Do I Need The Other Parent’s Consent To Change My Child’s School?
Parental Responsibility
To change your child’s school, you should obtain consent from the other parent if they have parental responsibility (see below). If you are the child’s mother and no-one else has parental responsibility for the child then you do not need consent from anyone else to change the child’s school. However, if the other parent does not have parental responsibility it is considered a good idea to request consent from them if they are involved in the child’s life.
If a parent has parental responsibility this means they have all the rights, duties, powers, responsibility and authority that, by law, a parent has in relation to their child. This includes having a say about discipline, education and medical treatment and having the right to provide a home and spend time with the child. It does not include the right to interfere with the day-to-day care. Mother’s automatically have parental responsibility from when a child is born. Usually, a father has parental responsibility if they are named on the child’s birth certificate or if they are married to the child’s mother.
What happens if the other parent refuses to give their consent?
If you wish to change your child’s school and the other parent refuses consent then consider attending Mediation together. A Mediator is an independent third party who will help you both to try to reach an agreement.
If the other parent still refuses to give consent for you to change your child’s school you can apply to the Court for a Specific Issue Order. In the application you would be asking the Court to grant you consent to change the child’s school. You would need to make the application to the Court well before the planned school change otherwise your application will not be heard on time.
If you make plans to change your child’s school without the consent of the other parent then they could make an urgent application to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order. In the application the other parent would be asking the Court to make an Order preventing you from changing the child’s school.
Putting together your case
When putting together your case you may wish to consider the following:
- Obtain Ofsted Reports.
- Obtain information on performance from the Department of Education.
- Prepare maps from each parent’s home to each school.
- If the school is an Infant school only then what is the feeder Junior school?
- If the school is an Infant school only how will the child cope with the transition to a Junior school?
- Is the child’s current nursery linked to the school?
- Is the child already familiar with the school e.g. siblings attend?
- What breakfast and after school care facilities do the school offer?
- What after school clubs do the school offer?
- Is the parent associated with the school in some way e.g. a governor?
- Does or will the child have friends at the school?
- Will the child be happier at the school and why?
- Will the child achieve more at the school and why?
Get in Touch
If you want to speak to someone about any family related matter, then please get in touch. Call for an initial consultation on 01323 727321, or fill in the form below.
Please note the above is for information purposes only and is intended to be a short summary. It should not be treated as a comprehensive guide and should not be acted on without qualified legal advice.