(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1988 Act ” means the Education Reform Act 1988;
“education authority”, in relation to a school maintained by a local education authority,means that authority and, in relation to a grant-maintained school,means the authority in whose area the school is situated;
“ GCE 'A' level examinations” and“ GCE 'AS' examinations” mean General Certificate of Education advanced level and advancedsupplementary examinations respectively;
“ GCSE ” means General Certificate of Secondary Education;
“maintained secondary school” means—
any county or voluntary secondary school;
any maintained special school which provides secondary education andwhich is not established in a hospital; and
except in relation to a local education authority, anygrant-maintained secondary school;
“prescribed public examination” means a public examination which is for the time being prescribedby regulations made under section 106 of the 1988 Act ; and
“previous school year” and“reporting school year” have the meanings given to them respectively by regulation 4.
(2) In these Regulations references to year groups 11 and 13 arereferences to the year groups at a school in which the majority ofpupils attain the ages of sixteen and eighteen respectively during theschool year.
(3) Where a percentage which is required to be calculated by virtue ofthese Regulations is not a whole number it shall be rounded to thenearest whole number, the fraction of one half being rounded upwards tothe next whole number.
(4) Particulars to which these Regulations apply may be made availablein the form of data from which the particulars are capable of beingextracted by computer.
(5) For the purposes of these Regulations—
(a) any prescribed public examination for which a pupil in year group 11was entered during any school year preceding the reporting school yearshall be treated as such an examination for which the pupil was enteredduring the reporting school year; and
(b) any prescribed public examination for which a pupil in year group 13was entered during the previous school year shall be treated as such anexamination for which the pupil was entered during the reporting schoolyear.
(6) References in column 2 of the Schedule to these Regulations to GCSENational Criteria are to criteria which are applied by the SchoolExaminations and Assessment Council (being a body designated by theSecretary of State pursuant to section 5(3) of the 1988 Act) indetermining whether to approve a syllabus for the purposes of section5(1)(a) of the 1988 Act .
(7) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, anyreference to a numbered regulation is a reference to the regulationbearing that number in these Regulations, any reference to a numberedparagraph is to the paragraph of that regulation bearing that number,and any reference in a paragraph to a sub-paragraph is a reference to asub-paragraph of that paragraph.