Legal services for education providers
We have significant experience of delivering legal services for the education sector, helping you understand this complex area and providing a range of services to help you secure the best outcomes, both for your pupils and for your organisation.
Our experienced North Yorkshire legal team has the knowledge and experience to support all education providers, from early years settings, community, voluntary aided and maintained schools to academies, independent schools and higher education providers.
For more information about our work in the education sector, or to find out how we can help you, contact us.
As well as providing an established schools’ legal advice helpline, we offer specialist legal services for the education sector in relation to:
- Special educational needs: including advising, negotiating, mediating and defending appeals against refusal to assess or issue Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). We also provide representation at Tribunal hearings for appeals against EHCPs and Statements of SEN
- Deprivation of liberty
- Safeguarding in schools
- Discrimination
- School collaboration/federations
- Assistance with complaints handling, including clerking
- Judicial Reviews
- Access to information, including advising in relation to requests received from the Police for information, and the screening of pupil’s educational files
- Parental responsibility for education, the rights of separated parents and disputes surrounding their child’s education
- Misuse of social media
- Aggressive parents/restriction of access
- School admissions, attendance and exclusion
- Home to school transport
- Support on school governance
Legal helpline
We offer a schools’ legal advice helpline, with a team of dedicated education law specialists on hand to deal with a broad range of enquiries. We understand the legal duties and challenges faced by schools and we are familiar and well-practiced in handling and advising on them. The helpline has been in operation for over 15 years, therefore you can rest assured that the information and support you receive will be second to none.
Corporate legal advice
We can also advise you in areas of commercial decision making, including:
- Strategic decision making and policy changes
- School organisation, amalgamation and closure
- Academy conversion and the establishment of new schools
- School improvement, including powers of intervention