Care Standards Tribunal, 2020-08-03 (Proprietor of Homeschool v Secretary of State for Education)
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Date | 03 August 2020 |
| Registration Number | 2019/3857/INS |
| Court | Care Standards Tribunal |
[2020] UKFTT 0300 (HESC)
Care Standards
The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social
Care) Rules 2008
[2019] 3857.INS
Hearing via Video Link on 23, 24, 25 & 26 June and 14 July 2020
BEFORE
Tribunal Judge - Timothy Thorne
Specialist Member – Libhin Bromley
Specialist Member- Maxine Harris
BETWEEN Proprietor of Homeschool (A) Appellant
-v-
The Secretary of State for Education (R) Respondent
DECISION
The Appeal
1. A appeals to the Tribunal against R’s decision of 26 September 2019 to impose
a “relevant restriction” under s. 117(1)(c) of the Education and Skills Act 2008
(“the 2008 Act”), to the effect that no new pupils be admitted to the School.
Restricted Reporting Order
2. The Tribunal makes a restricted reporting order under Rule 14(1) (a) and (b) of
the 2008 Rules, prohibiting the disclosure or publication of any documents or
matter likely to lead members of the public to identify the users of the service in
this case so as to protect their private lives.
Background
3. The School is registered as an independent school, and provides day education
for up to five pupils aged between 5 and 11 years old. The School’s proprietor,
Mr Colin Rankine, is also the School’s Headteacher. His wife, Mrs Mawuena
[2020] UKFTT 0300 (HESC)
Rankine, is variously described as a teacher at the School, and also the
School’s business manager. As at January 2020, the School had two pupils on
the school roll. It is part of the Homeschool Social Enterprise, a registered
charity.
4. There are no other staff employed by the School, and the School does not have
a governing body. It has one trustee. The School is situated on the ground and
first floors of a town house in a residential area and has a Christian religious
ethos.
Late Evidence
5. At various stages during the hearing Mr. Rankine submitted as new evidence
various emails which dealt variously with, the Department of Education’s policy
of registering independent schools, the Early Years Framework, documents
from parents expressing their desire to have Homeschool named on their child’s
EHCP and a news report about a local councillor accused of anti-Semitism who
accused colleagues of racism.
6. In relation to all of this new material, the Tribunal applied rule 15 of the Tribunal
Procedure (First Tier Tribunal) (Health Education and Social Care Chamber)
Rules 2008 and took into account the overriding objective as set out in rule 2
and admitted the late evidence (as and when such applications were made) as
it had some relevance to the issues in dispute.
Evidence (Summary & Analysis)
7. Ms. Katherine Eddy represented R. A was represented by Mr. Colin Rankine.
The hearing was conducted via video link. The panel took into account all the
written and oral evidence that was presented. It also read and took into account
the skeleton argument submitted by R and the documentation submitted by A.
Evidence called on behalf of the Respondent
8. The evidence that gave rise to R’s decision was given by the following 4
witnesses:
a. Deborah Jenkins - Ofsted’s Lead Inspector for the Inspection on 20
and 21 November 2018.
b. Tim Hill - Ofsted’s Lead Inspector for the Progress Monitoring
Inspection on 21 May 2019.
c. Catherine Crooks - Ofsted’s Lead Inspector for the Progress
Monitoring Inspection on 9 January 2020.
d. Peter Swift - Deputy Director and Head of the Department for
Education’s Independent Education Division.
9. The following is a summary of R’s evidence and the panel’s analysis thereof.
Peter Swift outlined the following brief chronology of the School’s inspection
history which was not disputed by A and which the panel is satisfied is accurate:
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