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Memorandum submitted by Denise McCallum
I met Graham Badman at North Yorkshire County Councils offices along with another home educating couple, present were Graham Badman & Liz Green, we were joined later in the meeting by Alan Critchlow and Ruth Hannah.
1) We explained to Graham Badman how home educating parents in North Yorkshire had worked with the local authority to build up working relationships. We told him how in essence we had come out from behind the barricades and met in the middle and how this process had taken nearly three years after we met with them because of the first consultation on home education. 2) We repeatedly explained how we believed that if the current legislation was interpreted correctly and Local Authorities worked with parents instead of against them then the 2007 Guidelines were sufficient and that those Local Authorities that had embraced the guidelines didn't have the problems that the Local Authorities had where they consistently act ultra vires. 3) I explained my own personal circumstances about how my (now) 11 year old was very battered from the state system, a teacher had told him that if he didn't go to school I would be imprisoned and it took a good six months for him to believe me that home education was legal, if we had been forced to have a compulsory visit it would have done lots of damage to my son. 4) Mr Badman repeatedly said to us that leaving the current system as it was, was not an option which gave the impression that the outcome of the review were predetermined. 5) We stressed to Mr Badman that any element of compulsion would destroy the things we had achieved in North Yorkshire and indeed a lot of home educators in North Yorkshire have withdrawn from engagement with the LA as a protest. 6) There has been no costings into the recommendations, indeed Baroness Morgan has stated that no extra costs will be involved yet there is no money in Local Authorities for home education and no indication of where the extra money will come from. 7) The recommendations in the review are not in anyway based on fact but it appears to be Graham Badmans personal opinion.
September 2009 |