Government informant poster on the school bullitin board

[colditz]

"If there is a child who doesn't seem to be educated, report this to xxxx number" - picture of uniformed children clutching bookbags

I couldn't believe it. Not "A child who seems to be abused" or "A child who seems to be neglected" - but basically, a home schooled child. They want people to report the parents of children who don't attend school.

Have we slipped into George Orwell's 1984?

I am tempted to blutak a poster up of Big Brother Is Watching You (the original.)

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

[MangoTango]

Maybe they mean children who are not being educated at all, so no home schooling either. ie. Just hanging around shops/street all day?

[colditz]

To be quite honest, I don't know whether to be scornful or fucking frightened.

I'm all for school. My children go to school. But it is OUR RIGHT to choose to educate them elsewhere .... so wtf is going on?

[colditz]

A child who is hanging around all day on it's own is a neglected child. So why aren't we reporting neglected children?

This was not a children's charity poster, it was a government poster.

[TheCrackFox]

YANBU

[littleducks]

"If there is a child who doesn't seem to be educated, report this to xxxx number" - picture of uniformed children clutching bookbags

Sounds like kids at poor schools with bad teachers to me homeschooled kids dont tend to me uniformed with book bags, i think the government wants us to report children who arent being taught anything at school, go on give me the number, i could ring and list a few i know

[MangoTango]

I suppose there must be some children who aren't being neglected as such, but who aren't being educated either. eg. Truanting from school, given regular meals, but sat in front of the TV all day. Maybe there are some kids who are neither school nor home educated?

[BonniePrinceBilly]

You know damn well its not about home school kids, which makes me wonder what your angle is here.

It is quite clearly about kids like my neighbours, who rarely go to school and are certainly not taught anything at home, unless you count hot to deal drugs and evade both arrest and your bills.

Just because we care about abused children are we not allowed to try and help children who are being denied an education, and therefore a decent future?

[colditz]

A child who is hanging around drug dealers is generally a neglected child.

There is a difference between a child being educated at home and a child who lives such a chaotic life that education doesn't happen.

My 'point' is that we should be keeping an eye out for neglected children. The poster doesn't say 'neglected children' - it has lots of pictures of school uniforms and then a reference to 'children who don't appear to be receiving an education'.

And the telephone number is not to social services, as one would expect of a child who is being left with drug dealers rather than taken to school.

I Do Not know damn well that it isn't about home schooled children at all. The poster was rather clear in it's pictoral message that educated children wear uniforms.

[reallytired]

A child who gets no education has no future.

I imagine that this poster is about the sort of kids who hang about on street corners and nno one cares if they go to school. Is is good there is advice on what to do. Saving lives should take priority over the feelings of home educators.

Sometimes home educated chidren suffer abuse, although this is rare.

[frgr]

urh surely the poster is talking about children who arent attending school full stop, i.e. long term truants or parents not arranging them to attend, rather than homeschooled children?

i don't read it like an attack on home schooling parenting at all

more of a case of: if you see a child which doesn't appear to be involved in education (in a school or at home, etc) then report it for investigation.

[BonniePrinceBilly]

And we're all so dim that we will see the poster and think "oh its kids without uniforms that are at risk, silly me, I won't look out for neglected children anymore, I'll just shop the home ed people I know to social services"

[BellyLikeABowlFullOfJelly]

I wouldn't take it to be about homeschooling at all, but about truant children or possibly even kids who are coasting and no one has notice they can't are illiterate etc

[new2cm]

Do you have a copy of the poster? If it is a government sponsored one, I'll try to find it, it should be on the web/net somewhere.

Without seeing it first, I won't form an opinion.

LOL at "I am tempted to blutak a poster up of Big Brother Is Watching You (the original.)" Very true if that's what is implied, I would be tempted too!

[ItsAHollyJollyTee]

If it is showing children in their uniforms I would think it would be about truancy, not home schooling.

Home school children don't wear uniforms, unless they have very strict parents.

[new2cm]

By the look of things, every local authority has such a poster. For example, this one:
www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/main.nsf/8F4D2BC63476BE478025743C005AC6E3/$FILE/RCC%20Childrens%20Service%20Poster.pdf

It seems to be standard procedure but as someone else has said, I personally believe it is genuinely target those who are not having an education rather than a targetted ploy against home educators. I know of a home educated family, and I would certainly not report them!

[curlymama]

Did the poster say anything else on it?

[Rollmops]

Crap shool, uninspiring and dull teachers - children not being educated despite attending school. I'm sure that was what was meant.
Home education is perfectly legal so no need for hysteria.

[new2cm]

Sorry about that link not working, I'll try again. Failing that, I'll put another poster up as Derbyshire has one too as does "South Glos".

www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/main.nsf/8F4D2BC63476BE478025743C005AC6E3/$FILE/RCC%20Childrens%20Service%20Poster.pdf

www.southglos.gov.uk/NR/exeres/179bc48c-5c28-4499-96b4-ef5c42f0a4ad

[NetworkGuy]

The gremlins at MN got into your weblink, new2cm, and added some spaces - try this link instead...

[new2cm]

Thank you NetworkGuy - I was begining to worry!

I entered "child missing education poster" into Google and clicked on UK pages only.

There are lots of examples, hence my assumption that every LA will have their own version of a CME poster.

[colditz]

I can't find a link to the poster. I'l;l try to take a photo of it on Monday. I'm very pro school, but something about the wording (the precise wording of which escapes me) makes me feel very uncomfortable.

[missmoopy]

Its not about home school, its about children not being taken to school or encouraged to go to school. As a social worker I can tell you that non school attendance is an indicator of other neglect issues.