urgent letter to sign to preserve the safe haven of the home - particularly for SN children

[ommmward]

please sign this today. The education bill currently on its way through parliament will give untrained LA staffers the right to interview any home educated child alone, without his/her parents present, and without any reason to think that the parents are either mistreating the child or failing to educate them.

If the child fails to satisfy them, they can issue a school attendance order.

If the parents refuse to allow them to interview the child alone, or refuse to allow them in their home, they can issue a school attendance order.

These are powers the police and social services do not have without "probable cause".

If home educating parents do not make an education plan a year in advance and stick to it, the LA staffers will be able to issue a school attendance order, regardless of whether the plan is still relevant to the child's educational needs and interests.

Please help us - one day your child may need the safe haven of home education too, and Ed Balls is hellbent on destroying that safe haven. Sign here if you have one minute to spare; write to your MP using this template here if you have more like 10 mins.

We are just the first. There is no difference between home educators and families who don't use paid childcare for their preschoolers. We are the thin end of the wedge. Next it will be SAHMs having to apply for permission annually to stay at home with their children, proving that their children are in line with all their EYFS targets, and allowing strangers to take their child off into another room for a private interview. It sounds like the tin hat brigade, but it will be reality in just a few months for home educators unless enough MPs are brought to realise what a horrible idea it is.

[ommmward]

I should have said...

the letter is an open letter to the Guardian and Times, intended for publication on 11 January. It currently has over 250 signatories

[MayyourNewyearbePositive]

Have completed the first form, am awaiting the email and the link to a secure 2nd form.

[ommmward]

Thank you

[MayyourNewyearbePositive]

Done the 2nd form and my pleasure.

[LauraIngallsWilder]

Hi ommward - excellent idea to post about this again!
The form recognises me - ie it has an email address of mine from 3 months ago - which would suggest I signed this form then but I cant find my name on the list

Is it because I signed another petition on that website but not this particular one do you think - I dont want to invalidate anything by signing twice!

[ommmward]

no - this letter only got drafted in the last week I think, so you wouldn't have signed it before

[LauraIngallsWilder]

Ta - off to sign it now!

[Runnerbean]

done, thanks ommmward.

[musicposy]

signed, thanks for bringing this up on here

[CirrhosisByTheSea]

signed and bumping - great idea.

The situation that a parent and child could be in if this goes through, is for school to be totally failing the child, yet the parent potentially could be denied permission by the state to home educate. Sounds like a nightmare scenario. Particularly pertinent for those with children with special needs who are often sometimes failed by schools.