All academies and schools must ensure their admissions arrangements are Code compliant. Given the complexities and vagaries of the Admissions Code and the Admission Appeals code, you may need expert advice to help you.
Getting it wrong can lead to a challenge from the Schools Adjudicator, the local authority or parental complaints to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and in the worst cases, having to admit significantly more pupils than you had planned.
Our experience and expertise means we provide you with immediate and expert advice on any issue relating to admissions or appeals quickly and effectively.
Our expert admissions lawyers have extensive experience of advising schools on admissions arrangements and supporting them with appeals. Whether you need to change your admission arrangements, respond to the Schools Adjudicator, challenge the local authority on admission requests for looked after children or under the Fair Access Protocol, or simply want support managing appeals on the day, we’re here to help you.
Acting as presenting officer at admission appeals for multiple primary and secondary academies.
Advising academies and schools on changes to admissions arrangements to ensure they are code compliant.
Successfully challenging a local authority’s approach to placements under the Fair Access Protocol.
Working with five academies to assist them in establishing a collaborative approach to admission appeals and move away from local authority services. We put in place a framework within which appeals could operate as well as assistance in selecting clerks and training panel members.
"While the team have detailed knowledge of the education sector, they consistently take a pragmatic approach that supports the clients understanding and ensures decisions are meaningful. They understand the requirements to such an extent that options, and recommendations, are clear and timely."
"They are effective, efficient and user-friendly."
"Excellent service, all legal support has been excellent quality."
"The Browne Jacobson team is very competent, responsive and knowledgeable and always ready to step in with a solution."
Browne Jacobson’s education team has been named as winner of the ‘Legal Advisors to Education Institutions’ category at the Education Investor Awards 2022 for a record sixth time.
Since the new Suspensions and Exclusions Statutory Guidance was published, we have received a lot of questions about the use of managed moves. For the first time, the Statutory Guidance does explain what a managed move is, but in relatively broad terms and does not cover the mechanics of how a managed move should operate.
Over 3000 young people from across the UK and Ireland took part in a virtual legal careers insight event, aimed at making the legal profession more diverse.
As we start the Autumn term, the first part of the process for changing school admission arrangements can begin.
The new set of Legal 500 directory rankings have been published and we are proud to once again be recognised as one of the country’s leading firms advising the Education sector.
On 1 October 2022 the School Admissions Appeals Code 2022 (“the Code”) comes into force, replacing the 2012 version and the amendments brought in during the pandemic. The Code will apply to all appeals lodged on or after 1 October 2022.
National law firm Browne Jacobson has grown its team behind its dedicated Space + Time executive coaching programme with the addition of two more qualified coaches who will work with clients in the education sector.
Tomorrow, (Wednesday 27th October), national law firm Browne Jacobson will host its second FAIRE: virtual work experience and legal careers insight event, in partnership with Young Professionals.
The Confederation of School Trusts (CST), as the sector body for School Trusts, today releases a salary benchmarking service for executive roles in School Trusts, in conjunction with partners XpertHR, Cendex and Browne Jacobson.
The Department for Education (DfE) has recently published further regulations to amend the operation of admission appeals and exclusion reviews given the ongoing concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following the awarding of qualifications based on determinations made by staff at examination centres over the past two years during the Coronavirus pandemic, a number of students and their parents have sought to challenge the awards.
During the summer break, students were issued with their final teacher assessed grades (TAGs) in GCSE, AS, A Level and other qualifications, with the vast majority achieving exceptional grades.
This year’s A Level results have been a resounding success and demonstrate the commitment and resilience of students, schools and school staff during these unprecedented times. However, there will inevitably be some students who are disappointed with the teacher assessed grade.
The School Admissions Code 2021 was recently published by the Department for Education and, subject to parliamentary approval, will be implemented this September. Catch up on the key changes that will impact the way in which your admissions system will need to operate.
In this edition we provide you with the latest in legal updates, news and insight from the sector.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) this week published the appeals guidance for grades awarded this summer.
The School Admissions Code 2021 (“the Code”) was recently published by the Department for Education (DfE) following a consultation exercise in summer 2020. The Code is currently subject to parliamentary approval, but it will be in force from 1 September 2021.
In the second of our three-part ‘Grades without Exams’ series, we explored the equality issues arising from the process for determining grades without exams in summer 2021.
Assessment arrangements for those due to finish their level 3 studies in 2021 are being finalised at present, to create a system that is deemed to be as fair as possible and to avoid a situation where the grades are felt not to reflect the students’ capabilities and efforts.
Exams centres, including schools, have between 12 and 30 April 2021 to develop and submit their Centre Policy. This policy will set out the centre’s approach to assessment and quality assurance during this summer’s teacher assessed grading (TAGs) process.
Schools will now be tasked with reading a vast amount of information to get themselves ready to provide teacher-assessed grades (TAGs) for students following the recent publication of the suite of Joint Council Qualifications (JCQ).
In the absence of exams, the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual have confirmed that the 2021 GCSE, AS and A level and vocational and technical qualification grades will be determined by centre assessment.
In this edition we provide you with the latest in legal updates, news and insight from the sector.
Following Ofqual’s announcement that GCSE students will be able to take the higher of their Centre Assessed Grades or the standardised grade, sixth forms that made more external offers than they have places have been contacting us about what they can do where they would have many more students in the sixth form than they can accommodate.
The government decision on lockdown and the subsequent Department for Education (DfE) guidance vulnerable children and the children of critical workers and actions for schools to take during lockdown.
In this edition we provide you with the latest in legal updates, news and insight from the sector.
Following the A-Level and GCSE results being based on centre assessed grades (CAGs) and made available to students, Ofqual updated its guidance on appeals and concerns about malpractice.
The Department for Education (DfE) has recently published updated guidance for schools that have admission arrangements that admit pupils by implementing selective arrangements.
Whilst the Department for Education (DfE) has implemented statutory changes to elements of the frameworks relating to admission appeals, exclusions and special educational needs, there have been no changes relating to the legislation relating to admissions.
To help schools and academies prepare for admission appeals our experts have put together guidance on conducting admission appeal hearings during the outbreak.
In this edition we provide you with the latest in legal updates, news and insight from the sector.
In the run up to the deadline for completing the application form for secondary admissions for September 2020 entry, the Good Schools Guide has reported that some admission policies for state funded schools may confuse parents who are less affluent, work at weekends or have English as an additional language.
One area addressed by the Timpson review of exclusions published this week was 'managed moves'.
In this edition we will connect you with a comprehensive selection of the very latest in legal updates, news and insight from the education sector.
Recent reports from the National Education Union conference have reinforced the current issues arising out of funding the support that children with SEND require.
A recent High Court decision has confirmed that the use of funding bands to allocate funding to children with Education Health & Care Plans is not unlawful and is sufficient to meet the duties placed on local authorities to secure special educational provision set out in such a plan.
School admissions are a highly emotive subject. With education often at the heart of a local community, the process can leave schools open to critique and legal disputes. To ensure where possible, the best outcome for the school and individual preparation is essential.
Latest figures show that the number of primary aged pupils in PRUs has seen a sharp increase.
