The Constitutional Court has heard the parents and children at Hoërskool Ermelo were not part of discussions around changing its language policy.

The court reserved judgment on Thursday in the Mpumalanga Education Department’s bid to force it to change from an Afrikaans-only policy.

The court heard there were thousands of children in the area who needed an English language education.

Judge Kate O’Regan asked the school’s advocate Wim Trengove whether the court itself could take action to which he replied it could.