Education Services – Schools, Governors, Local Authorities & Trustees
Impartial, informed advice on admissions and exclusion appeals, Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) obligations, employment, trusts and sector-specific finance and compliance.
Protect your organisation and make compliance easy. At Palmers, we’ve worked with a wide range of educational services, including multi-academy trusts (MATs), primary and secondary schools, colleges and local authorities.
Our team are the experts, with an extensive understanding of your school’s rights and responsibilities – one that only comes from experience.
How can we help?
Our specialist team can provide all the legal and practical support that educational establishments need in order to thrive:
- Advice on education law, including environmental, health and safety, accessibility and admissions concerns
- Advice and representation during admission and exclusion appeals
- Guidance on installing and training of governing bodies
- Support with employment law and contracts
- Advice on procurement and outsourcing
- Data protection information
When schools face legal challenges, concerns usually come out of a desire to protect children and their welfare.
We put the focus on helping you to deliver the best possible education and support to your pupils without contravening strict regulations – from admissions and exclusions to finance and status transfer.
Stay protected with Palmers
We understand that education law, particularly when young people are involved, can be complex. Schools, trustees or local authorities shouldn’t be afraid to seek legal advice – parties can often avoid legal disputes by knowing their rights and coming to an agreement.
If your school or trust does need formal representation, we’ll still be here to help with professional, impartial advice that puts your organisation and its pupils at the forefront.
FAQs
For most schools, admissions decisions are not made at school level. They are made by the trust or local authority – called the admissions authority.
However, school leaders, trustees and governors must understand their obligations during the admissions process.
When parents are deciding where to send their child to school, they will rely on information on your school’s website. For this reason, you must publish:
- Admissions information
- The curriculum
- Behaviour policies
- Performance data and Ofsted reports
- Key Stage Two and Four progress reports
- SEND policies
- The amount and effect of ‘pupil premium’ you have accepted.
If your trust is the admitting authority, then you must publish admissions criteria and admit pupils according to it. Failure to do so could be construed as unfair admissions practices.
You are also always subject to the Equality Act 2010, which means that you must not deny admission to a pupil for reasons of sex, disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, or race.
Independent – or “private” – schools do not have to offer an appeals process for admissions, although many do.
Independent schools are able to set out their own appeals process, which they must follow for all formal appeals.
However, you are still subject to the Equality Act 2010 at all times, which means that you must not deny admission for reasons of sex, disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, or race.
If a child poses a consistent or serious disruption to the school – for example, they act dangerously or continue to disregard rules – then schools have the right to exclude them.
A suspension is normally temporary and is for a set period of time – which must not exceed a total of 45 school days in a single academic year. Typically, parents or guardians cannot appeal these types of exclusions.
However, if a child is facing permanent exclusion – where their name is removed from the school roll – parents are entitled to lodge an appeal with an Independent Review Panel.
In such cases, your school cannot permanently exclude a child from school until the Independent Review Panel has deliberated and made a final decision.
It is important to know that a child can only be excluded if the decision is:
- Fair
- Lawful
- Proportionate
- Rational
- Reasonable
Parents or guardians must also be informed, in writing and as soon as possible, of temporary or permanent exclusion.
Local authorities are responsible for providing support for any child with SEND requirements. They must provide you with information regarding services available to support pupils, as well as informing the child’s parents or guardian.
Beyond support from local authorities, children may need support directly from your school.
You must provide them with reasonable support.
For example, a child with a physical disability might reasonably expect lessons to be scheduled in ground-floor classrooms wherever possible. This is an example of a reasonable adjustment.
Your school, however, might not be expected to install lift facilities, particularly if it would be financially exclusionary or the building is protected in some way.
Unfortunately, sometimes a school cannot meet a child’s requirements, despite making reasonable adjustments. At this point, you may need legal support to prove that you have done everything that you can reasonably be expected to do.
As an organisation in the UK, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As you may be handling large quantities of children’s data, you have an additional responsibility to keep their data safe, as they may not understand the risks involved with data breaches.
If you are processing data for the protection of the child, you must do so within reason and on a strictly needs-must basis.
We can guide you through the complex guidelines on data processing for schools, local authorities and trusts.