placement is just what is needed. I can give you numerous stories of young people whose whole life trajectory turned round with a well-timed placement. So, if you’re a school wanting to use AP what is best practice? What can you do and can’t you? What is a strong yet achievable framework for using AP that will stand up to Ofsted scrutiny and ensure you’re putting the child’s best interests first?

What the DfE and Ofsted expect of schools

1)        The pupils stays the responsibility of the school.

As a school you can use an AP placement and this can be in a non-school (previously ‘unregistered’) AP or a registered one. The key is, whilst that pupil is on your role they remain fully your responsibility. You keep your safeguarding duties to them. Practically that means that you need to be totally confident that their placement is a safe place and it means you need to know if and when they are there. You also need to make sure that absence or issues at a provision are followed up as strongly as if the pupil was in school. The best providers will support you with attendance and safeguarding concerns and are excellent at that support but you’ll need to have the overview.

2)        You need due diligence, plans and reviews.

The DfE’s ‘Arranging alternative provision’ (2025) expects a schools to carry out due diligence on a placement to check it is safe, good quality and right for the pupil. It also expects that a plan is in place for every pupil with agreed objectives, reintegration and a timeline. This plan and the placement should be reviewed at least half-termly.

3)        AP is a key part of inspections.

Right from the planning call at the beginning of an inspection Ofsted will ask about AP. Descriptors around AP then cross several sections of the inspection framework, it appears in safeguarding, inclusion and attendance and behaviour.

It’s helpful to see where AP is mentioned in the Ofsted framework:

Where AP appears in the Ofsted toolkit (September 2026)

Inclusion

Gathering evidence

"leaders make sure that any alternative provision the school uses is suitable and safe, and the decisions to place pupils in it are made in pupils' best interests"

Expected standard

"Alternative provision is commissioned appropriately and is used in pupils' best interests. Leaders take responsibility for the education and welfare of pupils who are placed in it."

Needs attention

"Leaders' use of alternative provision has limited positive impact on pupils' learning and/or wellbeing."

Attendance and behaviour

Gathering evidence, and Expected standard

"leaders reintegrate suspended pupils and those returning from off-site direction and alternative provision carefully on their return to school and manage their behaviour effectively"

Gathering evidence

"when alternative provision is used, leaders monitor pupils' attendance carefully, both daily and over time, and take swift and effective action when pupils do not attend"

Gathering evidence

"leaders and staff make sure that (when they are needed) part-time timetables are short term and have defined end points, and plans for supporting pupils' return to full-time education are clear and appropriate"

Safeguarding

Gathering evidence

"ensure that the school's procedures protect pupils who are at greater risk of harm, for example those attending alternative provision"

Gathering evidence

"obtain written confirmation that the required safeguarding checks have been carried out on all staff working at any alternative provision that the school uses"

Met

"Pupils are kept safe and feel safe. Their voices are heard, including the voices of pupils who are not on the school site (whether long term, temporarily or for part of the school day)."

Not met

"If pupils are not on the school site … leaders are either not clear where the pupils are or are not able to demonstrate that they have taken steps to safeguard them. This includes pupils absent from education and those attending inappropriate, unregistered or unmonitored alternative provision."

 One thing to avoid

Placing pupils with providers that should be registered. Providers should register if they have 5 or more full-time pupils or 1 or more full-time pupils who are LAC or have an EHCP. ‘Full-time’ here means ‘all or substantially all’ of a child’s education – this definition is moving to ‘the majority of a child’s education’ so it is safest to only allow non-school placements that are less than 50% of a child’s timetable. As an aside, this doesn’t stop you using several non-school AP’s across the week to provide a full-time offer for a pupil.

What guidance can we find on AP use?

1. Keeping children safe in education 2026 (statutory)
This is the backbone for safeguarding pupils in AP. KCSIE says the commissioning school stays responsible for the safeguarding of any pupil it places. It expects the school to:

• get written confirmation that the provider has carried out the required staff checks, and that it will be told of any staffing changes;

• know the address of every site a pupil attends, including any subcontracted or satellite sites;

• review placements regularly, at least half-termly.

KCSIE also lists pupils in AP among the children who may need extra help.

2. School attendance registration: the 2024 Regulations and Working together to improve school attendance (statutory)

• These set the legal basis for how AP is recorded. Code B is only for an approved educational activity away from the school, where the pupil is physically supervised by someone the school judges to have the right skills and training.

• Code K is for provision arranged by the local authority under section 19. Code D is for pupils dual-registered at another school, such as a PRU or AP academy.

• In practice, a school shouldn't use a present code unless it knows the pupil attended. All providers should give you same-day reporting for attendance.

• Working together also sets rules on part-time timetables: they should not be used to manage behaviour, need the agreement of the school and the parent, and must have review dates and a proposed end date.

3. Suspension and permanent exclusion guidance (statutory)

• This guidance makes informal or unofficial exclusions unlawful. That covers sending a pupil home to "cool off", or moving them into AP to avoid a formal exclusion.

• It requires suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension.

• It expects reintegration planning, which matches Ofsted's attendance and behaviour line about reintegrating pupils "returning from off-site direction and alternative provision".

• It also covers off-site directions for maintained schools, including telling parents in writing.

4. SEND Code of Practice 0–25 and the Children and Families Act 2014

• For a pupil with an EHC plan, the local authority should be involved early, and an early or interim review is often needed before any change of placement.

• The DfE AP guide adds that AP shouldn't replace special school provision just because specialist places are full.

• The Equality Act 2010 duties, such as reasonable adjustments and avoiding discrimination, also apply to decisions about who is placed in AP. This links to Ofsted's interest in disproportionality under Inclusion.

5. Promoting the education of looked-after and previously looked-after children (statutory, for designated teachers and virtual school heads)

• The designated teacher should involve the virtual school head early, before any looked-after child is placed in AP.

• The pupil's personal education plan (PEP) should reflect the placement.

• One looked-after pupil in full-time education is enough to trigger the independent school registration requirement for a provider.

6. Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs (statutory, section 19)

• This is relevant where AP is used for medical or mental health reasons.

• It clarifies when the local authority, rather than the school, has the duty to arrange education, and when code K applies.

7. Working together to safeguard children 2023 (statutory)

• This sets the wider multi-agency framework, including contextual safeguarding.

• It is especially relevant for AP because of exploitation risks linked to travel, location and peer groups. That is why placement risk assessments matter.

8. Curriculum entitlements: RSHE statutory guidance and careers guidance and provider access (statutory)

• These entitlements don't stop when a pupil is in AP. The school needs to show how relationships, sex and health education and careers guidance continue.

• This connects to Ofsted's Personal development area and to the full weekly timetable in the placement plan.

9. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (new, received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026)
This is one to watch. The Act changes the test for when a setting must register as an independent educational institution. The test becomes whether a child "could reasonably be expected to receive all or the majority of their education there", judged on hours, weeks and timing. The five-pupil and one-pupil (EHC plan or looked-after) thresholds stay. The Act also brings in stronger enforcement powers against unregistered settings.

The ethos

The recent SEN white paper and consultations reflect a DfE ethos that there is a continued place for AP in the sector but that mainstream school is the best place for children and young people. AP should be a progressive and temporary place focussed on helping pupils re-integrate back to a mainstream school or, for those in the last stages of education, progress to a sustained post-16 destination.

As this ethos shows, AP should never be a place used just to get pupils off-site where they are ‘out of sight and out of mind’. The days of schools moving a child to AP then pretty much forgetting them are thankfully well in the past. AP and mainstream educators should be working in close partnerships with regular good communication and the pupils best interests at heart.

So, what are the basics you should have in place as a school?

Get the foundations right

Firstly, it’s important to get your foundations right. The governance and strategy around AP are on what everything else is built. So, some questions here:

·      Is AP led by a senior leader in your school?

·      Do governors receive a regular report on AP?

·      Do you have an AP policy that defines how and why you use it?

·      Do you know the local provision well?

It’s surprising the amount of times I come across schools where senior leaders aren’t sure how many or who are the pupils out in AP or where they are. The decisions and information around these must be held by someone at senior level even if visits, checks and engagement with family are done by the pastoral team. It’s also worth thinking through, longer term, why pupils are ending up needing AP. What can you change about your school culture, systems and practices to try and reduce this in the future. Where do you need to intervene earlier?

Pupils not convenience first

The placements need to be the right thing for the pupil. This means commissioning the right setting and really understanding the young persons needs before they are placed. There’s no point in placing a young person in an outdoor farm setting if they want to be a barber and hate getting wet. Each pupil and placement should have a clear plan with clear objectives agreed after conversation with family and the provision. These objectives should be regularly reviewed. If a plan isn’t working school should think again about the placement. One thing that allows a more strategic response is to visit and understand local provision before you reach crisis point and need it quickly. The very best schools are proactive in arranging AP placements. They know which provision matches a child’s needs best and don’t just move on where there is capacity.

Safeguarding responsibilities

Checks shouldn’t just include DBS’s and a quick look at a safeguarding policy. The DfE have produced a set of standards for non-school APs which are currently voluntary but make a great set of checks to validate the quality of a provider. If the provider is registered then don’t rely on an Ofsted report to reassure you as regards safety. Things change over time and you need to check a registered setting in enough detail too. Around 8% of AP providers inspected under the new framework have failed safeguarding – don’t presume an inspection verdict means the AP doesn’t need checking.

Successful reintegration

A successful placement isn’t the end of the story. There are many examples of pupils doing brilliantly at AP then returning to school only to immediately fall back into old behaviours or struggles. Planning reintegration well and the transition back to school is key. We’ve given a more detailed look at this here: https://www.closethegaps.co.uk/updates/successful-reintegration

Evidencing the journey

At the end of the day we’re dong things for our pupils and our school community but we also have to work under an Ofsted framework and under external scrutiny. Having a strong system and paper trail helps us staff at every level from governors downwards to have a clear understanding of expectations around AP. It also works with an additional benefit that we can evidence that best practice approach to inspectors. This means placement agreements, review records and tracking of pupil numbers is all clear and demonstrable.

We’ve pulled together a free online tool that lets you self-audit the commissioning set-up you have in your school. It’ll pull together a list of actions for you and give you some guidance about areas you may want to prioritise. You can access it here.

For schools that are interested we’ve pulled together a full  framework that takes the time and hassle out of setting up a best-practice system around AP. If you think that could be helpful then have a look here. There is a charge to the package but it does give you a range of documents that include a model policy, placement decision records and risk assessments along with due-diligence checklists, QA visit records and commissioning agreements. Take a look at more details here.

 Useful further reading

• State-funded school inspection toolkit, September 2026 (Ofsted)

• School inspection operating guide for inspectors, September 2026 (Ofsted)

• Arranging alternative provision: a guide for local authorities and schools (DfE, 2025)

• Non-school alternative provision: voluntary national standards (DfE, 2025)

• Strengthening protections in non-school AP: government response (DfE, 2025)

• Working together to improve school attendance (DfE, 2026)