Education Law - Nicholas Hancox Solicitor

This website was last up-dated on 1 August 2008.
You may want to click the "Refresh" button on your Toolbar, to get the llatest update of our website.

Nicholas Hancox was interviewed by presenters from BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Cornwall, BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC 3 Counties Radio and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire for programmes due for transmission on Sunday 3 August 2008. Nicholas was asked about the Sarika Singh case and why this case was apparently decided differently from the Lydia Playfoot case (the Purity Ring) and the Shabina Begum case (the Muslim jilbab or headscarf). The answer is that wearing a steel or iron Kara bangle is a very important part of being a Sikh - a way of manifesting one's faith. Most Sikhs wear a Kara bangle. But the same is not true of Christians and purity rings or of Muslims and headscarfs. Nicholas said that the Sarika Singh case is consistent with the line of cases on school uniforms. School Governors need to take account of religious sensitivities when setting their school uniform policy. They do not need to allow all religious garments or adornments, but they do need to allow the Kara to be worn by devout Sikh pupils.
Further advice is available from Nicholas Hancox Solicitors - specialists in the law of education.

In a "Back Page" article in the New Law Journal on 27 June 2008 (page 934), Nicholas Hancox pokes fun at the curious numbering system for our Statutory Instruments. Only in England and Wales (surely) could we have four different Commencment Orders for a single Act of Parliament - all of them called "The "Commencement No. 1 Order".

In the June 2008 issue of the Law of Education Bulletin, published by Butterworths Lexis Nexis, Nicholas Hancox describes the high-profile Court of Appeal case in which JK Rowling sought some enhanced privacy for her son, David, for fear of his being pursued by paparazzi photographers. Nicholas offers some clear advice to schools on how to handle photography in school, from parents with camera phones and teachers getting ID pictures for the file, to the paparazzi at the gate.

Assistant Solicitor

Ms Debbie Ashton joined the firm as a Solicitor, earlier this year. Debbie qualified in 2004 after 15 years' previous experience as a secondary-school teacher. More details...

Children's Rights
In the Spring 2008 issue of "Public Opinion", a journal published by Birketts LLP, Nicholas Hancox reviewed the law and UN Convention on Children's Rights and asks whether we also need a UN Convention on Parents' Rights. The answer is "No, we do not." The article is on our Children's Rights webpage

Education and Charity
Nicholas Hancox wrote an article in the New Law Journal on 25 January 2008 about the new Charity Commission's plans to monitor more closely the 'public benefit' provided by those independent schools which are also charities. The "advancement of education" has been recognised as charitable since at least 1601, but the Charities Act 2006 has brought a new emphasis on there being a necessary public benefit in the advancement of education, before it can be recognised as truly charitable.

Nicholas Hancox is one of the the Editors of Butterworths' Law of Education, the major seven-volume text on education law in England and Wales. This and other books by Nicholas Hancox on the subject of education law are described on the Law Books & Articles page of this website.

Nicholas Hancox often speaks at conferences and seminars on education law topics and our current programme of conferences and seminars is described on the Seminars & Talks page of this website

Nicholas Hancox Solicitors are corporate supporters of Norfolk Wildlife Trust. We are delighted to be helping this wonderful organisation.