On 17 April, the Court (Mr Justice Cobb) handed down judgment in R(London Oratory School) v The Schools Adjudicator [2015] EWHC 1012 (Admin). The case concerned the admission arrangements of the London Oratory School, one of the country’s highest profile faith schools. The Adjudicator had found that the school’s admission arrangements were unlawful for a number of reasons, including most seriously because the school had failed to have regard to guidance on religious oversubscription criteria given by the Catholic Diocese of Westminster, and had unlawfully discriminated against less well-off Catholic families. The school brought a JR, and the judge ruled in its favour, on a number of points, but not all grounds of challenge. The judge concluded that the Adjudicator had applied too strict a test to the meaning of “have regard” in the School Admissions Code, and that his finding of socio-economic discrimination was wrong, and reached by a fundamentally flawed process. Julian Milford acted for the school (led by Charles Bear KC at Fountain Court). James Goudie KC acted for the Schools Adjudicator. Jonathan Moffett appeared for the Secretary of State for Education, as an interested party.
The judgment can be read here.
