Parents lose special needs fight

Summerhill School has a reputation for unconventional teaching methods

The parents of a boy who turned down a school allocated by the council have lost a fight for his final year at his chosen school to be paid by the public.

Tertius Wharton, now 17, has attended Summerhill special needs boarding school in Suffolk for six years, paid for by his parents from Wouldham, Kent.

Kent County Council refused to pay the £15,000 final year fee when his parents experienced financial difficulties.

The High Court ruled the council had not been unreasonable or irrational.

His parents, Joy and Nicholas Wharton, wanted the council to pay for the 2008/9 academic year at Summerhill for their son.

Judicial review

The council - which had spent more than £87,000 on keeping a place open for Tertius at The New School at West Heath, near Sevenoaks, where Diana, Princess of Wales, studied as a child - refused to pay.

Seeking a judicial review, the parents argued that the council was in breach of its obligations under educational benefits regulations.

But Mr Justice Silber held that, although Summerhill had been praised by Ofsted for its ability to educate special needs pupils, it was not unreasonable or irrational for the council to maintain its view, based on expert advice, that the school was not suitable for Tertius and that West Heath was.

Tertius was described as having above-average cognitive ability, but he also has behavioural, social and academic problems caused by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

He attended the recommended West Heath school in 2003, but left after two weeks, saying he "did not feel comfortable there", and returned to Summerhill.

The council kept his place at West Heath open, paying £87,788 between September 2003 and March this year.

Summerhill school was founded by education pioneer Alexander Sutherland Neill in the 1920s on the principle that a school should "fit the child".

Pupils have the same voting rights as teachers in the school's democratic system, and girls and boys have the freedom to decide which lessons, if any, they attend.