Hayley O’Sullivan
Hayley has over 15 years’ experience in supporting schools and trusts.
Noted as a ‘rising star’ in the West Midlands, clients value her proactive approach, speed of support and her pragmatic and sensible advice. Her strategic outlook and ability to advise on degrees of risk in different scenarios has attracted a growing number of clients who view her as their go-to trusted advisor.
She advises an array of schools on a broad range of education law issues with particular expertise in SEND, exclusions and equality issues. She also frequently advises schools, admissions and attendance, policies, safeguarding, complex parental complaints and the challenges social media poses for schools.
She provides a wide range of governance advice and has extensive experience in defending schools in contentious matters including disability discrimination claims, judicial review applications and associated litigation.
Hayley is particularly sought after by clients for her pragmatism, knowledge of education law and clarity on complex legal issues. Clients value her risk-based approach to the issues they face and how she seeks to understand the risk-appetite of the organisations she supports. She led on the successful development and implementation of an Exclusions Support Pack, SEN Support Pack and Complaints Management Support packs all of which contain numerous template letters, policies, checklists, reports, scripts and FAQs to help schools ensure they are consistent, confident and compliant with the law with the ultimate goal being to save schools time, resource and money. She also delivers webinars to school leaders to help explain legislative developments.
In addition to her advisory work, Hayley is highly sought after for her interactive and engaging training sessions for senior leaders and governing boards on an array of topics. Her approachable, straight-talking style and the way in which she brings topics to life through case studies and her own experiences has led to numerous testimonials from clients who value her insights into various topics. She has recently developed a comprehensive training CPD programme for senior leaders on compliance with SEND legislation and implementing best practice.
