An independent school in Yorkshire has won a court battle over the welfare of a group of its international students.
Queen Ethelburga’s College near Harrogate was at Manchester County Court this week to face a former Guardian, Dr Chuanjie Zhou, who brought a legal action over loss of earnings.
The case dates back to 2010 when the school’s board of governors removed Dr Zhou from his role as a Guardian for allowing Chinese students to stay in unsupervised accommodation during the holidays, directly contravening the school’s guardianship policy.
In returning his decision in favour of the school His Honour Judge Foster QC told the court:
It was the school’s duty to take the action that it did. [I] found the actions taken [by the school] were fully justified, it would have been in breach of its contract with parents if it had not taken that action.The failure by Dr Zhou to make appropriate arrangements justified the decision refusing to accept Dr Zhou as a guardian.
Dr Zhou was ordered to pay the school’s legal costs for the case.
Principal of Queen Ethelburga’s Steven Jandrell explained that the school had had “serious and genuine concerns” about the welfare and care of a group of their international students during the half term holidays and that he was delighted that those concerns had been upheld in a court of law.
Principal, Mr Jandrell said:
We are pleased that His Honour Judge Foster QC has today recognised that Queen Ethelburga’s was justified in dispensing with the services of a Guardian who did not act in the proper interests of our pupils.
We are a school and as such are responsible for the care and education of our young people, particularly those so far from home, we are delighted to see that the court has endorsed those principles.
