Court claim over clever girl fails

Dr Southern sought help with daughter's school fees

A father has failed in his latest effort to get judges to rule on whether very bright children can be treated as having special educational needs.

Dr Tim Southern failed to have his case considered in the High Court in London because of delays in bringing it to court.

He withdrew his 14-year-old daughter Caroline from a local comprehensive, and moved her to an independent school.

In January he failed to get a court to make Oxfordshire County Council put £2,500 a year towards her fees there.

But the main issue, of whether children of high intelligence can be entitled to be assessed as having special educational needs, still has not been addressed.

Dr Southern's lawyers were challenging the decision of a Special Educational Needs Tribunal not to order an assessment of Caroline under the 1996 Education Act.

They had sought to argue that the tribunal had misdirected itself as to the meaning of "learning difficulty".

Caroline is said to have a high IQ and a special talent in science and mental maths.

The question the lawyers were asking the High Court to consider was whether the word "disability" could refer to a child "who is in many respects 'disabled' by exceptionally high ability as opposed to a physical or intellectual or other form of impairment".

They say there is, so far as they are aware, no legal precedent on this.

Dr Southern has indicated that he intends to start the whole process over again.