Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Written evidence submitted by an individual who wishes to remain anonymous to The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Committee (CWSB 57)

by a concerned home ed parent

Introduction

I am a mother of two home educated children, and I have concerns about sections of this Bill, and how it will affect our lives, and other home educating and schooled families, especially those with Special Educational Needs.

Executive Summary

In this submission I will cover the following:

● Background - why our family chose to home educate and what it looks like for us.

● Areas of Concern:

1. The amount of data that the parent is legally required to give the local authority as part of the proposed home education register, including information that children in mainstream education are not required to give. The consequences of failing to provide this level of evidence could invoke a compulsory home visit, monetary fine, or up to a 51 week prison sentence for the parent.

2. Requiring reports from other educational providers, therefore potentially impacting the number of opportunities our children can access

3. Lack of understanding of the home education and SEN community from those who have written the Bill, and those who will be implementing it

4. The Bill's lack of measures to improve the availability of appropriate settings for those who can not cope in school

5. The confusion between assessing the suitability of home education and safeguarding

Background

We have chosen to home educate our children for a wide variety of reasons. We enjoy spending time with our children and are aware that childhood passes incredibly quickly, and want to make the most of the time we have with them. We believe that by following their interests, and providing them with varied opportunities, at times that suit them, they are able to really thrive and learn in a joyful and enthusiastic manner. We are able to interact with people of all ages and in all places, and spend lots of time outside in nature, which wouldn't be possible if they were in a school classroom, with a peer group all of the same age. We believe through this philosophy, that they will learn how to be excellent citizens, and confidently be able to socialise and work with people of all ages - as we adults do in day to day life. Through following their interests, we believe we can tailor their education to benefit their future, as well as providing them with a love for learning.

Areas of Concern Surrounding the Bill

1. The amount of data that the Bill proposes the Local Authority (LA) collect is vast, incredibly invasive and would be impossible for home educators to provide. Or if they did so, it would take days for it to be read. In section 463C 1 it states that the hours spent on education must be detailed. Our style of home education means that our children are learning in almost every waking moment, whether that be playing in the bath with bath toys and exploring capacity, walking in the woods and spotting fungi, comparing the cost of items during the food shop, during conversations with family and friends, or playing phonics and number games on car journeys. This is impossible to document, as our home education doesn't just occur while sitting at a table with pen and paper. (Although sometimes it does look like that too.)

In section 436C 1(e) it states that the parent must provide to the LA the name and address of everyone involved in the child's education. Our children meet and interact with many people, who all contribute to their education. For example, this week we went to the library and chatted to the librarian about a particular book they had enjoyed. We had an opticians appointment, where they got to see the inside of my eye on screen, finding out about how our eyes work and how opticians check them. We went to forest school and played team games, made soup and spent time chatting to other families, finding out about many things including, but not limited to dairy allergies, how to build a pizza oven and the vegan diet. We planted trees at a home ed event, learned about the anatomy of trees from the park ranger and a team of volunteers, and spent time with my grandparents, who told the children all about their memories of the war. As part of this new Bill, it infers that I would be legally required to provide the names and addresses of all of these people, as they are "reciev(ing) education from a person other than their parent".

It also states in this section that parents should be providing a list of websites which are providing education for their child. This could be endless, and entirely unreasonable to be asked for.

I have great concerns about 436C2 (k), which states "any other information about the child's characteristics, circumstances, needs or interactions with a local authority or educational institutions that the Secretary of State considers should be included in the register for the purposes of promoting or safeguarding the education or welfare of children." The Elective Home Education Team should be assessing whether the education is suitable or not, and should not be requiring any information that is not directly involved in this. This statement is ambiguous and I believe could be misused by Local Authorities to demand invasive and unnecessary information from families. It would also create a postcode lottery for families, depending on how their LA chooses to interpret "any other information".

This then leads onto the next section of the Bill (436i) in which it states that if parents have not satisfied the LA by providing the above listed, intrusive and burdensome information, parents should "allow the local authority to visit the child inside any of the homes in which the child lives." This is a gross invasion of privacy, and fails to improve any understanding of the education a child is receiving. If there are safeguarding concerns surrounding the child's home environment, this should be dealt with by the social services, not the Elective Home Education team. Furthermore, if this invasion of privacy is not complied with, the Bill states a School Attendance Order could be issued. This would potentially result in a parent being jailed for up to 51 weeks. (Section 436P (9))I fail to see how refusing entry into your home to an unqualified, Local Authority stranger, could ever be worthy of jail time. I also see no mention of any appeals process to the issue of an SAO, other than directly to the Secretary of State. (Section 436O (4)).

2. Reports required from education providers as stated in section 436 E. I believe the requirement for education providers to provide information to the local authority would have a hugely negative impact on the range of opportunities available for our children to enjoy. The threat of fines for failing to provide information would affect whether individuals would want to offer their services to the home ed community. This could impact private or small group tutors/ scouts or guides groups/ home ed swimming lessons/ group language sessions organised by a home ed mum to bring costs down, etc. These form an integral part of our children's education, and if they were required to write reports for every child, this could discourage them, or be seen as a barrier, to offering this type of learning. This would be a huge loss to our children's education if they were limited as a result of the Bill.

3. Lack of understanding or communication with the home education community. As far as I am aware, there have been no consultations with the home education community about this Bill and how it will affect them in their day to day lives. My secondary concern is that the LA Elective home education officers often have very little to no training in home education and all the different forms it can take. This leads me on to the lack of understanding for children with Special Educational Needs, and the way in which they learn and the progress they make may also look very different to a schooled child. Unless all LA staff who are assessing whether education is suitable have had high level training in SEN and various home education methods and styles, I find it impossible that they will be able to make a valid judgement on whether or not a suitable education is being provided. Mainstream schooling does the very best it can with limited budgets and large class sizes - which due to increasing absence and deregistration levels in schools suggests is not working. Therefore home education has to look and be very different, in order for these children to thrive and learn to their full potential.

4. Although this does not affect us directly, due to us never having used school, I have concerns about the lack of appropriate provision for those who can not cope in a mainstream school. We have many friends who have been forced to join the home-ed community due to their school saying they can meet their needs, but only providing one hour of school per day for the child. We know of two families that are both still on roll at school, but their child has not attended in months. There are no spaces in any suitable special schools and no EOTAS package in place for these children. These children are on roll, yet the school is providing no education for them. Where are the measures in the Bill to stop this from happening? And further to that, it seems highly discriminatory that the home education community have to provide such a high level of detail in their reporting of education to the LA, when the same LA are providing no education to other children.

5. In regards to the continued references to the Sara Sharif case. This was a horrific tragedy that never should have been allowed to happen. However, I am disappointed in the way the case has been used to penalise home education. The systems to prevent this tragedy are all in place, but failed to be used properly. Sara was not ‘hidden’- the social services (SS) had known about her since she was born, and her school had raised concerns. She was on the radar of the SS after she was deregistered and they closed the case - despite the mountain of evidence that should have prevented that from happening. Home educated children are not missing or hidden. They are registered at birth, have midwife and Health Visitor appointments, see doctors and dentists, have NHS numbers, many have library cards, and go to groups both with schooled and home-ed children. Please ensure that safeguarding and home education are not confused in this Bill.

Recommendations

- the Bill to recognise the lack of, and provide solutions for creating more specialised school places for those who can not cope in a mainstream school environment

- a proper consultation with the home education community about how the Bill will affect their day to day lives, and amendments to the Bill to be made accordingly

- amendments to the Bill to state exactly what the Bill will mean for home educated families, and what they are expected to realistically report.

I highly recommend talking to national charities such as Education Otherwise and consulting with experts such as Dr. Naomi Fischer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I urge you to consider whether this Bill really does what it sets out to do - to improve the wellbeing of children. I understand the importance of keeping children safe and ensuring they get the high quality education that they are entitled to, but feel this Bill also fails to do this. I feel that it will negatively impact home educated children's wellbeing and learning time and opportunities, due the excessive, overly invasive and burdensome reporting required. I implore you to seek out experts in home education and SEN to assist you in improving this Bill, for the benefit of all children.

January 2025.