Correspondence various LAs Lord Soley Home Education Bill

Here are some discussions between Lord Soley and various local authority officers September to December 2017, derived from this FOI

Ofsted new guidance about home education to inspectors

At the end of March 2015 I received a message from Matthew Brazier (Ofsted’s social care policy team) saying that Ofsted has provided inspectors with new advice and guidance about elective home education, covering the following points:

AEHEP Post 3

Launch of the Association of Elective Home Education Professionals Part 3

Second Set of Questions

• Encouragement and validation helps families 
• Philips versus Brown: discuss 
• Where are our powers if there is a Child Protection Plan or a Child In Need Plan? We work with these families on a daily basis.

Second Answers

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AEHEP Launch Post 2

Launch of the Association of Elective Home Education Professionals Part 2

Next up was Stephen Bishop, the civil servant from the Department for Education who has day to day responsibility for elective home education which take up around 5% of his time. The department welcomes the setting up of a national body which is recognised to be easier to deal with, although they would not be closing their door to regional forums and individuals.

SB said that the role of DfE in elective home education is an odd one. The Department is not particularly active. There are government guidelines dating from the past administration which are still current, which SB commented “tells its own tale.”

That is certainly wrong

Yesterday I had a quick look at a new report from the Department for Education.

I was distressed to read the following:

“Parents of children of compulsory school age (aged between 5 and 15 at the start of the academic year) are, by law, required to ensure that their children receive a suitable education through regular attendance at school.”

What’s missing is “or otherwise.”

Parents are required to ensure that their children receive a suitable education through regular attendance at school or otherwise.

School is not compulsory.