Parents at Coventry Sikh School win legal challenge after DfE concession

Parents of pupils at Seva School in Coventry have finally come to a resolution with the Department for Education which will see the school remain part of the Sevak Education Trust.

Sikh families of Coventry have been in a dispute with the DfE (Department For Education) for over a year now after pressure was placed on the Seva School of Coventry to change its current template and be reformed under a new multi-faith banner by joining a “Multi Academy Trust“. This pressure stems from an OFSTED report which rated the school as ‘inadequate’ in 2016, a status which the school claims has since been vastly improved on, evident since OFSTED took the school out of the ‘special measures’ category since March of this year.

As part of the settlement, made on June 28th, the Secretary of State accepted that he had failed to consider alternatives to the Nishkam Schools Trust and also agreed to pay the legal costs of the case.

In a statement the Sevak Education Trust said: ‘The proceedings were a last resort after the school and parents had been unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade the Department for Education to reconsider its decision.’

 The Trust added: ‘The school looks forward to working closely with the Department moving forwards to ensure that any decisions about the future of the school made are with the best interests of the pupils, parents, staff and local Sikh community in mind.’

As part of the agreement, the Secretary of State accepted that he had failed to consider alternatives to the Nishkam Schools Trust and also agreed to pay the legal costs of the case. More than 200 parents had previously protested a move to re-brokerage the school under the Nishkam Schools Trust.