To think that having to have a DBS check to home educate is unfair.

The state is "allowed access" in the same way as they are when there are suspicions that a schooled child might be abused

Let's not get safeguarding mixed up with education.

It’s compulsory to give the gp the info when we go / consult online . Why would we even refuse the information?

Of the many, many problems with this current shower of fuckwits that is our government... them being too "woke" isn't what comes to mind.

I assume that by "targeting" demographics with low educational attainment, you mean somehow persecuting them? Rather than improving their educational attainment by making sure they're in formal education? Because the latter sounds like quite a good thing.

@YorkshireDude I suspect you are right.

Why is it a brilliant idea? What do you think it will acheieve, exactly?

you need to show where you got your information from or remove this comment.

It covers any cautions, warnings, and reprimands, and it's enhanced, not advanced.

At a bit of a tangent, I wonder if it's possible for a child to be completely off the record. E.g. home birth, never registered, not enrolled in school etc. If so, what could be done to prevent it?

Sorry, don't mean to derail, just musing.

This isn't compulsory though.

Home schoolers are not more likely to be abusive, but abusers are more likely to home school.

What are the boundaries of what they'd be concerned about on a DBS though? Do you not get to home educate your children if you got caught smoking a spliff a decade before they were born? Or what about if you have no convictions but were investigated for a crime (as this can show up on an enhanced DBS). What if information has been logged about you because of your political beliefs? The worry would be if home educating parents end up being held to a standard much higher than any other parent.

That is right. I don't know of any case ( that is in the public domain) of a home educated UK child being abused where concerns hadn't already been raised by someone.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Children who are deliberately hidden, not registered or trafficked are not home educated.

But any crime that would show on a DBS AND make you a danger to children would see your children removed or being watched very closely anyway.

The UK government have got a cheek to do this. It was their covid lockdowns that closed schools for months, making it easier for abuse at home to go unnoticed.

I'll also add that the UK government appears to be going to war on home schooling, and I can't quite work out why. A couple of possibilities:

1. They want every child to be indoctrinated with woke values and behaviours, and the easiest place to do that is in the classroom.


2. As part of the plan to give everyone a digital ID, they're going to force vaccinations on every child using a no-jab-no-school strategy. And to do this they need to make home schooling almost impossible.


3. For whatever reason they want to target communities and demographics that have low levels of school attendance and correspondingly low levels of educational attainment.

I think it’s setting a dangerous precedent of gov intrusion and we should all be extremely concerned if this goes through. People who think it’s no big deal have clearly not thought it through. Why on earth would we hand over even more power to the shambles that is our government? It’s another foot on a scary slippery slope.

Far from sufficient for actually protecting children but better than nothing, I suppose.

Often, abuse at home is noticed at school, far more often than it's noticed in a medical setting. Children not being in school makes any abuse at home far more likely to go unnoticed.

Yes we also have to submit a yearly report. If they aren't happy with that I have know parents be asked for more evidence or a home visit.

I agree that some people use home ed as a way of making their children invisible, but the fact that a child can be invisible is the problem, not home educating parents. Because these people aren't home educators. They are abusers.

DBS is a pretty useless tool for this. What will a DBS show that crosses the line for them? What response will that trigger? If the parent is a known abuser or radicalist then surely they would be known by authorities anyway. And if it's for other reasons like to do housework, child arranged marriages etc then they wouldn't show up on a DBS.

Op your arguments about the limitations of dbs are true, that they only show up something if you've been caught but that's true of school staff too. I don't suppose you're suggesting that those dbs checks should be scrapped because of this limitation?

An advanced DBS shows a lot more than convictions.

Homeschooling keeps them away from peers and professionals who safeguard them

So, how about babies and toddlers with a sahp, are we dbs-ing them too?

all DBS checks show is that you haven't been caught yet.

Sure, it's not ideal, but better than nothing.
Because potential abusers would have no interest in isolating children stom schools or other forms of social contact.

Yes, there is more risk of abuse in homeschooled children. Homeschooling keeps them away from peers and professionals who safeguard them. I usually dislike this phrase but in this instance, nothing to hide?

Have you been dbs checked for doing something in your own home with your own family? No? That's the problem.

What's the problem? I've been DBS checked for a variety of things - it's just a precaution.

Not a DBS check, that just shows the people who have a conviction.

Some kind of checking system, yes, to make sure the kids are actually ok.

I know four families that home ed. Three are doing a fantastic job. One I have huge concerns about (and I have put in a safeguarding concern to the local social services) for emotional abuse. That one the kids are very isolated, don't socialise and aren't in contact with any other kind of service, whether a drama or sports class or a GP.