Education News

Part-time music teacher wins landmark case on calculating holiday pay for ‘part-year’ workers

20th July 2022

3PB barristers Mathew Gullick QC, Lachlan Wilson and Naomi Webber from 3PB's Employment and Discrimination Group - saw today a landmark judgment in favour of their music teacher client Mrs Lesley Brazel by the UK Supreme Court. This decision today follows her case being heard before an employment tribunal (in 2017), the Employment Appeal Tribunal (in 2018) and most recently the Court of Appeal (in 2019). The UK's highest court confirmed the rights of part-year...

The Upper Tribunal endorses a holistic approach to section 9 of the Education Act 1996 (parental preference on school placement)

24th May 2022

London Borough of Croydon v K.A. [2022] UKUT 106 (AAC) The Upper Tribunal published yesterday an important decision on EHC Plans which affirms the correct approach to section 9 of the Education Act 1996. The attempt by the London Borough of Croydon, on appeal, to narrow section 9 to educational benefits alone was rejected. Alice de Coverley, pictured here, from 3PB’s Education Team, represented the Respondent in this appeal, the parent, having already succeeded on...

Alice de Coverley and Gabriel Adedeji act for Ofsted in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

1st March 2022

3PB’s education and public law expert Alice de Coverley acted as Junior Counsel for Ofsted, led by Sarah Hannett QC, in this major public inquiry. Gabriel Adedeji, 3PB public law and regulatory law expert, acted as disclosure counsel for Ofsted. This latest strand of this ground-breaking investigation into the school sector by IICSA lasted for over three years and had several dimensions. Its first phase focused on residential specialist music schools and residential special schools,...

3PB education duo successful in CCLC legal challenge on speech therapy cuts

1st March 2022

Two of 3PB's well-known education team, specialist barristers Emma Waldron and Alice de Coverley - featured here left to right - have assisted law centre CCLC in their successful legal challenge to get Norfolk County Council to reverse its huge cuts to a boy’s speech therapy. Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) and the two counsel represented H, an 11-year-old boy, who was told he would only receive only 25% of the therapy he had previously,...

Matthew Wyard successful in judicial review of school transport decision for disabled child 

2nd February 2022

3PB public law barrister Matthew Wyard, pictured here, recently acted in a judicial review for the claimant in R(on the application of EP, through her litigation friend MAP) v Norfolk County Council  and successfully secured home to school transport for them, as well as an agreed quashing of multiple decisions refusing this support. The claimant, EP, is a disabled child with physical and mental disabilities. At secondary transfer she secured a place at T School....

Specialist education law barristers present SEND mock tribunal

27th January 2022

Five barristers from 3PB’s specialist education law team recently joined forces with Oxfordshire County Council to host a SEND mock tribunal as part of a training session. Barristers Lachlan Wilson, Katherine Anderson, Matthew Wyard, Jennifer Agyekum and Naomi Webber presented the mock tribunal to over 80 attendees. 3PB’s education law team represents parents, pupils, schools, and their governing bodies (both from the maintained and the independent sectors), academies, universities and colleges, NGOs including charities, students,...

  Welcome to our December's education law newsletter Welcome to 3PB's Education Law Team December 2021 Newsletter. It features contributions from specialist Education Law Barristers Aimee Fox, Emma Waldron, Matthew Wyard, Naomi Webber and Jim Hirschmann and has been co-edited by Jim Hirschmann and Katherine Anderson. You will find legal analyis on: (1) Discrimination in Foster Placeents as analysed in the recent Court of Appeal Judgment R (Cornerstone) v Ofsted [2021] EWCA Civ 1390 (2)...

Matthew Wyard counsels schools about data protection risks

1st November 2021

3PB Barristers’ specialist education and regulatory law barrister, Matthew Wyard (pictured here) has released the third article in 3PB’s Cyber Law Series. The feature covers data protection for schools and the higher education sector. Matthew highlights the rights of access to data from schools and colleges and specifically what constitutes ‘education data’. The new Data Sharing Code of Practice from the ICO is also scrutinised for how it assists the higher education sector in situations of crisis...

9 of our 14 education law juniors ranked in the 2022 Legal Directories

23rd October 2021

3PB Barristers is delighted to announce yet another record performance for its education law team in the latest editions of Chambers and Partners UK Bar directory and in the Legal 500 directory. While Chambers and Partners lists 6 individual rankings for our team in London (Band 3), the Legal 500 awards us 7 rankings in London (Tier 4), one in the Midlands and another in Wales and Chester. Nine of our 14 education law juniors...

Aimee Fox elected to the Council of the Birmingham Law Society

20th October 2021

3PB family and education law barrister Aimee Fox (pictured here) has been elected to the Council of the Birmingham Law Society, which oversees the activities of the Board and represent the interests of its 5,000 legal professionals across Birmingham and the Greater Midlands. Aimee has a busy and established practice specialising in financial remedies and private law family proceedings alongside her advocacy and advice on special education needs (SEN) children cases. Founded in 1818, Birmingham...

3PB Barristers raises over £1000 for the South West Legal Support Trust

18th October 2021

On Thursday 30th September, 3PB Barristers joined the rest of the Bristol legal community on the Bristol Legal Walk 2021. 3PB Barristers, staff, and 3 ½ year old Basset Fauve De Bretagne, Mabel (pictured here with Tom Cox, Lachlan Wilson and Richard Tyson) walked 10km around Bristol City Centre and raised over £1000, all of which will go to help  free legal advice charities in and around Bristol. To find out more about the South...

IICSA junior counsel Alice de Coverley on Inquiry findings into child sex abuse and UK religious groups

2nd September 2021

3PB education and public law expert Alice de Coverley acted as Junior Counsel for Ofsted, led by Sarah Hannett QC, in this major public inquiry. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has found "shocking failings" and "blatant hypocrisy" in the way major UK religious groups handle child sex abuse allegations. IICSA concluded some religious organisations in England and Wales were "morally failing" children. IICSA set this all out in its report arising from their...