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The laws of learning - you and your education

Do I have to go to school?

By law, every person between the age of 5 and 16 has to have a full-time education that’s suitable for their age and ability BUT technically it doesn’t have to take place at school.

You could receive your education:

• at school; or
• at home; or
• in a Pupil Referral Unit; or
• in specialist places such as a Young Offender Institution or psychiatric unit.

Extra help with learning

If you find learning hard – and by that we mean your classmates seem to find school work much easier than you do – then you may have what is known as Special Educational Needs (or SEN for short).

You may also have Special Educational Needs (or SEN for short) if you have some kind of disability which means that it’s difficult for you to get to school.

If either of these are the case, then your parents, your school or a social worker can ask your Local Education Authority (often shortened to LEA) to assess your educational needs. This means that different experts will meet you, have a chat with you and do some tests.

After this, they’ll come up with a plan to make sure that your educational needs are met in a way which helps you the most.

But what does this really mean for you?

Here are some possibilities:

• You could get extra help from school staff while you are at school.
• You could get extra help from school staff and from people brought into school to help you while you are there.
• You may receive a written document known as a Statement of Educational Needs which describes:

- your needs;
- the help you should receive; and
- it might even say which school you should go to.

The good news is that the people who look after you, such as parents, carers or foster carers, can appeal to a special tribunal known as the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) if the Local Educational Authority (LEA) refuses to do any of the following:

• Assess your needs.
• Reassess your needs.
• Issue a statement of special educational needs.
• Change the school in a statement.

Disability Discrimination

During your education, you might encounter discrimination on the ground of your disability. It is against the law for schools to discriminate against disabled children in the following situations:

• deciding whether you can go the particular school (admissions);
• education and associated services, including:
• school trips
• the curriculum
• teaching and learning
• school sports
• the serving of school meals
• exclusions.

Before being able to bring a claim for disability discrimination, you must prove that you have a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

If you have a disability and:

• you think your school isn’t treating you as well as the other children who don’t have a disability; or
• the school hasn’t made reasonable adjustments because of your disability…

…then make sure you tell your parents or carers. They can apply to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) which will make decisions about the school’s behaviour and what should happen as a result. Your parents may wish to use the Disability Rights Commission’s (DRC) conciliation service to try and reach an agreement which everyone is happy with.

Choice of school

Your parents can choose where you go to school. Sometimes, getting in to the school or college of your parents’ choice can be difficult. Each school has its own policy about who can and who can’t go to their school and why. If your parents’ application is refused, then they may be able appeal to an independent panel.

“Parent” in this situation means any adult with whom you live, or who is your main carer. It doesn’t matter what the adult’s relationship is to you. So, foster parents or older siblings, for example, can bring an appeal for education admissions, school exclusions and claims to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST).

Exclusion from school

You can only be excluded from school because of your behaviour.

If an incident happens then your head teacher has to investigate:

• whether you have acted in the way people have described; and
• if so, whether you should be excluded for a fixed amount of time (known as a fixed term exclusion) or permanently (known as a permanent exclusion).

But there are rules about exclusions:

Fixed term exclusion

• One period of exclusion cannot be for more than 15 days.
• The maximum number of days you can be excluded from school in any one academic year is 45.

In either case, the school should still send you work at home so that you can continue your education.

Permanent exclusion

This has to be the school’s last resort.

Appealing against a decision to exclude you

Fixed term exclusion

It is possible to appeal against a fixed exclusion as long as the period of exclusion was more than five days. Your parents will have to appeal to the school governors.

Permanent exclusion

Your parents can appeal against the school’s decision to exclude you permanently. They have to appeal to the school governors. If the appeal is unsuccessful, they can appeal to the Local Education Authority’s independent appeal panel.

Bullies, bullying and schools

Bullying may be making your life a nightmare. By law, your school is required to have an anti-bullying policy. This policy sets out how the school will tackle bullying.

If your school is being unhelpful, ask for a copy of its bullying policy.

If your school hasn’t complied with the bullying policy or hasn’t been helpful, then you can complain to your school about its failure to help you.

Every school should have a separate complaints policy saying how you can make a complaint, to whom the complaint should be made and who will be responsible for dealing with your complaint.

If your school still doesn’t help, then it may be possible to bring a court action for negligence against the school.

Your human rights

Your human rights may have been affected in any of the above educational areas. If you think this is the case, then tell your parents or carers. Any claim is brought by you but you will be helped by someone known as a “litigation friend”. This is normally a parent or guardian.

For more information, contact Yvonne Spencer at Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP on 01206 835241.

Useful organisations

ACE – Advisory Centre for Education

1c Aberdeen Studios
22 Highbury Grove
London N5 2DQ
Tel:   General Advice Line: Freephone 0808 800 5793 (M-F 2-5pm)
Tel:   Exclusions Information Line: 020 7704 9822 (24hr answer machine)
Fax: 020 7354 9069
www.ace-ed.org.uk

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IPSEA – Independent Panel for Special Education Advice

6 Carlow Mews
Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 1EA
United Kingdom
Tel: Advice line: 0800 0184016
Tel: Contact IPSEA: 01394 384711
Email (for information only, not advice): ipsea.info@intamail.com
www.ipsea.org.uk

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ELAS – The Education Law Association

The Executive Officer
Education Law Association
33 College Road
Reading RG6 1QE
Tel: 01189 669866
Fax: 01189 669866
Email: Secretary@educationlawassociation.org.uk
www.educationlawassociation.org.uk

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Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP

Norfolk House
23 Southway
Colchester
Essex CO2 7BA
Tel: 01206 578282
Fax: 01206 760282
www.fjg.co.uk (Advice guides for parents and carers on the education section of the website.)