AC-2024-LDS-000204 - [2025] EWHC 1983 (Admin)

The School and the Trust

The school in question (‘the School’) is the John Smeaton Academy in Leeds. Its recent history is notable. Rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in 2019, it had been the worst performing secondary school in the city and among the worst in the country. Ofsted noted in particular the part that poor behaviour and attitudes to learning were playing in the chronic underachievement of its students. A ‘sizeable minority’ of students were seriously disrupting and hampering teaching and learning. Its reputation led to falling rolls: the sixth form closed in September 2020 and applications to start Year 7 in 2021 were at half of capacity.

The Department for Education stepped in. It removed the trust that had been running the school, with effect from 1^st September 2021, and brought in the Gorse Academies Trust (‘the Trust’) to take over. This new Trust was already running another eleven schools in Leeds at the time, with a distinctive ethos or mission: to break the link between social and economic disadvantage, and academic underperformance. The Trust appointed Mr Andrew Moncur to lead the School as its head teacher or Principal in 2023. Mr Moncur had previously held senior roles in other schools run by the Trust.

The Trust’s declared ethos aspires to give its students ‘the gift of choice’, that is, to release them from any background constraints on access to personal development, skills and qualifications, and so equip them with options for full self-realisation at all stages of life. It sets out to achieve this by delivering a ‘rigorous’ education which challenges, supports and develops students, particularly those from especially challenged or complicated backgrounds, both academically and socially; its ethos is that both aspects must be addressed together to achieve success. Its model is one based on a highly detailed system of behavioural expectations, underpinned by a correspondingly detailed system of positive and negative reinforcements: encouragements and disincentives, or rewards and punishments. It calls this ‘positive discipline’.

Less than three years after the Trust took over the School, an Ofsted inspection in 2024 was able to rate it ‘good’ in all areas, describing a ‘startling transformation’ of which all involved were right to be proud. The School was now ‘a beacon for its community’. It is in increasingly high demand, and was expected to be oversubscribed for the first time this September.

The 2024 Ofsted report said this:

Staff have worked with pupils to transform standards of behaviour. A consistent ‘positive discipline’ approach, rooted in caring kindness and active intervention, is consistently in place throughout the school. Staff uphold high expectations of pupil behaviour, offering support to those who struggle to meet these standards. Corridors are filled with calm, happy pupils who chat to their friends as they move between lessons. There are warm relationships between pupils and teaching staff. The school has created an environment where pupils’ learning thrives, enabling them to get the most from the ambitious curriculum. Bullying, though rare, is promptly addressed. Pupils are confident to raise concerns. They know that staff will help them.

The Trust is the formal defendant to the present claims.

The Claimants

The three claimant students have been anonymised in these proceedings, and that anonymisation is protected by reporting restrictions and restricted access to court documents identifying them. That is because of their young ages, and because each is, in his or her own way, a vulnerable individual.

Anonymisation – and indeed litigation of this sort – risks having rather a dehumanising effect on how individuals may be perceived. But sight must never be lost of the fact that the lives and experiences of individual children and their families are before a court, and indeed the public, in a case like this. So the Claimants here are referred to not by impersonal ciphers, but by names – pseudonyms, not their real names. I was pleased to note the School had permitted them to attend court, with their families, for the two days of submissions before me.

All three students, to borrow Ofsted’s words, have struggled to meet the School’s behavioural standards. For the School, they represent ‘work in progress’. The nature of the claim they bring inevitably means more of a focus here on the negative aspects of their behaviour and their school experience so far, than on the positives. That is of course far from the whole story. These Claimants are developing adolescents with their whole adult lives ahead of them and reasons to be positive about their futures. This case is just about one issue, albeit an important one, relating to one aspect of their School’s decision-making about them so far.

Elise

The First Claimant is ‘Elise’. She was born in 2010 and is now 15 years old. She joined the School in September 2021 on graduation to Year 7 from a local primary school. Her father lives abroad, and her primary school records show a lot of term-time absences visiting him. This continued at the School: she has missed more than 45 days of school for this reason so far.

Elise’s first year at the School was mixed. Her record included challenging behaviours, such as truancy, walking out of lessons and defiance of school conduct rules. She was frequently sanctioned. This pattern continued as she progressed into Year 8. She was suspended three times, on each occasion for a three-day period. Towards the end of her Year 8, in May 2023, she disclosed to a member of staff that she was self-harming for reasons she attributed to her home environment and her relationship with her mother; she reported an incident around this time involving a serious altercation between them. Elise’s mother removed her from the School for the rest of the academic year. The local authority was involved.

Elise returned to the School in September 2023, having been out of education in the meantime. On her first day back, she committed a serious and planned physical assault on another Year 9 pupil. The victim suffered significant physical, and long-term psychological, harm; she was too traumatised to continue at the School, and pressed for criminal charges. The School, in consultation with the Trust, with Elise’s mother, and with Elise’s social workers, developed and put in place a plan by way of an alternative to permanent exclusion from the School. She would be placed at another school, not operated by the Trust and with a different ethos, for a trial period.

The managed move did not go well. Rule-breaking and defiance, including around mobile phone use, continued. Staff at the new school raised concerns about Elise abusing alcohol, including at school, which triggered the involvement of specialist local authority support. But alcohol abuse progressed to cannabis abuse. Elise continued to self-harm. She was admitted to hospital on 19^th October 2023 with an overdose. The new school considered the managed move to have failed. It was terminated in early November.

The School, in consultation with, and with the agreement of, Elise’s mother, put in place a very detailed plan for the phased and closely supported reintegration of Elise back into school life. But the period from November 2023 to April 2024 was characterised by Elise’s frequent sanctioning for serious disruption, defiance, walking out of lessons and truanting, abuse and minor assaults, and vaping on school premises. A further managed move to another new school was attempted in April 2024 with her mother’s agreement. It lasted less than a fortnight because of Elise’s misbehaviour and cannabis abuse. Elise then spent a week abroad with her father. Another detailed transitional plan was put in place, including a particular focus on Elise’s risk of self-harm. It was no more successful in achieving a change to the pattern of misbehaviour and sanctioning.

In June 2024, Elise was approaching the 45-day maximum total of suspensions which would trigger a permanent exclusion. The School considered it would be in her interests to start an ‘alternative provision’ placement as soon as possible, in order to avoid that. ‘Alternative provision’ is education outside mainstream schooling, specifically designed to support students struggling in the mainstream. It has classroom environments, very small class sizes, teaching and support regimes to match. Elise was moved to an alternative provision school, run by the Trust, on 15^th July 2024. She began Year 10 in that placement. Her time there has been mixed. Targets have been set with a view to her return to the School, but not yet met. There have been serious issues about her behaviour, up to and including abusing, threatening and assaulting staff.

Elise’s situation continues under close review. An issue was raised at the end of 2023 about her potentially being dyslexic or having other special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), something that had not previously appeared from her assessments at the School, and, more recently, that she might require an Education Health and Care Plan. Her mother is keen for her to return to the School as quickly as possible.

Luke

The Second Claimant is ‘Luke’. He is two years younger than Elise; he joined the School in Year 7, in September 2023, again on graduating from a local primary school. His primary school recorded issues of rule-breaking and defiance, and bullying other children, including cyber-bullying and physical fighting at school. It placed him on the SEND register for ‘social, emotional and mental health’ (‘SEMH’) needs, but Luke had not had any formal diagnosis or therapeutic support. Because he had been on the SEND register, the School made special provision for his transition into Year 7. No specific issues were identified to start with, and Luke’s first few weeks at the School passed without incident.

But it began to be apparent that Luke was struggling with communication, interaction and relationships, and was possibly indicating some traits of autism. A process began of discussions involving the School’s SEND team and Luke’s mother, about how best to identify and support his educational needs and help him understand and observe appropriate behavioural boundaries. Luke’s behaviour was beginning to show signs of deterioration. He was increasingly being sanctioned for disruption and defiance, leading to a first suspension in December 2023. A review meeting at the beginning of the following term discussed supportive measures and possible reasonable adjustments to the School’s regime to help Luke meet behavioural expectations.

But his behaviour worsened over January 2024, including absenting himself from lessons or isolation and a moderately serious assault on another pupil. Further support measures and adjustments were put in place. Over the following months Luke continued to misbehave, incur sanctions and disengage from school. This was a period of continuing anxious monitoring of the situation by the School and Luke’s mother, with further close support measures being put in place. It culminated in a formal assessment in May 2024 that Luke was subject to ‘social, communication and interaction barriers including signs of selective mutism’, and an assessment in June 2024 by a local authority educational psychologist (‘EP’). By the period in issue in this case, therefore, it was recognised that Luke was likely to be autistic. The EP approved the positive support measures which had already been put in place, and recommended a programme for helping Luke understand and regulate his emotions. This was implemented.

Luke had a period of unauthorised absence from school at the end of June 2024 because of a decision to take him on a family holiday. There was an incident shortly afterwards, on 12^th July, of seriously dysregulated defiance and an attempted assault of a member of staff. A fresh start in the new term was planned for.

His behaviour at the start of Year 8 in September 2024 was described as particularly poor, and included a serious episode of assault on another student in September and another assault in November. But from around the end of November, a gradual turnaround and improvement began to be noticed. Episodes of disruption and defiance began to be fewer, and sanctions began to reduce. There were incidents of physical fighting, in March 2025 and in April 2025. But he is now receiving far fewer sanctions and many more positive comments. His academic performance has improved. His teachers report him as being happier and as making friends in his peer group. Where he is sanctioned, he completes the sanction successfully and returns to his classroom. The School is pleased with his trajectory of improvement and optimistic that it will continue.

Lydia

The Third Claimant is ‘Lydia’. She arrived at the School in Year 7 in September 2022. She is one of a large family; her mother comments on her standing out from her seven siblings as having been challenging from a young age. Her local primary school in turn had concerns about her being left home alone as a seven-year-old. Her primary school recorded incidents of physical attacks on other children, and substantial disengagement from all school work particularly during the pandemic years.

There were some relatively low-level behaviour incidents in her first term at the School. She was also persistently late for school, for which she was sanctioned. From the beginning of 2023, behavioural issues and sanctions began to accumulate. There was an incident of concern in February 2023 where it appears Lydia seriously assaulted and harmed a sister at home. Episodes at school of rule-breaking, defiance, confrontation and truanting – and sanctioning – are recorded as mounting, and becoming regular and persistent throughout Year 8. Other family troubles of different sorts are also alluded to during this period.

Lydia is currently in Year 9 at the School. The history of behaviour infractions and sanctions persists, but, more recently, at a reduced level overall. Her attendance record is much better. There are said to be some signs that Lydia’s behaviour may be starting to improve; it remains to be seen whether this becomes clearly recognisable as a consistent upward trend. She has recently had special pastoral support put in place. She has said she is lately becoming happier at school.