Continuing Paul’s series of ‘hot topics’ posts, this is a bumper edition covering a busy April and May.
11KBW has continued to advise parents, schools, local authorities and central government on a wide range of issues, covering everything from nurseries to universities:
- The statutory scheme governing nurseries;
- Vires, governance and process issues concerned with a primary school building project;
- Transport to/from after school clubs;
- Exemptions from the school teachers’ pay and conditions;
- Freedom of information requests about the site of a new school;
- Acting as legal advisor to the governing body at an exclusion review hearing;
- A fees dispute and a claim against a private school for negligent teaching;
- Freedom of information requests about the balanced presentation of political views to pupils;
- Prospects of an appeal against a FTT(SEND) decision on a statement;
- School and sixth form transport policies;
- Post-19 education and social care options for an 18 year old pupil with a SEN statement (which is a hot topic that has come up twice in this period);
- University admissions decisions and a complaint of disability discrimination; and
- The vires of the funding and mechanics of a university project for new and refurbished student accommodation.
In addition to providing advice, 11KBW has been involved throughout the litigation process, including pre-action correspondence, contested hearings and mediation:
- Pre-action correspondence about a maintained school’s proposed conversion to an academy;
- A hearing of an application for an injunction to restrain publication of an Ofsted report;
- A contract claim by a former university student, in an appeal and cross-appeal relating to the striking out of the claim as abuse of process on Clark grounds;
- On-going judicial review proceedings about whether a university applied its marking scheme correctly;
- Upper Tribunal and judicial review proceedings where the FTT named a school in Part 4 and the school is refusing to admit the pupil;
- Representing a student at a mediation where the university had allegedly failed to provide adequate PhD supervision; and
- Various FTT (SEND) hearings, including disability discrimination claims.
June is already shaping up to be another busy month, but (more importantly) there’s also sunshine!
Rachel Kamm