Future of Holland Park school hangs on legal decision on whether or not the community was consulted over DfE’s transfer move

The Royal Courts of Justice in London, where the Holland Park judicial review case was heard

England’s most high-profile current academy controversy appears to be hinging on legal arguments over whether or not the community was subject to a consultation about the government’s plans for the school earlier this year.

In a case which may have implications for how transfers of school control are conducted in the future, London’s Administrative Court heard a judicial review challenge to the way the Department for Education has conducted still-ongoing moves to transfer control of Holland Park School, in Kensington, West London, to the United Learning chain.

The two sides agree that there was no legal requirement on the DfE to have consulted the community at all about transferring the school, which currently is run by a single-academy trust, into the control of the country’s largest multi-academy trust.

But the community campaign’s legal claim is based on the argument that, once the DfE embarked on what amounted to a consultation, the law stipulates that it should have been conducted in certain ways, which were not followed. The DfE’s response is that the community, though their views were sought about the proposals, were not subject to any consultation at all, under a strict legal understanding of the term.