Back to School - Parental Responsibility and Children's Education

Given the current explosion of social media posts showing pictures of smartly dressed children in gleaming new uniforms, it is hard to escape the fact that September marks the start of a new school year.

Whilst this is a time of mixed emotions for parents and children alike, for separated parents, there can be an added layer of anxiety about how they will deal with the arrangements for their children in the year ahead. This concern is commonly deepened by a lack of understanding of how parental responsibility should be exercised in decisions regarding a child’s education (and often doubly so if you do not have the day-to-day care of the child or children in question).

Parental Responsibility – what is it?

Different people can have or acquire parental responsibility for a child. This can include, for example, a parent, guardian or someone who holds a child arrangements order.

A person with parental responsibility (“PR”) can make important decisions about a child's welfare, property and upbringing. This includes decisions regarding schooling and education. Where more than one person has PR, there are many decisions that will need to be made jointly by everyone who has PR for the child. Examples of decisions that must be made jointly include:

1. The choice of which school a child is going to attend (this includes making school admission applications). When considering secondary schools, this decision should be made considering the child's views, as well as having taken advice from their teachers.
2. If a child has to be absent from school, applications for authorised absence will need to be made jointly.
3. A pupil should be recorded on the school register with the name on their birth certificate. To change a child’s surname, where more than one person has PR, either:
   1. those who share PR must agree and provide written consent; or
   2. the court’s permission will need to be obtained to change the child's surname.
4. If one parent wishes to relocate to another part of England and Wales (or to move overseas), this decision will need to be made jointly. This will inevitably also include a decision about which new school a child will attend in their new area.
5. The time that a child is to live with or spend time with each parent. This can include the rotation of the child arrangements during term time or over the school holidays. If there has been conflict over sharing time with the children over the summer holidays, the return to school can be a good opportunity to try and agree the arrangements for the year ahead. The release of the school term dates can be particularly useful for this as it can enable an early discussion about what the arrangements will be for the coming school holidays.

As well as having a responsibility to make certain important decisions regarding a child’s upbringing, holders of PR have certain rights in respect of a child’s education. These include the following:

1. Unless there is a court order preventing it, a person with PR is entitled to information about their child from school. This would include, for example, receiving copies of school reports for the child.
2. They will also be entitled to be informed about meetings regarding their child. This includes meetings such as parents’ evenings and a school governors' meeting to discuss a potential exclusion for their child.
3. A person with PR can stand or vote in parent governor elections.

Where there are disagreements regarding a particular issue, there are different ways of trying to reach an agreement. These include:

• Direct discussions between the parties;
• Mediation  – this can be an effective forum for resolving disputes. Furthermore, at the time of writing, there is a Family Mediation Voucher Scheme in place which can assist families in meeting some of the costs of mediation in respect of children matters - it is certainly worth enquiring with your chosen mediator whether you can utilise this scheme;
• Try and enter into a parenting plan – a parenting plan is a written document which sets out agreements about how you plan to co-parent going forward. CAFCASS, the court’s advisory service who deal with children matters, have useful information and precedent parenting plans on their website that can assist in reaching an agreement;
• Trying to reach an agreement via solicitors’ correspondence.

Where holders of PR cannot reach an agreement despite their best efforts, the only way to obtain a resolution will be to make an application to court.

Parents/holders of PR who don’t have day-to-day care of a child

Often, if person has the day-to-day care of the child, the other parent can feel that they are seen as less important to their child’s school. This should not be the case as, unless there is a court order limiting the exercise of PR, every holder of PR has the right to participate in important decisions regarding a child’s upbringing.

This being said, there are certain practical matters that will inevitably be different, depending on whether you have day-to-day care for a child or not.  For example:

• The person with care for a child is likely to be recorded as the primary emergency contact.
• In terms of school trips, there is nothing that requires schools to contact everyone with PR to obtain consent for a child to go on a trip. That being said, where a school has been asked to seek consent from more than one person, it is best practice for a school to assume that there is no consent until they have consent from all holders of PR.

Whether you are the person with day-to-day care of a child or not, if there is a dispute, it is important to keep the school informed about what is happening and provide them with any court orders which may affect school life (for example, a child arrangements order that sets out the arrangements for contact). Doing so will not only help the school make sure that a child is safe and is shielded from parental dispute, but will also help ensure that the school is aware that they may need to consult with more than one parent or holder of PR. This can help avoid disagreements or misunderstandings.

If you have queries about whether you have parental responsibility for a child, or you cannot reach an agreement about a particular issue, please do contact myself or one of the experts in the family team here at Hughes Paddison.