"2. [KS] first came to live with me on24 December 2009 . He has been recognised as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child by the Home Office and therefore has been placed under the care of his local authority, Croydon who placed him in foster care with me. Since [KS] has been in my care, I have made every effort to enrol him in state secondary schools. I have done this with the assistance of my daughter Nadia. It has been some nine months since I took responsibility for [KS] and he has yet to have been provided with full- time education or an interim placement. ... 4. Since [KS] has been in my care, I have contacted and submitted applications for the Oasis Academy, Haling Manor High School (part of the Harris Academy), Riddlesdown High School and Archbishop Lanfranc school and Thomas More school. I usually have made enquiries with the school's admissions department and followed it up by submitting an admissions application. Each application has been met with the same response: 'the school is unable to take on anymore students for year 10 entry'. ... 20. [KS] was last in full-time education between September to December 2009 at Croydon College but he was enrolled at a level too advanced for his age. His age was reassessed by the council and he was found to be 14 years old. He then stopped attending Croydon College. In the interim, [KS] has been attending English classes at the Refugee Council on Monday and Tuesday at 10am-12 pm. He has been doing so since January 2010 and also visits the Refugee Council centre to socialise with others. 21. [KS] is very keen to begin full-time education. He asks me about it regularly and becomes very depressed and discouraged with every refused application. Although he has a limited opportunity to develop his English, he makes an effort to speak to me in English only. He also speaks with the workers at the Refugee Council regarding the difficulties he is experiencing and the impact it has on his emotional state. 22. [KS] and I would like him to attend the Quest Academy which was formerly Selsdon High School. ...I think that because it has been so long that [KS] has been out of school he has effectively missed a whole year of school and he will need extra tuition to help him. 23. I have tried very hard to find a school place for [KS]. Over the months I have become increasingly frustrated and upset with the standard response of Croydon's state schools and the Admissions Department at Croydon Council. Likewise, [KS] is equally distressed with the experience. I cannot comprehend why there is not a single space available for a looked-after child like KS in any of Croydon's secondary state schools. Similarly, I cannot understand why Croydon Council has not made every effort to secure him a place and in the absence of this, provide him with a substitute placement or tutoring. As a looked-after child, [KS] and his educational needs should be prioritized."
"2. I am [ZU's] foster carer. He first came to live with our family in the first week of December 2009. He has been recognised as an unaccompanied asylum- seeking child by the Home Office and therefore had been placed under the care of his local authority, Croydon, who placed him in foster care with me. From January 2010 onwards I have attempted to enrol him in many of the state secondary schools found in Croydon and have found the opportunities available to be limited and often non-existent. It has been over nine months since [ZU] was placed under my care and he has yet to have been provided with full-time education or a proper interim placement. 3. Since [ZU] has been placed under my care, I have tried to enrol him for the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year and the forthcoming 2010-2011 school year. The schools I have approached include: Archbishop Lanfranc School, the Oasis Academy, St. Mary's Catholic High School, Woodcote High School, John Ruskin School, the Harris Academy and Selsdon High School. Save for the case of Selsdon High School each school has stated that they do not have any vacancies for either the remainder of the year or the next school year. When invited to do so I have put [ZU] Onto the relevant waiting list for the school. Of the schools we approached, Selsdon High was the only school who confirmed that they had a vacancy for [ZU] but he would have to be interviewed before being admitted. ... 11. ZU has not been in education since his arrival in the UK. Despite my efforts to enrol him, the only education he has been offered has been confined to a six-week English language course at Purley English Language College and classes at the Refugee Council since January/February 2010. As he really enjoyed the English language course, his social worker, Miss Howard, tried to get him a place on another course but funding was not available for this. ZU has relished the limited educational opportunities he has been given and is extremely eager to start full-time education as soon as possible. 12. It is my personal preference that he attends the Quest Academy, formerly Selsdon High School. I know that ZU is so keen to attend school that he is willing to be enrolled anywhere. ... I also believe that ZU would be happy at the Quest Academy. 13. I have made every effort to secure a school place for ZU over the last nine months. The experience has been very demoralising and I struggle to make sense of the shortage of available year 9 places across Croydon State schools. Of all the schools I have contacted, Selsdon High was the only school that appeared willing to consider his application. Yet I simply do not understand why Selsdon High had been ultimately willing to admit my other foster child as a student but refused to admit ZU without some sort of further age assessment. I would point out that the local authority are satisfied in their assessment of ZU's age and have decided not to conduct a further age assessment. 14. I am disappointed by the efforts and response of Croydon Council. As ZU is a looked-after child the council must provide him with full-time education and where this is not possible, they must offer an alternative such as a short-term placement or home tuition. As a looked after child ZU and his access to education should be prioritized."
"3. Croydon is the location of the UK Border Agency's Lunar House, where applications for asylum are processed. As a result of this, Croydon has an unusually high population of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC),577 as of September 2010. 4. In the Council's experience, the educational needs of these children varies widely. In a small number of cases, the child may have received a high quality education in their country of origin, including some instruction in English, before circumstances resulted in them needing to seek asylum in the UK. With some additional language support these children can adapt reasonably easily to the English education system and may go on to achieve very highly academically. More commonly, however, UASC are leaving countries where there are limited opportunities for education, and many arrive illiterate even in their native language. The challenge for these young people in accessing a secondary school curriculum, particularly in the upper years when the focus is often on pursuing externally accredited qualifications, is immense."
"8. It was not felt to be appropriate during the summer term of 2010 [to direct] because at that stage there were a number of applications pending, and we were hopeful that Selsdon or one of the other schools to which an application had been made would admit the boys. The possibility of direction was considered during the summer holidays, but it was felt by senior officers at the time that to direct a community school a few days before it was due to become an Academy would be disingenuous. At that stage informal discussion with both the outgoing Head of Selsdon High and the headteacher of the Academy suggested that admission could be promptly secured without statutory processes being invoked. 9. Following the non-admission of the young people to Selsdon High School over the summer holiday, and given the change of Selsdon High to the Quest Academy from1 September 2010 , consideration was also given to directing the young people to one of our two remaining community schools with boys' places, Addington High School or Woodcote High School. However, given the previously expressed wish for these young people to attend Selsdon High (now the Quest Academy) it was considered more appropriate to pursue a place for them at this school, whilst also making interim provision to support the young people with their English language skills. Furthermore, it would send an unhelpful message to all Croydon schools to change tack at this stage, purely because a school has changed to an Academy, because it would suggest that only community schools are expected to admit UASC. Ideally we would be looking for UASC who are able to benefit from a mainstream education to be spread throughout Croydon's schools. It is not in their interests, or the interests of the schools, for the young people to be concentrated in a very small number of schools. 10. Interim provision commenced on5 October 2010 at Purley College. The young people are being offered 15 hours of intensive language tuition each week in a very small group. In my view, this type of provision is likely to be more suitable to the educational needs of the group at this stage than placing them in a larger class in a mainstream school, and also provides them with the best opportunity of making a successful transition into either mainstream school or college education in due course. Additionally, applications were officially made to the Quest Academy on5 October 2010 , informal discussions having taken place with the Head prior to that time, and a formal response is expected from the governing body in the near future. 11. Should these young people be rejected from the Quest Academy on the grounds that their educational needs cannot be adequately met in a mainstream educational setting then we will consider moving the group to John Ruskin, as an alternative to the Purley College provision."
"(a) to safeguard and promote his welfare, and (b) to make such use of services available for children cared for by their own parents as appears to the authority reasonable in his case."
"the duty of a local authority under subsection (3)(a) to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child looked after by them includes in particular a duty to promote the child's educational achievement."
"Discharging the duty on a day-to-day basis means that a local authority should do at least what any good parent would do to promote their child's educational aspirations and support their achievements."
"47. This means… 47.1 Making clear to looked after children, possibly in the form of a pledge, how the local authority will support their education and work to enhance their educational life chances; 47.2 taking account of the child's views in identifying and meeting his/her educational needs; 47.3 identifying educational needs, regardless of the child's age, as part of the assessment process and ensuring that these are reflected in the Care and Placement Plans."
"When a child becomes looked after his or her local authority will arrange a suitable care placement. In doing so, the child's allocated social worker, supported by the local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child's education."
"Each local education authority shall make arrangements for the provision of suitable education at school or otherwise than at school for those children of compulsory school age who, by reason of illness, exclusion from school or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education unless such arrangements are made for them."
"In relation to England, the education to be provided for a child in pursuance of arrangements made by a local authority under subsection (1) shall be… (a) Full-time education; or (b) In the case of a child within subsection (3AA) education on such part-time basis as the authority consider to be in the child's best interests."
"'Suitable education' in relation to a child or young person, means efficient education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have."
"44. At all times since confirmation of C's exclusion from school, the defendant has been under a duty to provide suitable education for her pursuant to section 19. In my view its offer of a place at the Stag Lane PRU has complied fully with that duty. It is not disputed that Stag Lane is a good unit, suitable for most pupils who have been excluded from school for disruptive or violent behaviour. It is only said that it is not suitable for C. 45. I have considerable sympathy with the point of view of C and her parents. They see things differently from the way in which they are seen by the defendant. They may even be right, but that is not the point. The defendant is entitled, indeed bound, to form its own view of what is suitable education for C after her exclusion. In doing so it must of course pay attention to C's views and those of her parents, but in the end it is for the defendant to form a professional judgment. If that judgment and the action taken in pursuance of it is sensible and rational and takes into account C's personal needs, it cannot be impugned by the judicial review simply because C and her parents profoundly disagree with it."
"It is, I think, of the first importance to recognize that the decisions falling to be made as to the provision of educational facilities for C after she had been excluded were quintessentially for the local education authority to make. That is of course no more than an application of the ordinary public law rule that the court will not usurp the role of a statutory decision maker. Where that role includes the elaboration of expert judgment in a delicate and difficult area, the rule is all the more important."
"21. In my judgment, those passages indicate that the focus of the section 19 duty is concerned with whether educational provision offered by the local authority is available, is possible and is accessible to the child, although the test is one of reasonably practicable as opposed to absolute impossibility. Nevertheless that is an objective and strict test. 22. The problem then occurs as to who is to decide whether the provisions offered are practicable or reasonable. In my judgment, it is clear that questions as to what is suitable education are primarily for the local education authority, though subject to supervision by the court. Equally, one would imagine that what is reasonably practicable should in the first instance at least be grappled with by the education authority, again subject to the supervision by the court. In the case of G, the Court appeared to decide the issue of 'reasonable practicability' for itself. It may well be, however, that there is not much difference in this particular branch 'between the local authority or the court's assessment' of what is practicable because something is either available, objectively speaking, or it is not...."
"The Court will undoubtedly review with close scrutiny the assessment of the local authority, having regard to the fact that there must be educational provision available for a child which is both accessible and reasonably accessible in all the circumstances. But those terms must reflect the strict test, verging upon but not quite the same as impossibility, which is the test that was used and adopted in the other two limbs, medical illness and exclusion."