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Education News
Managing Partner Beverley Watkins features in the latest edition of the Law Society Gazette, where she discusses representing three families in a test case in the Court of Appeal that could significantly impact on local authority procedures for children with...
Watkins Solicitors have successfully been granted permission to appeal in the Court of Appeal on behalf of 3 children with SEND in a judicial review that could significantly impact on local authority procedures for children with EHCP’s. The claims...
A Judicial Review against funding cuts by Cornwall Council to college education for autistic young people concluded today, 11 December 2019, with a huge success. Full course funding has been restored, not merely for the September 2019 cohort but for...
Beverley Watkins appeared in an article published by BBC News yesterday, following a Special Needs and Disability Tribunal ruling in favour of her client, Nura Aabe and her severely autistic son Zak, against Bristol City Council. Asked for her reaction,...
Wednesday marked a vital step forward in ensuring the needs of children with Special Educational Needs are met. The first report published by the Education Committee on 23 October 2019, details key concerns regarding the implementation and funding of...
Beverley Watkins, our Education Law Specialist, will be speaking at Developmental Language Disorder Unpacked, a workshop for parents of children with Developmental Language Disorder. The event takes place in Bath on 16 th October and is being run by...
Our client Nura Aabe and her son Zak are the subjects of a BBC News article following Nura’s decision to take legal action against the City of Bristol College, who used Zak’s appearance in a BBC documentary earlier this year to assess him for a...
Magna Academy in Poole has been in the news today over the fining of a parent who refused to send her daughter to school to take part in two activity days at the end of the term. The regular timetable was suspended and replaced with the activities, some of...
The Administrative Court in Cardiff has permitted a final hearing of Judicial Review proceedings to challenge the cutback of education for young people with special educational needs in Cornwall.
The government recently held a consultation on home education, due to a growing increase in the number (estimated 57,600) of children and young people being educated at home. However, in its conclusion of the consultation response, the government does not...
Dr Keith Lomax, our Judicial Review Specialist, successfully brought proceedings against a local council in Huddersfield on behalf of his client, whose allotments were being seized. The National Allotments Society tried to join the proceedings, which they...
The Autism Act 2009 was designed to bring about changes in the way adults with autism were treated by local authorities and NHS organisations. It is the only condition-specific legislation of its type in England and although references adults, has been...
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal This Tribunal hears appeals about EHC needs assessments and EHC Plans as well as claims of disability discrimination. The number of appeals is on the rise; between 2018 and 2019 the Tribunal has seen...
A report published this week by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in response to a complaint against Cornwall Council, highlights three key areas that we find are repeated failings throughout the country. The Ombudsman identified that...
The Guardian has published an article in relation to ‘special needs pupils being failed by system on verge of crisis’. Their investigation has shown that the current rate of success for parents at SEN Tribunal hearings is now at 89%. It is...
The Tribunal Service has launched new guidance for Tribunal bundles in SEN appeals which could have key ramifications when providing independent reports as evidence. Whereas it is often the case that these reports are highly detailed and therefore lengthy,...
The Government has been seeking views and evidence on school exclusion practice as part of a review of school exclusions. In 2015/16, 0.08% of children were permanently excluded from Local Authority maintained schools in England, although children...
We receive a number of phone calls from parents who want to know if they can access their child’s school records. The answer is generally, yes. If your child attends a maintained school, you have an independent right of access to your...
Speaking to MP’s on the Commons Education Select Committee, Baroness Warnock, who issued a report 40 years ago about services for children with special educational needs and disabilities needing to change, along with other key figures that led to the...
Following on from previous articles, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have continued to carry out joint inspections to consider how Local Authorities have implemented the changes set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 in relation to the...
