What do I HAVE to provide the LEA with for never-schooled kids? Am getting confused!

[FillyjonkisCALM]

I mean, what is the absolute bare minimum?

I thought I didn't HAVE to provide them with anything. In fact I am 99.9% sure that I don't even have to inform them.

But people seem to be saying now that the bare minimum is a statement of educational philosophy...

Also-people who refuse LEA visits-is this a hassle, or is it just fine?

I have no interest in being oppositionally defiant or anything, but I don't desperately want an unknown, possibly ill informed LEA meeting my very young kids atm, and if I don't actually have to inform them am not 100% sure why its worth bothering.

At the same time, I am not going to hide or anything...given that I am active on the local HE scene, the LEA can certainly find me if they want to know who is HEing locally.

Thoughts?

[dippydeedoo]

i THINK if theyre not attending school you have to write to the lea and say you are educating your child at home ,they then visit you at home subsequent yearly(minimum visits)are offered that you can decline and instead send a written report with evidence of your childs work,Ive never refused a visit but after seeing at least 3 different h.e inspectors i feel my patience has dwindled and the last visit was very 'deep' so i think i shall opt for a written report this year .....soon after their assesment i received a report based on their findings and conclusions at all times we were doing well but i do find it stressfull when they visit.

[dippydeedoo]

middle son was home educated for 3 years with him i also had to write to school asking for him to be removed from their register with youngest hes never been to school either and this is the first year its just him(as middle son has started secondary)so i dont know how this will go it may be different(hes 7 btw).

[TigerPants]

If they've never been to school you don't need to do anything.

[dippydeedoo]

i dont think thats the case here ....matts has never been to school but we still had to inform them of our intentions and they visited him last year.

[Julienoshoes]

No you do not have to tell anyone if your children have not ever been to school.
I certainly wouldn't be telling the LA if I were in your position-our LA home ed liason officer is a pleasent likable lady who is positive about home education -but she genuinely has nothing to offer that I can't get from the home ed community-so I wouldn't have been in touch if our children hadn't been in school-I simply do not see the point when there is no legal obligation to do so.

However it is true that when (?if) Contactpoint gets off the ground then the information from all agencies will be shared and the place of education will be recorded-and the LA will come looking for children who seem to be "missing from education"

If and when, that happens home educators may be better informing the LA that they are home educating-until it happens I would continue enjoying the freedoms I have if I were you.

We have refused all visits-as I said, I don't see the point in them and the children don't want them. The best they could be is an inconvenience to us.
The LA have never seen any of the children's work either-as they haven't wished to share it.

We send in our educational philosophy and a written report on what we have done since the last report.
I looked at all the examples of Educational Philosophies which you can find on the HE-UK and EO pages and then wrote one that is suitable for us.
I gave myself headings when i first wrote it, and had pieces of paper stuck to the wall for a while and I added thoughts when they occurred to me.
Once it was done, I send the same one each year, as the essence of why we do this has not changed at all-except all references to school that were there originally have been removed as they are now irrelevant and as each of the older children passed 16 I took them out as well.
I keep it on the desk top of my computer along with the written report of resources and the list of workshops projects and activities we have been involved in since the last report.
As it is on the desktop, it is very easy for me to update whenever we do a new activity. It is all ready then to send off once a year when it asked for.

So for us initially it was a challenge to write-but now it is the easiest thing in the world, once the hard work is done, we send the same philosophy and list of resources and just update the activities-simple!
And no stressful LA home visit!

[emmaagain]

You have no legal responsibility to inform the LEA.

If a child is removed from school, it is theschool, not the parents, which has to inform the LEA, and that brings the family to the attention of the LEA at HEers.

Sometimes the LEA gets informed other ways - extended family or neighbours phoning the LEA because it worries them that the child isn't at school.

If they don't know about you, celebrate, and enjoy while it lasts.

If and when they do discover you exist, then an Ed Phil is the bare minimum. Lots of people seem to be refusing repeat visits now - I think there are enough people in the HE community to be saying "sod you!" a bit more. After all, the LEA are not responsible for monitoring the education, they are merely responsible for acting if they have reasonable grounds to believe that an aducation is not taking place, and if an initial visit and Ed Phil and report, or some combination of them, satisfied them, then it the LEA's responsibiltiy to explain why they think anything has changed in the following year. If they have no grounds for believing anything has changed, then they have no business bothering a family again.

[Julienoshoes]

dippydeedoo many LAs falsely state that you have to inform them-even if your child has never been to school.
The only obligation is to deregister by writing to the proprietor of the school IF a child is a registered pupil-the school are then obliged to tell the LA.

If a child has not been to school there is NO obligation to inform the LA-even the recently published Government home education legal guidelines for LA's say so- in paragraph 2.4 under 'Parents rights and responsibilities';

"Parents are not required to register or seek approval from the local authority to educate their children at
home."

[TigerPants]

Scotland has different regs to the rest of the UK - not sure where Dippydeedoo lives.

[TigerPants]

Ah, jolly good then.
I'm in England, and wasn't 100% sure of the differences in Scotland.

[FillyjonkisCALM]

ah ha

so this talk of educational philosophies applies ONLY if the LEA knows of our existence

[Julienoshoes]

so this talk of educational philosophies applies ONLY if the LEA knows of our existence

Bingo!
That's it!

[dippydeedoo]

im near manchester i think initially we were keen to do everything right and stay 'on the rightside'I do only get 1 letter and 1 visit per year altho the last visit was rather stressful..... do you never get stopped by truancy officers?? weve been stopped a few times and when i say they are home educated i still have to give all the details out.

[FillyjonkisCALM]

can you believe I have actually done law? Should bloody know this sort of thing...

(probably, actually, given how remarkably quick on the uptake I appear to have been )

[FrannyandZooey]

a woman we know was HEing for about 6 years before they noticed her

keep quiet unless you can think of a good reason not to do so!

[Julienoshoes]

Yes we have been stopped by a truancy patrol-in Birmingham city centre.
The LA officer asked for our name and address and I asked that she took note of the truancy guidelines which indicate that home educators are not the target of truancy patrols.
The policeman came over and asked then why our daughter was not in school and when I said that she is home educated, he said "Good answer!" The LA bod said she would still like our name and I said we had no reason to give it-unless the policeman had reason to believe we were commiting a crime?
He said he didn't and let us go.
LA bod was not pleased!

[dippydeedoo]

julienoshoes ....the first time we were stopped it was awful the policeman assumed my children were bunking off and i was allowing it,in the end he insisted i give my name and address and in return i said i wanted his and his collar number as i wasnt v happy at the way he was dealing with it ....since then ive been stopped 3 times and its been much nicer.....

[TeenyTinyTorya]

This is the legal positon on hom education in England and Wales if this helps at all.

www.education-otherwise.org/Legal/SummLawEng&Wls.htm#DefStblEduc

[Julienoshoes]

dippydeedo
Would it be worth getting together with another home edder and going to see the EWO and the policeman responsible for the truancy patrols and taking the relevant guidance with you?
"Those taking part in the sweeps, including police
officers, police community support officers, local authority staff and anyone else taking part
in the sweep should be fully familiar with this guidance, act in accordance with it and be
aware that there is a range of valid reasons why compulsory school-age children may be out
of school."

When our local paper ran an article about truancy patrols-and wrongly stated the usual bumf about all children should be in school and included a similar quote from the police, I wrote to them and got then to take back the statement and publish my letter.
The policeman also said that he knew about home educators and would make sure that they were not targeted etc.

A few of us have been meeting with the LA recently to try and get improvements on their written policies and hopefully next time the head of the EWOs will be there.
Truancy patrols and the attitude of some EWOs is on our agenda.

Don't know if we can make a difference but the Governement guidelines actually state
"The DCSF also recommends
that local authorities should regularly review their elective home education policies so
that they reflect current law and are compatible with these guidelines. It is recommended
that local authorities seek input from home educating families and home education
organisations in developing their elective home education policies."
and "Home education organisations
and home educating parents should be involved in this process of review.

So we intend to help our local LA with our 'input'!