Pupils cannot be taken off school premises without parental consent

The Kent County Council (KCC) directive follows an incident when immigration officials asked staff from social services to take a child out of school.

It also advises head teachers that children cannot be taken off school premises without parental consent.

KCC said it was unable to comment on either the incident or the guidelines.

Peter Walker, head teacher at Abbey School in Faversham and council member of the National Association of Head Teachers, said he welcomed the new guidelines.

We need to have a clearly defined set of rules about how and when we should allow a child to be taken away Head teacher Peter Walker

He said that while there was always a risk of accepting students who had entered the country illegally, head teachers had to balance this against ensuring pupils' safety.

"It is our duty to protect the children," he said.

"We also have to bear in mind the rights of both the child and the parents."

Mr Walker also believes it is important for head teachers to be given guidance on how to prevent incidents such as the one which sparked the council directive.

"We need to have a clearly defined set of rules about how and when we should allow a child to be taken away like that," he said.