Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Written evidence submitted by Holly Lovell, Home educator (CWSB38)

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

I am writing as a home educator to express my opposition to some of the provisions in the proposed Children and Wellbeing Bill regarding home education, specifically part two - schools , clauses 24-29 , section 436.

I have been a home educator for the last year and a half. I take huge pride in what me and my children are achieving week on week and I believe that the changes if brought in will be detrimental to the life of my family and others home educator s.

Executive Summary

· Home educators across the country have consistently provided high-quality, personalised learning for their children, often in environments that better meet their needs than traditional schooling. While I fully support safeguarding children and ensuring their wellbeing, I believe these proposed measures are disproportionate, potentially harmful to families, and fail to recognise the diverse and effective nature of individualised home educatio n.

Submission

1.Page 51 line 19 ‘436D Provision of information to local authorities: parents

(1) A parent of a child who is eligible to be registered by a local authority in England under section 436B must (b) inform the authority of a change, of which the parent is aware, to any of the information required to be included in the register under section 436C(1).’ (the time period for informing the local authority is 15 days).’ Local authorities already maintain records of home educated children, and are obliged to make informal enquiries each year. The proposed register and additional duties adds more administrative requirements without improving the quality of education or safeguarding. This creates an unnecessary a dministrative b urden for home educating families . Safeguarding concerns are not resolved by a register alone. High-profile cases of abuse have occurred within school systems or by individuals already known to authorities . .

2. Page 39 line 14 ‘436C Content and maintenance of registers (1) (d) the amount of time that the child spends receiving education from each parent of the child ,  

(e) if the child receives education from a person other than their parent -  

(i) the names and addresses of any individuals and organisations involved in providing that education, (ii) a description of the type of each provider named under sub-paragraph (i), (iii) the postal address of each place where that education is provided (where different from the address in sub-paragraph (iv) the total amount of time that the child spends receiving that education and the amount of time the child spends receiving that education without any parent of the child being actively involved in the tuition or supervision of the child . Many families choose home education because mainstream schools fails to meet the needs of their children, especially those with SEN. Home education allows for flexible, tailored learning. Requiring families to record the number of hours of education would impose an inappropriate school based framework on an individualised approach to learning. This places an unfair burden on familie s. The rigidity of this requirement risks penalising those already working incredibly hard to meet their children’s complex needs.

3. Page 53 line 3 ‘436E Provision of information to local authorities (by education providers) The proposals will require families to submit details of every individual involved in their child’s education, including tutors, group leaders, and other service providers. This requirement raises serious privacy concerns and could discourage professionals and volunteers from offering services to home educating families due to fears of regulatory scrutiny and data-sharing obligations. The unintended consequence would be reduced availability of valuable educational resources, workshops, and social opportunities for children who thrive in community-based learning environments. As a family we have attended many days out and workshops at various settings It would be devastating to lose these opportunities.  

4. Page 55 line 1 ‘436G Support

There is no mention in any part of the bill about any financial support for home educators who wish to take GCSEs or A-Levels. I implore you to add something to cover this in the bill , every school going child has this benefit, please remove this disparity.  

5. Instead of implementing all these new measures and a mandatory register, I urge you to consider more collaborative and supportive measures, including:

• Better training for local authority officers on the diversity and legality of home education.

• Increased access to resources for home-educating families.

• A supportive uniform approach from local authorities, that builds trust between them and home educators.

Holly Lovell

Home educator

January 2025