London and Birmingham based solicitors specialising in Personal Injury & Accidents at Work, Education, Disability and Crime

My child is disabled and being discriminated against at school. Is there anything I can do?

Since September 2002, the law has allowed parents to bring complaints about disability discrimination regarding their children at school. Providing that the discrimination has happened within the last six months (or is continuing) and providing that the discrimination is not deemed to be 'justified', you can bring a complaint to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. If the Tribunal upholds your complaint, they can order that the school (or local education authority) do a number of things, including apologise to you and/or your child, but they cannot order financial compensation.

My child has not got into the school of my choice. Is there anything that I can do?

Unless your child has a statement of special educational needs, if you have been unsuccessful in obtaining a place for your child at a state school, you will be able to bring an appeal to an independent appeal panel. If however your child has a statement of special educational needs, you may need to bring an appeal to the special educational needs and disability tribunal.

My child has been permanently excluded from school. What can I do?

Assuming that it is a state school, you will, first, be able to appeal to the governing body's discipline committee. If that is unsuccessful, you will then have another right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.

I think that my child may need more help than his/her school can give. What should I do?

If your child has a disability, a learning difficulty or some behavioural difficulty which means that he/she requires additional or different provision from that which is available in the local, ordinary school, he/she may be entitled to a statement of special educational needs. This is a legal document which will set out what extra provision should be made for him/her. The first thing to do is to speak to the school to get their views about his/her needs. Then, if you are still of the view that he/she needs more help than they can give, you should write to your local education authority and ask them to conduct a statutory assessment of your child's special educational needs. The local education authority will then have approximately six weeks to decide whether or not to do so. If they do so, they will conduct a comprehensive assessment and will then decide whether to make a statement. If at any stage they decide not to proceed in a way that you don't agree with (or if they produce a statement of special educational needs that you do not agree with) you may have a right of appeal to a body known as the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.