The Gorse Academies Trust, a longstanding Carter-Ruck client which operates one of the most successful multi-academy trusts in the country, has secured an emphatic victory in its defence of a High Court judicial review claim concerning its pioneering ‘Positive Discipline’ policy.
Nationally regarded for delivering on its mission of removing the stubborn link between poverty and academic underperformance, Gorse’s successes have been repeatedly recognised, with each of Trust’s establishments to have been inspected by Ofsted being judged ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’. Positive Discipline was largely pioneered by Sir John Townsley, the Gorse CEO, and has since been widely adopted throughout UK schools under a variety of different names and forms.
The judicial review claim was brought by three pupils at the John Smeaton Academy (one of the secondary schools operated by Gorse) who had repeatedly and seriously misbehaved, in breach of the discipline policy. In response to their behaviour choices, and as part of a staged system of sanctions, the pupils were on a number of occasions removed from their classroom and directed to work in an ‘isolation’ room or given suspensions. ‘Isolation’ rooms are supervised quiet classrooms with booths. The policy’s application at John Smeaton Academy has been part of what Ofsted describes as a “startling transformation of the school”, with the school now acting as “a beacon for its community”, the inspector commenting that “pupils, staff, parents and carers are right to be proud of all that they have achieved”.
The Claimants’ legal team argued that the repeated use of these disciplinary sanctions was unlawful on five grounds, including breach of Section 91 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, and of their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The lawfulness of the Positive Discipline policy itself was not under challenge, but rather the application of that policy in specific cases, the claimants arguing that that it was disproportionate, and unlawful, for them to have spent a large number of days out of the classroom as a consequence of having accumulated sanctions for their behaviour.
In a 40-page judgment following a 2-day hearing at the High Court in Leeds, Mrs Justice Collins Rice dismissed the claims in their entirety, concluding that none of the individual isolation sanctions was in fact disproportionate; that the school had not breached Article 8 or the non-statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education; and that there was no distinct statutory duty on the school to assess the proportionality of each sanction holistically. In giving her judgment, Mrs Justice Collins Rice stated that she had “not been able to find in the present cases that the School has failed to do what the law requires, or has crossed the boundaries of what the law or good practice permits”. The Judge also acknowledged that:
“The School under challenge in these judicial review proceedings has a distinctive mission and ethos to enhance the life opportunities of children particularly from disadvantaged or complicated backgrounds by developing their self-management, social and academic skills, in combination and in close parallel, through applying a ‘rigorous’ and highly detailed conduct and discipline Policy.”
In commenting on the judgment, a spokesperson for the Gorse Academies Trust said:
“While it is regrettable that these claims were brought, and at significant public expense, we welcome the High Court’s detailed and rigorous judgment, which supports both the policy and implementation of our Positive Discipline policy.”
“The judgment is a clear endorsement of the work we have done over many years to promote high standards of behaviour. It sends a strong message across the education sector about the right of schools to apply appropriate sanctions when behaviour falls short – for the benefit of all pupils, and ultimately, each individual child.”
“Our approach, focused on positively changing behaviour, has led to significant behavioural improvements, higher standards, and successful schools where all students can thrive. We are now pleased to be fully refocusing our efforts on what matters most – delivering the best possible education in calm, happy schools where young people can learn and succeed.”
The Gorse Academies Trust is represented by Adam Tudor, Dominic Garner and Natasha Doley of Carter-Ruck and by Jason Coppel KC, Hannah Slarks and Oliver Jackson of 11 KBW.
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