Author: Clare MacKay

The allocation of school places is always a contentious issue, particularly in St Albans and Harpenden where a number of schools are heavily oversubscribed each year.

Yesterday saw the publication of a new Schools Admissions Code which will apply to pupils starting school in 2013 (and so to applications for places that will be made in late 2012).

The key provisions of the new Code are:

• Priority will be given to adopted children who were previously in care (which is estimated to be some 5,000 children each year);
• Academies and free schools will be able to admit children who are eligible for free school meals (ie those whose parents earn £16,000 per annum or less) in priority to children from more affluent backgrounds;
• Primary schools will be allowed to admit children from Armed Forces families into an infant class, even if doing so would push the class number beyond the statutory ratio of 30 pupils to one teacher;
• Multiple birth children will also be admitted to infant classes notwithstanding that doing so would cause the class number to exceed 30; and
• Children whose parents work at the school (which include non-teaching staff such as cleaners, caretakers and cooks) will also be given priority.

In addition, schools remain able to allocate places in priority to children looked after by the local authority, who have a social or medical need to attend a particular school and to children who already have a sibling at the school.   Faith schools will also continue to apply admission criteria to prioritise children from families who can demonstrate that they practice their particular faith.

The Government’s hope is that the new Code will close the attainment gap between children from poorer and wealthier backgrounds by giving better access to children from families who may not be able to afford to buy a house close to the best performing schools in an area.   Critics say that these proposals are bad news for the average first born or only child who does not fall within any of the increasing numbers of categories given priority.   For the majority of applicants, the new Code will make it even more difficult to get a place at overly subscribed schools and increase the number of appeals by disappointed parents.

Author: Clare MacKay

Independent schools breathed a collective sigh of relief on 14 October 2011 as their charitable status (and the associated tax advantages that this confers) was preserved.

The ruling of the Charities Tribunal decided that it was for the trustees of independent schools to decide how they justify their charitable status and not the Charity Commission. The ruling means that independent schools are not required to offer bursaries to children from less affluent backgrounds in order to retain their charitable status. Instead they must continue to provide a public benefit and the trustees of each school have a discretion as to how they do this. Simply providing education in a private setting is not enough. Independent schools must reach out in a way that is not “minimal or tokenistic” to families who would otherwise be unable to afford to educate their children privately. Exactly what they need to do to demonstrate such a public benefit is an open ended question and is likely to be open to further challenge.

Despite the Independent Schools Council claiming a victory, the Charity Commission regards this ruling as a draw. It has been ordered to rewrite its guidance to all fee charging charities. The implications of this decision therefore extend beyond independent schools to all charities who charge fees, such as care homes. All such charities will now have to demonstrate that they provide a wider public benefit to retain their charitable status going forward.

If you would like more information or advice relating to a specific matter, please do not hesitate to contact Clare Mackay on 01727 798084 or by email at clare.mackay@salaw.com or any member of the Commercial Dispute Resolution team.

© SA LAW 2011
Every care is taken in the preparation of our articles. However, no responsibility can be accepted to any person who acts on the basis of information contained in them. You are recommended to obtain specific advice in respect of individual cases.

Author: Clare MacKay

The allocation of state primary and secondary school places each year is always a contentious issue.   In our local area, this year was no exception, with many parents in central St Albans and Harpenden unable to secure a place for their child at any of their three ranked primary schools.

The Government has recently published proposed changes to the Schools Admissions Code, which sets the perimeters within which school places are allocated in England and Wales.   The key proposals will:

•    Allow academies and free schools (but not other state schools) to give priority to children eligible for free school meals.   Academies and free school set their own admissions criteria and this proposal would allow them to select pupils from more disadvantaged backgrounds if they wished to do so.

•    Allow priority to be given to children of teachers and other staff at the school in question.

•    Allow infant classes to increase their class size beyond the current strict ratio of 30 pupils to one teacher in order to accommodate multiple births and children of parents serving in the armed forces.

•    Dispense with the current ban on drawing catchment areas which exclude areas of social deprivation – instead, it is proposed that catchment areas going forward must just be “reasonable” and “clearly defined”.

•    Ban local authorities from using random lotteries to allocate places at over-subscribed schools.

It is the first of these proposals that is the most controversial.  With budgets being squeezed, more and more schools are converting to academy status.   The carrot to encourage more academies to give priority in their admissions criteria to children from less well off backgrounds is that the school receives a pupil premium of £430 a year for each pupil in receipt of free school meals.   With education being one of the great equalisers in life, proponents of this change argue that it will increase access for pupils from less well off backgrounds whose parents cannot compete with those able to buy a house very close to popular and high achieving schools.   It remains to be seen whether the changes (if adopted) will level the playing field.

To read other Education related blogs, please click here.

Author: Clare MacKay

Yesterday (17 May 2011) saw the beginning of a judicial review case brought by the Independent Schools Council and the Attorney General to challenge the decision of the Charity Commission that independent schools must provide bursaries in order to justify their charitable status.

Since the implementation of the Charities Act 2006, independent schools have had to show that they provide a public benefit in order to claim charity status and its related tax advantages.

As a result of the Charity Commission’s guidance, independent schools demonstrate public benefit by offering bursaries to fund the education of children from poorer backgrounds.

This case will determine what is required of independent schools in order to demonstrate public benefit. Many independent schools have been arguing that working within the community and assisting state schools is a sufficient public benefit, as is indeed the provision of education to its own pupils.  They argue that the provision of bursaries operates unfairly as it means that fees have to be increased to cover that provision.  In the current difficult financial times, this is a real concern when parents are increasingly having to tighten their belts.

Author: Clare MacKay

We advise on both primary school appeals and secondary school appeals. As part of our school admission appeals service, we can provide you with assistance in preparing school appeals letters and forms and other aspects of school appeals including representation at the hearing of school admission appeals.

Our Solicitor Clare Mackay has written ‘Ten Top Tips’ to help parents of children who did not get allocated the Primary School of their choice for their child. We understand the appeals process is complicated, so our tips will help those thinking of appealing gain a better understanding of what to do next and your rights.

Click here to read the ‘Top Ten Tips’.

We have also produced a free guide to help parents dealing with such school admission appeals. Click here to request a copy.

© SA LAW 2011
Every care is taken in the preparation of our articles. However, no responsibility can be accepted to any person who acts on the basis of information contained in them. You are recommended to obtain specific advice in respect of individual cases.

Author: Clare MacKay

If you think that you are having a bad day at work, spare a thought for the teacher in the recent Court of Appeal case (Vaile v Havering LBC [2011] EWCA Civ 246).

The teacher worked in a school for special needs pupils and suffered attacks on two separate occasions from a 14 year old pupil.  On the first occasion, her hand was grabbed, bitten and an attempt was made to hit her face.  A month later, the pupil stabbed the back of the teacher’s hand with a pencil, hit her left ear, grabbed her by the neck and shook her head violently.  Not surprisingly, the teacher was unable to return to work and she brought a claim against her employer, the local education authority, for negligence and for failing to provide a safe system of work.

The Court of Appeal found the local authority to be liable. It had failed to identify the pupil as suffering from an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and so had failed to make appropriate educational provision for him.   As a result, it had also failed to provide a safe system of work for the teachers at the school. It was notable that there had been more than one incident and the first incident had not been responded to adequately.

The lessons from this case for employers in the education sector are to:

• Have systems in place to identify whether pupils have conditions such as ASD and particularly those which can manifest in violent or unacceptable behaviour;
• Inform the teaching staff of pupils who are identified as having such conditions;
• Ensure that those teaching such pupils are properly instructed in appropriate techniques to deal with violent conduct; and
• Investigate and respond promptly to any attacks, including making changes to minimise the risk of such behaviour being repeated.

Violent outbursts cannot always be prevented.  However, taking steps to minimise the risk of such an attack occurring is part of providing a safe system of work.   This can only be a good thing for both teachers and pupils.

Author: Clare MacKay

Allocation of school places started to be announced on March 1and will continue until April4.
As a firm, we are keen to let parents know what they can and can’t do about these decisions if they are unhappy. There is a good reason for a call to action – for 2009/2010, nationally 33.3% of secondary school appeals and 25% of primary appeals succeeded.

To read the full article on the Hertfordshire Life website, click here.

Author: Clare MacKay

Parents and children up and down the country will be nervously waiting today for the email to arrive informing them whether they have been allocated a place at their preferred secondary school.

Inevitably, there will be disappointment for some, particularly in the St Albans and Watford area.   I was up at the crack of dawn today to give a live radio interview to BBC Three Counties about what to do if you are one of the unlucky ones.

Essentially, you have nothing to lose by making an appeal for a place at your preferred school.   This involves completing a written appeal form and then attending a short oral hearing before an independent appeal panel.

As with many things, the key is preparation.   You need to know what the appeal panel has to consider and make sure that you cover all of these points.   Most appeals boil down to weighing up on the one hand the school’s argument that it is full and really can’t take any more pupils, against your case that your child really needs a place at that particular school.   Focus on this and not on why the school that you have been offered is, in your opinion, so bad.

We have produced a free guide on making an appeal for a school place.   Please click here to order your copy.

If you would like more information or advice relating to a specific matter, please do not hesitate to contact Clare MacKay on 01727 798000 or by email at clare.mackay@salaw.com or any member of the Education team.

For real time updates about education and matters relating to School Admission Appeals, follow Clare MacKay on Twitter @CM_Education.

© SA LAW 2011
Every care is taken in the preparation of our articles.    However, no responsibility can be accepted to any person who acts on the basis of information contained in them. You are recommended to obtain specific advice in respect of individual cases.

Author: Clare MacKay

The Department of Education has published statistics which show that one in ten state secondary schools is now an academy.   Indeed, as the schools return after the Christmas break, the first week of January saw 46 schools reopening as academies.

But what are the benefits of becoming an academy?  Academies have more autonomy – for example, they can set their own pay and conditions for staff.   They have freedom in setting their curriculum’s provided that it remains broad and balanced..   Critically, an academy exercises more control over its budget.   Funding comes direct from central government rather than from the local authority.   An academy will therefore receive additional funds from central government to provide extra services such as meeting the needs of children with special educational needs – whereas previously this money would have been held by the local authority.   In real terms, this could mean a further 4-10% of funds being allocated directly to a school in each academic year.    In this era of public sector cuts, academy status starts to look attractive.

The Coalition Government believe that giving heads and teachers more control will raise standards.  It sees academies as a key part of their “education revolution”.

However, the main teaching unions (who of course represent these same teaching professionals) are much less convinced.   According to a report on the BBC website, the NUT, the NASUWT and the ATL have all expressed concerns.   The NASUWT take the view that schools were being motivated to convert to academy status in the belief that this would entitle them to extra funding in this time of severe spending cuts.   The NUT and the ATL both expressed concerns about the devolution of control from local authorities and a lack of accountability.   It is early days but if the rate of conversion to academies continues at this rate (and indeed it is likely to rise now that all schools, and not just those rated by OFSTED as outstanding, can apply to convert), there may be interesting time ahead, particularly as schools compete to attract staff and pupil numbers.

Author: Clare MacKay

With the recent furore over the increases in tuition fees, university students are likely to become increasingly expectant as to what they will receive in return from their chosen institution.   A recent case underlines that they will have an uphill struggle in bringing a claim against their university if they graduate with a lower classification of degree than they hoped for.

A graduate from Queen’s University Belfast sought permission to seek a judicial review of his degree classification.   The electrical engineering student was awarded a 2:2 degree, having narrowly missed out on a 2:1 degree by just half of a percentage point.   He felt very aggrieved at this and was concerned about the effect that his degree classification would have on his employability and future earning potential.

It is settled law that the Courts cannot review or become involved in disputes over the marking of examination scripts and the academic achievements of students.   However, in this case, the student’s complaint was that he had not been properly supervised throughout his degree and that he had been denied a right to appeal internally against the classification of his degree as he had already graduated from the university.

The student failed.  The Northern Ireland High Court found that his complaint was a matter solely for the University’s own appeals body.  The Judge dismissed an argument that the student’s right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) had been breached – that right did not extend to the determination of disputes over degree classifications.   Nor was there any breach of the student’s right to education enshrined in Article 2 of the First Protocol of the ECHR.

A university’s own internal appeal mechanisms are however accountable and must abide by the requirements of natural justice.  This means that any aggrieved student must be given the right to be heard fairly and to put forward his or her case before an impartial and unbiased tribunal.   As expectations rise with students demanding value for money, will there also be an increase in claims by disappointed graduates arguing that they did not receive a high enough standard of education and supervision?