DRA -v- A School (anonymity order)
Claim number: KB-2024-004214
In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
9 December 2025
Before:
Clare Padley sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge
Between:
The King on the application of
DRA (by his father and litigation friend) DRX
-v-
A School (anonymity order)
Order
On an application by the Claimant for interim relief
Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant and the response filed by the Defendant in response to the Order of Bryan J dated 18 November 2025.
ORDER BY CLARE PADLEY SITTING AS A DEPUTY HIGH COURT JUDGE
1. Transfer
a) This case is transferred to the Administrative Court under CPR 30.5 to continue as an application for interim relief in a proposed claim for judicial review.
2. Litigation Friend
a) The Claimant’s father is appointed as his litigation friend.
3. Anonymity:
a) Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction and/or s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and s.39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933:
i) The names of the Claimant and his litigation friend and his school (the Defendant) are to be withheld from the public and must not be disclosed in any proceedings in public; and
ii) the Claimant is to be referred to orally and in writing as DRA and the Litigation Friend is to be referred to as DRX.
b) Pursuant to s. 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, there must be no publication of the identity of the Claimant or of any matter likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant in any report of, or otherwise in connection with, these proceedings.
c) Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):
i) the parties must within 7 days file a redacted copy of any statement of case filed, omitting the name, address and any other information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant;
ii) if any statement of case subsequently filed includes information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant, a redacted copy omitting that information must be filed at the same time;
iii) unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non-party many obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case.
d) Any person wishing to vary or discharge this Order must make an application, served on each party.
4. Adjournment of interim relief application
a) The application for interim relief under CPR 25.2(2) is adjourned to be determined at a hearing on Friday 12 December with a time estimate of 2 hours minutes including submissions by the parties and an oral judgment by the judge.
b) The Defendant shall upload to the CE file by 4pm on 9 December 2025 an electronic copy of the Claimant’s bundle previously lodged as a paper bundle at the hearing before Bryan J on 18 November 2025 which has not been retained by the court.
c) The Defendant has permission to rely on its response bundle filed on 1 December 2025 and an extension of time for filing this bundle is granted.
d) The Claimant has permission to rely on the two further witness statements filed on 6 and 8 December 2025 but does not have permission to rely on the audio recording attached to his email of 6 December 2025 which has not been transcribed.
e) The Defendant has permission to file and serve further witness evidence limited to evidence in response to the Claimant’s two further witness statements relating to the extent of the Claimant’s current educational provision and a skeleton argument addressing any further legal issues raised by 4pm on Wednesday 13 December 2025.
f) No further evidence or written submissions may be filed without the permission of the court.
g) If a party fails to comply with sub-paragraph (b), (e) and/or (f), the Court may have regard to the failure when considering any question about costs at the hearing.
5. Directions for judicial review claim:
a) The Claimant must file an N461 judicial review claim form and required documents in support by 4pm on Friday 12 Defendant 2025, which will stand in place of the N1 Part claim form dated 7 November 2025 filed by the Claimant on 11 November 2025 which has not yet been issued. Details of the requirements for the claim form and supporting documents can be found in the Admin Court Judicial Review Guide (PDF).
b) CPR Part 54 will then apply to the claim, and the claim form must be served within 7 days after the date of issue in accordance with CPR 54.7
c) Any further directions for expedition will be considered at the further interim relief hearing on 12 December 2025.
Reasons
- Transfer: This case has been wrongly commenced in the King’s Bench Division although it is plain from the nature of the Claimant’s application for a mandatory injunction and his draft particulars of claim (which are in fact headed as being in the Administrative Court) that is a proposed claim for judicial review to which CPR 54 must apply by reason of CPR 54.2. The claim is transferred to the Administrative Court under CPR 30.5 so that it can continue as an application for interim relief in a proposed claim for judicial review.
- Litigation Friend ; The Claimant’s father is appointed as his litigation friend, having filed a certificate of suitability.
- Anonymity: The Claimant is a child who is facing serious allegations about his behaviour towards another pupil. There are accordingly compelling reasons for the limited derogations from the principle of open justice in paragraph 3 which are needed to avoid the possibility of jigsaw identification.
- Adjournment of interim relief application: Unfortunately it became apparent at the hearing of this application that the Claimant’s paper 197 page bundle in support of his application was not before the court and that due to the procedural confusion caused in part by this judicial review claim being allowed to proceed in the wrong division, the Defendant had not had an opportunity to respond to all the evidence filed by the Claimant. In order to ensure a fair hearing and having regard to the urgency relied on by the Claimant, a short adjournment of this application following the transfer to the correct division has been directed.
- Directions: The Directions follow on from the transfer to the Administrative Court and are intended to ensure that the necessary procedural rigour is maintained.