Date updated: Thursday 10th January 2019
In this month's edition:
- Pupil exclusions: who has the right to know?
- Liability for Sexual Abuse in School
- Discipline in schools: from ‘isolation rooms’ to ‘community service’ – what is reasonable
- Further Education Insolvency Regime
- Health and safety on school trips
- Access for disadvantaged children to school trips in a time of austerity
- Ofsted Complaints Procedure Decision
- Further Education Insolvency Regime
- Brief Alerts January 2019
Pupil exclusions: who has the right to know?
The Department for Education has previously reported that exclusions in schools are on the rise. The number of permanent exclusions in 2016/17 rose to 7,720, and it is estimated that an average of 2,010 fixed period exclusions took place each day in the same academic year. With this in mind, schools should ensure they are familiar with the procedure once a pupil has been excluded from the school.
Liability for Sexual Abuse in School
A recent high-profile case involving a primary-age girl who had suffered sexual abuse by other pupils whilst at school that settled out of court reminds us of a school’s duties towards its pupils. The facts of this case are a timely reminder to governing bodies, proprietors, principals and head teachers, senior leadership teams and designated safeguarding leads.
Discipline in schools: from ‘isolation rooms’ to ‘community service’ – what is reasonable
Schools may be feeling rather unsure as to which sanctions might be considered to be ‘reasonable’ in light of the recent news exposé of schools’ use of ‘isolation rooms’ and community service with pupils wearing hi-vis bibs. Indeed, legal proceedings have been lodged against one academy trust for its use of ‘isolation’ or ‘consequence rooms’.
Further Education Insolvency Regime
When further education colleges transferred out of local government in 1992, the government did not make any rules about what would happen if a college ran out of money. Central government became the funder of last resort. However, with financial pressures rising to a crescendo in recent years, coupled with an increasing number of financial notices to improve being triggered, this brought into sharp focus the fact that there were no statutory arrangements in place should a college become insolvent.
Health and safety on school trips
With a range of voices from developmental psychologists to the Health and Safety Executive urging the need for children to take risks, it is most timely that the government has recently published a guidance note on ‘health and safety on educational visits’. It applies to academies and free schools, maintained schools, local authorities, independent schools and non-maintained schools.
Access for disadvantaged children to school trips in a time of austerity
Financing school trips is increasingly difficult for schools in the current funding environment. Understanding the law on charging for school trips can help to ensure school trips both continue to run and benefit disadvantaged children.
Ofsted Complaints Procedure Decision
When a High Court judge said in relation to a case against Ofsted ‘To my mind, a complaints procedure which effectively says there is no need to permit an aggrieved person to pursue a substantive challenge to the conclusions of a report it considers defective because the decision maker’s processes are so effective that the decision will always be unimpeachable is not a rational or a fair process’, it may have raised a muffled cheer in many quarters. If so the Court of Appeal, ruling at the end of last year in the case of Ofsted v Durand Academy has silenced those cheers.
Brief Alerts January 2019
- Ten Year Plan?
- Accountability Mechanisms in Difficulties
- Combustible Cladding
- Death by Minibus
- Data Breaches
- PFI
- Good Work Plan
- Warning to Hoaxers and Texters
- Claw Back
- Section 128
- Christmas Quiz
- And in the New Year...
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