We have teamed up with the Library of Birmingham to help parents and students with their search for knowledge and for justice. For parents there’s help with appeals against school place allocations, and Special Needs assistance applications. For students, as the end of the academic year always throws up issues of unfair grading and accusations of plagiarism, there’s help for those too.
Starting Tuesday 30th June, myself and fellow Founding Partner, Salima, will offer help and advice on a range of issues troubling students and parents in the Library.
The sessions are being offered in partnership with the LoB following a number of enquires from Birmingham parents at our offices and at the library, after this years primary school admissions letters hit doormats around the city. We are now getting calls from parents struggling with the new system of claiming special needs help too.
The Education and Health Care Plan that’s replacing the Statements of Special educational needs, comes with a whole new set of obstacles for parents to negotiate. The new forms can appear insurmountable and the time scale for appeals is very tight. This all adds up to a headache for worried parents. It’s this kind of thing we expect to see in the free sessions at the LoB, I’m sure we can put parents' minds at rest and show them how they can get justice for their children.
The LoB is full of students at this time of year and the advice centre have started to get enquires from those who are worried about their upcoming results, the grading for their course work, and a number of plagiarism accusations.
Salima Mawji, Founding Partner said, “For most students the end of exams is a time to celebrate, but for a significant number the battle, to secure the grade they deserve or defend the originality of their work, has just begun. At Match, we deal with hundreds of these enquiries every year, so we are delighted to lend a hand at the library to help clear up some of the problems faced by students in Birmingham.”
We set up our offices in Birmingham last year after running a practice in central London for a decade. One of our first actions in the community was to support the library with financial support for the Library of Birmingham Trust (LBT). We were one of the founding partners of the Writers Circle programme, which was set up to help the library thrive in difficult economic times.
Yvonne Barker, LoB Service Manager Business and Learning, said, “The Library of Birmingham is delighted to work in partnership with Match Solicitors, specialists in Education Law, to help students challenging adverse education decisions, explore their options. The Library is used extensively by students and young adults preparing for exams and it is important for them, and their parents, to know that we are here to help, whichever way the results go.”
Sessions must be booked in advance through the Library Advice Line on 0121 303 6800.
