Lord Justice Coulson has refused permission to appeal in judicial review proceedings relating to the closure of a school site.
The Claimant was a child with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (“SEMH”) needs attending Pathfield School in Devon. The Claimant and others with SEMH needs attended the Discovery Centre, a separate location about half a mile from the main school site. The School Governors decided not to renew the lease of the Discovery Centre and to relocate the children being educated there to the main site. The Claimant applied for judicial review.
Permission was refused on the papers by HHJ Jarman KC and then at an oral hearing before HHJ Keyser KC.
Lord Justice Coulson has now refused permission to appeal that decision. The School Governors had not been required to follow the statutory consultation process in the School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2013 before deciding not to renew the lease of the Discovery Centre. That was not “a change in the type of special educational needs for which the school is organised to make provision” (Sch. 2 para 9). The school was organised to make provision for children with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), rather than SEMH, as was clear from their admissions policy and acknowledged by Ofsted and Devon County Council. The fact that the school had been educating some children outside their core designation could not be used to the school’s detriment; otherwise schools in the same position would not accept any pupil outside their core designation for fear of triggering a raft of further statutory obligations.
James Goudie KC and Ronnie Dennis acted for Devon County Council.
