CA-2025-002133 - [2025] EWCA Civ 1335

Guidance on the governing board’s duty to reconsider

reinstatement following a review

Where the panel directs or recommends that the governing board reconsider whether a pupil should be reinstated, the governing board must reconvene to do so within ten school days of being given notice of the panel’s decision. Notice is deemed to have been given on the day of delivery if it is delivered directly or on the second working day after posting if it is sent by first class mail.

It is important that the governing board conscientiously reconsiders whether the pupil should be reinstated, whether the panel has directed or merely recommended it to do so. Whilst the governing board may still reach the same conclusion as it first did, it may face challenge in the courts if it refuses to reinstate the pupil, without strong

justification.

The reconsideration provides an opportunity for the governing board to look afresh at the question of reinstating the pupil, in light of the findings of the IRP. There is no requirement to seek further representations from other parties or to invite them to the reconsideration meeting. The governing board is not prevented from taking into account other matters that it considers relevant. It should take care to ensure that any additional information does not make the decision unlawful. This could be the case, for example, where new evidence is presented, or information is considered that is irrelevant to the decision at hand.

This is repeated in the Winchmore School Exclusion and Suspension Policy dated March 2024. Its nature is apparent from the Policy Statement with which it begins, in which I have emphasised some passages:-