Education Publications

In this article, Alice de Coverley and Matthew Wyard answer some of the most significant questions facing both students and schools on A-level results day 2020, providing practical advice on what to do next.

3PB’s specialist public law barrister Matthew Wyard has reviewed the draft Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) bill. The bill was introduced to the Senedd on 6 July 2020 without prior public consultation.

Matthew Wyard considers the meaning of "reasonable endeavours" in public and private law following the modification of the LA's duty to secure special educational provision specified in an EHC Plan under section 42 to a reasonable endeavours duty, and the likely approach of the Administrative Court to applications to enforce provision in Section F via judicial review.

Matthew Wyard and Alice de Coverley have produced a guide to remote hearings in SENDIST including practical top tips for both practitioners and witnesses. They cover topics from using technology to adapting your approach to this new style of hearing.

Faizul Azman summarises R (Gassa and another) v Richmond Independent Appeals Service and another: a new authority on school admissions which contains some interesting obiter observations on the effect of remittal to a new panel following a successful judicial review.

Naomi Webber looks at the recent Upper Tribunal case of F v Responsible Body of School W.  This is required reading for anyone who does disability discrimination work in the First Tier Tribunal, whose approach to registering claims for discrimination came under scrutiny in Re F for the first time and is likely to work somewhat differently going forward.

Education law barrister, Matthew Wyard examines the impact of the Coronavirus Bill on the independent education sector.

Charlotte Hadfield's introduction to temporary closure directions and temporary continuity directions, with a review of how special educational provision may operate if the Coronavirus Bill is enacted in its current form.

Education and public law barrister Matthew Wyard and Paul Wyard of Sinclairslaw review Nottinghamshire CC v SF and another, a case in which the Court of Appeal held that the First-Tier Tribunal had correctly construed the meaning of ‘necessary’ in section 37(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) in finding that it was necessary for special educational provision to be made for a child in accordance with an EHC Plan – even though the school had identified and made provisions for the child’s needs and the child was making progress at school.

This article was first published by LexisPSL on 9 March 2020.

Lachlan Wilson argues for parents before the Upper Tribunal that a powered wheelchair constitutes special educational provision. This article was first published on Lexis®PSL Local Government on 27 April 2018.