Schools & Academies

We know how schools work.

Our team includes specialists in every aspect of state-funded education, as well as people who have worked in-house for local authorities. We understand the sector, and we know how schools work – whether maintained or academies. This enables us to root all our advice in a practical context.

How we help

We have an enormous amount of experience working with multi-academy providers, converting schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) into academies, creating group structures, and establishing university technical colleges (UTCs).

We have experts on all the subjects you need, whether you’re a maintained school, free school or converter academy. That includes advising on admissions, exclusions, safeguarding, parental complaints, policies and procedures and commercial contracts.

We guide clients through employment contracts, policies and TUPE.  We help you keep public consultations lawful. And we give advice on making sure governors’ and trustees decisions are robust and not vulnerable to challenge.

“Bates Wells have a great awareness of the education sector from early-years through to further education colleges.”

Education Schools, Chambers 2024

“The whole team worked together very well and brought excellent knowledge and insight to the work.”

Education Schools, Chambers 2024
Meet our team
You May Also Be Interested In

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 15 September

Our weekly round up of news and updates from across the sector. To help you navigate this week’s content, the links below will take you straight to content by topic. Investigations and complaints The Charity Commission has concluded its investigation into four charities that were part of a statutory class inquiry into 105 charities found …
Read more

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 8 September

Our weekly roundup of news and updates from across the sector. To help you navigate this week’s content, the links below will take you straight to content by topic. Charity Commission Charity Commission CEO David Holdsworth has written a guest blog for New Philanthropy Capital about impact reporting for charities. The blog looks at how …
Read more

The year in education: Looking back and looking ahead

As schools, colleges and academy trusts prepare for the start of the new academic year, we reflect on the last 12 months and consider what lies ahead for the education sector. The coming years are expected to bring one of the most significant periods of policy reform in recent memory. In November 2025, the Department …
Read more

Bates Wells discusses cybersecurity tips for schools with Independent Schools Management Magazine

Rayhaan Vankalwala and Nneka Cummins have published an article in the Independent Schools Management Magazine, August 2026 edition. Their article “Cybersecurity tips for schools” sets out the key questions that schools should be asking themselves to ensure they are protecting the personal data they hold appropriately. With the fast pace of technology and the new …
Read more

Briefing for Charities & Social Enterprises | 18 August

Our weekly roundup of news and updates from across the sector. To help you navigate this week’s content, the links below will take you straight to content by topic. Investigations and complaints The Fundraising Regulator has published the results of its investigation into two community interest companies, Atoma Union CIC and Youth Works Union CIC.  …
Read more