Holly Stout, instructed by Michael Brotherton of Stone King, represented Al Huda Girls’ School in the first ever successful appeal against a decision by the Secretary of State for Education to remove a school from the Register of Independent Schools. The Tribunal found there was a reasonable prospect of the School meeting the requisite standards within a reasonable period and observed that the Secretary of State had given insufficient consideration to the difficulties that closing the school would present for the 80+ Muslim girls who attend it. Having decided to allow the appeal in any event, the Tribunal found it unnecessary to adjudicate on whether or not the Secretary of State had breached the equality duty in s 149 of the Equality Act 2010, but indicated that in its view this should have been considered from the outset and that the Secretary of State’s retrospective consideration of the duty was not impressive.