Parental Responsibility
Parental Responsibility Policy Statement
We value our relationships with parents very highly and are keen that parents are involved in their child's education. This statement summarises our approach to parental responsibility. It is based on and follows DFE guidance and it is the full guidance that will be followed where there is any dispute.
Parent Communications, Rights and Responsibilities
Anyone who is a parent, as recognised under education law (see below), can participate in their child’s education and shares all the rights and responsibilities within our school policies (except where a court order, which has been provided to us, prevents this). In particular, they have a right to
- Receive information, such as school reports
- Participate in statutory activities, such as voting in parent elections
- Be asked to give consent, such as school trips, photo permissions etc
- Be informed about meetings involving the child
As a rule, we will communicate primarily with one resident parent (most likely the main contact) to seek permissions and information (such as school trip or health care permissions) and provide direct information (such as school reports, notification of meetings, referrals, medical information etc).
It is our assumption, that those sharing the care of a child, will also share this information between them, for the benefit of that child.
If parents wish to make alternative arrangements to this e.g. request separate copies of reports or be asked separately for permissions, they must contact the school office to discuss this. We will endeavour to make arrangements that ensure that all parents are treated equally.
We can not comply with requests from one parent that would be detrimental to the rights of another parent. In cases of dispute, parents must resolve matters between them or seek legal resolution through the courts.
Who is a parent?
In educational law* a parent is defined as
- All biological parents whether they are married or not
- Any person who has parental responsibility for a child (see definition below)
- Any person who, although they are not a biological parent and do not have parental responsibility, has care of the child**
*Education Law differs from Family Law in its definition of a parent.
** A person typically has care of a child if the child lives with them either full or part time and they look after them, irrespective of what their biological or legal relationship is with the child.
Contact Details
School should be provided with contact details for all parents and it is the parent’s responsibility to keep these up to date.
If there is a court order in respect of the child this must be provided to the school at the earliest opportunity.
Significant Decisions
All those with parental responsibility must be consulted before important decisions are made, such as removing a child from their school when they should leave the school or which new school they school attend.
A change of surname for a child can only be made with written consent from all of those with parental responsibility.
Parental responsibility – legal definition
A child’s birth mother (the person who carried the child) has parental responsibility unless it has been removed by an adoption order or a parental order following surrogacy.
If a child’s father and mother were married to each other at the time of the child’s birth, they each have parental responsibility. If the parents were not married to each other at that time, the child’s father can gain parental responsibility:
- by registering the child’s birth jointly with the mother
- by subsequently marrying the child’s mother
- through a ‘parental responsibility agreement’ between him and the child’s mother that is registered with the court
- by obtaining a court order for parental responsibility
If two female parents have a child through fertility treatment, the mother’s female partner is treated in the same way as a father. She has parental responsibility if she is married to or in a civil partnership with the mother at the time of the treatment (or if the two women agree in writing that she will be the child’s second parent). She can also acquire parental responsibility in the same way that a child’s father can.
Where two male parents have a child born through surrogacy, then they may acquire parental responsibility by one of the following routes:
- If one of the male parents is the “biological father” and is subsequently named on the birth certificate then he, like other unmarried fathers, will automatically acquire parental responsibility.
- Two male parents may apply for a parental order from the court, which will reassign parentage to the intended parents after birth.
People who are not the child’s biological mother, father or second female/male parent can also acquire parental responsibility.
Civil partners have parallel rights to married people in terms of parental responsibility. The same provisions for married people apply to them in terms of:
- acquiring parental responsibility: adoption, agreement with their civil partner or by an order from the court
- holding parental responsibility
A local authority (the ‘corporate parent’) acquires parental responsibility under section 33(3) of the Children Act 1989 if it is named when a care order is made in respect of a child.