Faith schools and safeguarding: R (Khalsa Academies Trust Ltd)

Background

The Khalsa Academies Trust Ltd is a multi-academy trust responsible for operating three academies, one of which is Khalsa Secondary Academy in Stoke Poges. Ofsted had concluded in January 2020 that the Academy was “Inadequate” and “requiring special measures”: in particular, that the arrangements for safeguarding were “not effective” and that “Leaders, including those at trust and governance level, have not learned from serious safeguarding failures. They have not acted with the urgency required.” The Secretary of State then decided that the Academy should be transferred, or “re-brokered”, to the Sikh Academy Trust.

In R (Khalsa Academies Trust Ltd) v Secretary of State for Education [2021] EWHC 2660 (Admin), the Trust sought judicial review of that decision [1&2]. There were four grounds of challenge: Continue reading