Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Written evidence submitted by Holly Strawbridge to The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Committee (CWSB110)

Introduction

My name is Holly Strawbridge and I am a home educating parent. Myself and my husband have been home educating our three children for seven years. This bill deeply concerns me as it will have a damaging effect on our ability to home educate our children and consequently have a negative effect on their mental wellbeing and education.

Executive Summary

In this submission I will cover the following:

• 1. Background - overview of our style of home education and how it is greatly benefitting our children

• 2. Areas of Concern - a look at the main areas of concern in this Bill. These concerns include:

• 2.1 Impractical requirements of the register demonstrating a lack of understanding of Home Education and the detrimental impact it will have on Home Educators

• 2.2 Unrealistic amounts of information requested and concerns about privacy & data Protection

• 2.3 Impact on Home Education groups and other activities

• 2.4 Concerns regarding compulsory home visits.

• 3. Recommendations

• 4. Conclusion

1. Background

1.1 Our family consists of myself and my husband and our three children who are all happily home educated. We have been home educating our children for the past seven years, since our eldest turned six and we chose to deregister him from school. We take our responsibility as home educating parents very seriously and dedicate many hours of each day to provide our children with a holistic and individualised educational experience which is above and beyond what they would experience at school. All three of our children, A (age 13), B (age 12) and C (age 9) are happy and confident children, who have a great enthusiasm for learning and life in general, and each child has a number of close friends within our vibrant local home education community. Whilst the eldest two have had short experiences within school, we feel that home education suits our children and our family much better and is enabling our children to learn and grow at their own pace in a very positive way. In short, our children are thriving and home education is benefitting them greatly. Any changes to our ability to home educate would seriously impact the mental wellbeing of our children and upset our family unit.

1.2 I’d like to try to briefly express how home education works within our family and why I’m so keen to protect it. Each week our children study a combination of English, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Music, Art, and French in a semi-structured way, using a mixture of curricula for inspiration and guidance (including a Steiner curriculum plus other home education curricula that follow the National Curriculum guidelines) either taught by myself or my husband at home, or utilising home education correspondence courses, in-person and online tuition, plus access to many other resources such as websites and books which vary depending on what is being studied or discussed at that time. Our children attend several local home education groups each week, spend quality time with their grandparents, plus participate in after-school clubs and sports clubs. Also, there are regular ‘field trips’ to local museums, walking groups in local areas of outstanding natural beauty, theatre trips, and occasional visits to cities and to visit family in Europe. Whilst our home education provision does not resemble a typical school day, the quality of the education they are receiving is very high and, I would argue, is equal to if not superior to the education they would receive at school as it is tailored to suit my children’s individual developmental needs and interests.

1.3 One of the greatest benefits of home education for us is that it really enables our children the time and opportunity to pursue their particular interests and passions as they have developed over the years. We strongly feel that they would not have had the time, opportunity or energy to explore these interests if they had been in a conventional school setting. For instance, our eldest child A (age 13) is passionate about History, in particular Ancient Civilisations, and has recently been studying Ancient Greece and Alexander the Great. He is very keen to pursue this further and study Ancient Civilisations at iGCSE level. Child A is also undertaking a cookery qualification at GCSE equivalent level. He is a member of two local sports clubs, both rowing and rugby, plus he’s keen on acting and is currently rehearsing a play with a local youth theatre group each weekend. He also studies nature science each week with his grandmother who is a published author, and is about to embark on a bird of prey identifying course.

1.4 Our middle child B (age 12), is really passionate about all things relating to textiles, sewing and embroidery and is currently pursuing a GCSE equivalent (NCFE) textiles course. She recently had a stall at a Christmas craft fair with some beautiful needle-felted fairy creations she taught herself to make, plus she has been learning how to make her own clothes including pyjamas, a skirt and a dress. She is developing an impressive ability for art and is working on expanding her art portfolio for a GCSE equivalent art qualification. Plus she adores singing and musical theatre and is a member of a youth choir, a youth theatre, and has singing lessons as well as piano lessons. She is just about to start a home education creative writing group along with a close friend to pursue her interest in writing.

1.5 Our youngest, Child C (age 9), is showing a real passion and natural talent for dance and she currently attends tap, ballet, acro-dance and street fusion lessons run by a wonderful local teacher. She has chosen to work towards a dance exam this spring. She also attends a home education drama group which is rehearsing a new project about the life of Henry VIII, and a weekly sports club. She is learning both the piano, with support from her grandmother, and having lessons on the guitar with a teacher. She also loves gardening and is very active in our family vegetable plot, where she is helping to prepare and condition the ground for an organic vegetable growing project this year. Plus she has been attending a home education forest school or many years where she has made some brilliant friendships.

1.6 Home education greatly benefits our children. If we were restricted in our ability to home educate due to the unnecessary requirements and changes stated in the Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill it would have a negative effect on their lives: their happiness, their well-being, their identify and their education could all be damaged. They currently are happy, thriving, inquisitive children who are enthusiastic and motivated to learn. I strongly feel that this needs protecting, hence why I am writing this evidence for the scrutiny committee to consider. If I, as the home educating parent, had to spend time trying to document all the aspects of their education for the Local Authority to assess and judge, rather than being able to focus my energies on the actual act of home educating my children, it would negatively affect my ability to home educate and cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety and stress.

2. Areas of Concern Surrounding the Bill

There are particular sections within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that have alarmed me, and which I would like to have amended or removed so that they do not damage my ability to home educate my children.

2.1 Impractical Requirements of the Register Demonstrating a Lack of Understanding of Home Education and the Detrimental Impact it will have on Home Educators

2.1. In the Bill, in sections 436C and 436D the requirement to register and document the hours of supervised and unsupervised education is totally impractical and seriously misunderstands the holistic and often spontaneous nature of home education. Whilst my family follows a semi-structured approach, I recognise that so much of my children's learning happens organically and naturally - not just in organised and structured classes and groups but in so many spontaneous and unstructured moments throughout the day. It concerns me if, as the bill lays out, I would have to give times of lessons to the LA and tell them what specific resources we use so they can assess them and check for ‘suitability’. Surely I as the parent, who have dedicated my life to home educating my children, know best what is suitable for their education and what is in their best interests - I have spent years refining and adapting our home education approach in order to provide the most suitable approach for my individual children. The way the Bill is currently worded will in effect ban any home educational style that does not resemble the rigid and timetabled approach of school, which most home educators do not follow. It would be impossible to document the number of hours my children learn, or the dozens of websites, books, and other resources used each week, the spontaneous conversations held around the dinner table or whilst the children are being tucked into bed at night, the many groups and activities they attend that relate to their education. These requirements do not acknowledge the more child led/autonomous/flexible styles of learning that the vast majority of home educators use in their learning approach. What’s more, the worrying statement of ‘any other information the local authority considers appropriate’ implies the potential for massive overstepping by the LA.

2.2 Unrealistic amounts of information requested and concerns about Privacy & Data Protection

2.2 Re: sections 436C and 436D - the introduction of a mandatory home education register. Would we really be expected to keep such detailed records in order for them to be submitted to the LA? Having to document all these hours will be an impossible task, and places an unnecessary burden on home educating parents. If I, as the home educating parent, had to spend time trying to document all the aspects of my children’s education for the Local Authority to assess and judge, rather than being able to focus my energies on the actual act of home educating my children, it would negatively affect my ability to home educate and cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety and stress. In addition, how could the Local Authority be expected to process this vast amount of data, and how could we as parents be confident that our children’s privacy would be respected and protected against data breaches? We already supply our LA with written reports when they have been requested about our home education provision, and these have been deemed as ‘satisfactory’ by the LA in the past. Would the LA truly have enough staff and resources to deal with all the additional paperwork this Bill would require? I feel that this amount is unnecessary and places an unachievable burden on the shoulders of home educating parents, what’s more threatening monetary fines if we do not comply. It seems the people who worded the bill do not understand home education nor do they understand the harm it will cause.

2.3 - Impact on Home Education Groups and Other Activities

2.3 The section 436E Information from groups ‘Provision of information to local authorities: education providers’ is concerning. As mentioned previously, my children currently attend several groups specific to home education as well as several other groups that school children also attend, such as sports clubs and youth theatre. These groups provide a substantial part of their educational experience and have enabled many wonderful friendships to develop, as well as many brilliant educational opportunities. This section infers the LA will require these settings to provide them with information about home educated children who attend, and my worry is that some groups may no longer allow home-educated children access in order to avoid bureaucratic complications and fines, depriving home educated children of valuable social and educational opportunities these groups can provide.

2.4 Concerns regarding compulsory home visits.

Another point of concern is 436I which gives the LA the power to conduct compulsory home visits if they see fit. Our home our family’s safe space and no one from the LA should have the right of entry. We fear this point, along with many others within the Bill, could allow massive overstepping by the Local Authorities.

3. Recommendations for Further Action

3. I would recommend that you:

a) remove any clauses and requirements in the Bill that request a submission of detailed records from home educators or groups to the LA about home educated children’s education as it is totally impractical, both for the home educating parents to provide and for the LA to process.

b) have a proper consultation with spokespeople from the home education community to help guide and amend the Bill. There are sections within the Bill that are harmful and seriously worrying to home educators which need to be either amended wisely or completely removed.

4. Conclusion

4. One form of education does not suit all - so many home educating parents go above and beyond to support their children’s individual needs and interests and provide them with a unique education that allows them to progress at their own pace surrounded by support and love. Home educating families should not be burdened and restricted in their endeavours by having to supply impractical amounts of paperwork about their children’s education to be processed and judged by the Local Authority. Please respect home educators and their children. Please remove and amend the sections of the Bill that are harmful to home educators and their children.

January 2025