Hayley O'Sullivan
Hayley has extensive experience in advising schools and trusts on a broad range of education law issues with particular expertise in exclusions and equality issues. She frequently advises schools on SEND, admissions and attendance, policies, safeguarding, Ofsted challenges, complex parental complaints and the challenges social media poses for schools.
Hayley regularly delivers training to senior leaders and governing boards on an array of topics. Her approachable, straight-talking style and the way in which she brings topics to life through case studies and her own experiences has led to numerous testimonials from schools, who value her insights into various topics.
Experience
• Successfully defended the first nationally known case of its kind in respect of a schoolgirl who was seeking to bring an injunction in the High Court to force the school to abandon its policy relating to the use of masks in classrooms.
• Developed a range of support packs for schools to help bolster confidence, ensure legal compliance and implement best practice, including support with suspensions and exclusions, handling parental complaints, SEND and dealing with unreasonable parent behaviour.
• Advised on disability discrimination claims issued in the first tier tribunal against schools and trusts.
• Brought and defended judicial review applications which relate to SEND, exclusions and alleged breaches of the Equality Act.
• Regularly advises schools and large trusts on equalities legislation, including gender questioning children and the role of schools.
• Regularly clerks exclusions independent review panels, admission appeals and delivers training on all areas of specialism.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Experience
- Browne Jacobson (2009 - Present)
Qualifications
- LPC Distinction (2008)
- First class honours LLB Law (2006)
Education
- Nottingham Law School (2007-2008)
- University of Leicester (2003 – 2006)
4 Contributions by Hayley O'Sullivan
PRACTICE NOTES
England school admissions: legal framework, admission authorities, PANs, oversubscription, consultation and objections, in-year and sixth-form entry, Fair Access Protocol and powers of direction
Practice Note
This Practice Note outlines that all children of compulsory school age in England are required to take part in full-time education, identifies the organisations initially in charge of school admissions, and summarises matters concerning the publication of admissions numbers. It further addresses oversubscription criteria and the application process for pre- and post-16 schooling.
Every child of compulsory school age must receive suitable full-time education, and parents are obliged to ensure this is provided, whether at school or otherwise. In most instances a child is placed on a school roll to meet this duty. Entry to a school roll is usually straightforward, though difficulties can occur where applications outnumber the school’s capacity.
Academies, while legally independent schools, are state-funded and follow the same admissions framework as maintained schools. During the normal admission round (ie when most children are admitted), the local authority co-ordinates all applications within its area. By contrast, admission to fee-paying independent schools is entirely a matter for the school and the parents, subject to equality and human rights laws, and not the admissions regime applying to state-funded schools...
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
Legal Framework for Maintained Schools: Curriculum, Collective Worship, RE, RSE, Political Impartiality, National Curriculum and Qualifications (England and Wales)
The Basic Curriculum in England
In England, the Basic Curriculum consists of three components:
religious education
sex education
the National Curriculum
Collective worship
Each school day—though not always at the outset—pupils in maintained schools, including special schools, should take part in collective worship, either as a whole or in groups by age or school, and this is to happen on the school premises. On special occasions, the governing body, following consultation with the headteacher, may arrange for it to be held elsewhere...
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
School behaviour, restraint, searches, suspensions and permanent exclusions: statutory framework, procedures, duties and reviews (England and Wales)
This Practice Note explores a range of matters around school behaviour and exclusion, such as physical restraint, detentions, uniform, and the seizing of property, chiefly in England, while noting how the present position differs in Wales. It states that headteachers, school governors, the local authority, social workers, and the virtual school head must have regard to current statutory guidance on exclusions, and it outlines both the process for removing a pupil and the routes of challenge to a permanent exclusion.
Legal framework
The statutory regime for school discipline and exclusion largely operates in parallel alongside the common law...
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
SEND in England: local authority duties, EHC needs assessments and plans, mainstream placement, joint commissioning, funding and appeals under the Children and Families Act 2014
Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014)
From 1 September 2014, Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) took effect in England, reshaping the system for special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision. The Public Accounts Committee has urged the government to act to improve the system; see SEND emergency: Unviable system will end in lost generation of children without reform. This Practice Note addresses the law in England only; for the position in Wales, see Practice Note: Special educational needs law in Wales.
A child or young person is regarded as having special educational needs when a learning difficulty or disability requires special educational provision to be made because:
they experience substantially greater difficulty in learning than the majority of their peers,
or they have a disability that prevents or hinders them from making effective use of facilities ordinarily provided for their peers in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 settings
A learning difficulty or disability is not established merely because the language of instruction differs from the language spoken at home. Special educational provision is support that is additional to, or different from, that which...
Local Government
If you expected to see yourself on this page, click here.
