Law Scenario

[312131lawstudent]

So this is my scenario and I have to figure out how to present it to an imaginary MP to advise him on how to respond.

There's a single mother who depended on her mum for child care as she worked early , dinner and evening shifts, but her mum died. The dad isn't in the picture. The child is now 12 and she has been denied entrance to the school mum works at despite being assured that children of workers, she cleans, can be enrolled. She was told that being a cleaner didn't class as a member of staff. The family also live outside of the schools catchment. After a meeting with the governors she has decided to contact her MP. If the child doesn't get into the school mum doesn't know how she is going to manage.

So my outlook on this, please do correct me if I'm wrong, would be that a cleaner is still a member of staff as she is employed by the school so the child should have been granted access despite not living in the same catchment. I was just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction of different Acts that could help this case.

Thank you for your help.

[barry1010]

Does she intend taking her child with her when she goes to work and keep her with her when she works after school has finished? Unless things have changed school cleaners work split shifts during term time - before school starts and after school. That's a very long day for a child.

[MallyJ]

Surely one of the anti discrimination laws would be useful in this case. I have never heard of a school doing this and I worked in a few. Schools should be operating anti discrimination rules in their appointment of staff....and cleaners etc are all members of staff. It would be interesting to find out how many children are from outside the catchment area - if any

[woofgang]

Mally I think its hypothetical....this is homework.

[MallyJ]

woofgang...I know .... this person has to present an arguement for the mp which would be for the cleaner getting her child into the school....I was attempting to cover some of the points...so it is important that areas are covered in his/her story for the person who has set this work. I would suggest that if some children are out of catchment then they are behaving in a way that discriminates against some people

[barry1010]

Is the cleaner employed by the school or an agency? Would it make a difference?

[barry1010]

As the child is now 12 is he or she already settled in another school?

[woofgang]

it depends where children of workers fall in the list of who will be accepted.
so they might say
Priority will be given to children in catchment who have a sibling in the school
Next priority will be children in catchment.
Next priority will be children out of catchment with a sibling in the school
Next priority will be children of staff directly employed by the school who live in catchment
Next priority will be children of staff directly employed by the school who do not live in catchment
Next priority will be children of other staff who live in catchment
Next priority will be children of other staff who don't live in catchment
and so on.

Being told that children of staff CAN be enrolled doesn't mean that they will automatically get a place or be able to jump the priority queue.

If I were the MP I would be wanting to know how justified the case was...are there any places at the school? how many out of catchment children are there in the year the child will join and are any of them children of staff.
You say the child is 12, which school has he/she been attending from age 11 and why can the child not stay there?
How will being at the school Mum works at help? I don't see from what you have told us that it will help Mum to manage at all?

you need a solid factual case before you present it to the MP otherwise you are just wasting her/his time.

[bednobs]

all schools have a priority list as pointed out. If the school is full with other higher priority children, then there is no way this child should leapfrog ahead.
if the school is not full and children of staff are a group that can get access, then there shouldn't be a problem.
the interference of an MP should not override the set criteria IMO

[312131lawstudent]

I'm not sure what the mum intends to do with the child during her evening shift. The information I have been given doesn't specify if she is employed by an agency or by the school itself which is why I didn't know whether she could be classed as a member of staff, and it also doesn't say if the child is at another school, just that she went to a primary somewhere near the high school and that the mum was able to get her in the gap between the dinner shift and evening shift.
There's hasn't be an awful lot of extra information provided which is why I was having trouble with the question, if I knew some of the extra points that have been raised in this thread alone I'd have an easier time creating an argument.

[woofgang]

go back as though you were the actual advisor and say that because xxx yyy zzz there is not enough information there to give valid advice to your boss.....say what you would ask the Mum and how you would phrase it tactfully and what other research you would need to do before producing the briefing for your boss. It will blow your teachers mind!