Schools

Do not let your child suffer in silence as many children who are bullied often do not report it to parents, friends or teachers.  If you are aware that your child is being bullied keep a diary of incidents and report the matter immediately to the school if you are concerned that this is not an isolated incident.

Schools have a statutory obligation regarding anti-bullyiing policies and have a responsibility to ensure that the policy is followed.  These responsibilities although contained in statute law are also applicable to the common law duty to protect children.

It is often a difficult decision - do I send my child to school and worry that they will be harmed or do I keep them at home and what impact will this have on my child and my family. 

Under the present law parents may be aware that by keeping their children from school they may be committing a criminal offence. These days the government is intent on ensuring that parents who keep their children from school without good reason should be punished. The first port of call must be the school.  If on the other hand the school do not appear to be taking appropriate action then it is best to consult us for further advice.

Do not keep your child from school and assume that you will escape prosecution.  Equally it is dangerous to ignore the problems that your child has at school because more often than not, if not dealt with quickly, it will get worse.  We therefore recommend that parents seek a medical opinion immediately if they are concerned about their child's health and welfare.  It is also important as your child may not be telling you everything. 

In certain cases it may be possible to ask the local authority to provide your child with home tuition.

If you are not happy with the manner in which your School or Local Authority has acted in relation to their policies or procedures, or any decisions that they have taken, then you are able to make a formal complaint.

All schools are required to have a complaints policy and you are entitled to receive a copy of the policy upon request.  The school must ensure that it follows the complaints procedure whether or not they are a maintained school or an independent school.

The majority of complaints can be resolved in an informal manner.  However, if this is not possible then the school must ensure that if follows its own complaints procedures.  There are still some school complaints procedures that do not meet the legal requirements and therefore it is important to seek expert legal advice if your are considering making a formal complaint to your child's school.

All Local Authority's also have a formal complaints procedure which normally consists of a three stage process.  Formal complaints to Local Authority's are normally handled by their legal department and it is therefore always advisable to obtain legal advice before lodging a formal complaint.

If your child is of statutory school age and has not attended school regularly then you may be approached by the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) from the Local Education Authority.  If your child still fails to attend school or  regularly attends school late then the Local Education Authority may prosecute you as it is an offence for a child to fail to attend school regularly.

Section 444 Education Act 1996 provides that in such circumstances including cases in which it is alleged that a child regularly attends school late, that a parent can be prosecuted in the criminal courts. 

Such offences can attract fines or even a prison sentence.  It is important not to ignore the Local Education Authority and to seek expert legal advice asap.

A Head Teacher is lawfully entitled to exclude children from school in certain circumstances.  An exclusion can be for a fixed period of time or can be permanent.  All maintained schools are required to follow strict guidelines in relation to the exclusion of children.

There are still many instances of schools illegally excluding children by coercing parents to remove their child from school early or to take them home each lunchtime. 

A high number of children with special educational needs are excluded from schools each year and there may be instances where the exclusion may also be discriminatory.

If your child is at risk of being excluded, has been illegally excluded in the past, or has received either a Fixed-Term exclusion or a Permanent exclusion then it is important to seek expert legal advice.

Local Authority's must comply with their statutory duties towards children regarding transport arrangements.  There are slightly different rules for England and Wales and many LEAs quote unlawful policies when refusing to provide transport to children.

Your child's entitlement to transport is dependent upon a number of issues and it is therefore important to seek expert legal advice if you are experiencing difficulties with transport arrangements.