To ask what is the purpose of the Home School Agreement

[storytellinganimal]

And do I have to sign the bloody thing? What will happen if I don't?

[nennypops]

CouthyMow, it could be worth reporting that consortium of academies to the DfE. They're bound by the law on exclusions that applies to all mainstream schools, and their funding agreements also say that they will follow the usual School Admissions Code of Practice. Therefore to say that "If you do not sign this Home-School agreement then your child will no longer have a place at this school, or any within the XXXX Consortium" has to be seriously illegal.

[3birthdaybunnies]

I signed my bit when they started school but refused to get the dc to sign theirs. They were 4 ffs, they couldn't even write their name, they were in no way competent to sign an agreement. Have never been challenged on it.

[wonkylegs]

I'm not sure that ofsted are that bothered that they are essential in all cases.
DSs old 'outstanding' school never had them, his new (we moved) 'good' school has them. I am pretty sure this is because they have issues with attendance and behaviour (highlighted by ofsted but mainly due to the location of the school) which they are trying to tackle.
I amended DSs section prior to signing because it was getting a 5yo to sign to agree to do stuff completely out of his control and he took signing it very literally.
I had no problems signing my bit because it only agreed to do stuff that I would do anyway - take DS to school, support his learning etc. It was a bit patronising but I do understand that this particular school has problems with getting parents to engage and this was an attempt to do something about it.

[BlackholesAndRevelations]

Sorry that should have been HAVE signed the firm we chase it up!

[BlackholesAndRevelations]

The main aim IMO is to determine which children we need to chase for homework. If their parents haven't signed the form saying they support and want their child to do homework, then we chase it up. If not then we don't bother and breathe a sigh of relief as homework can be the bane of a primary teacher's life

[englishteacher78]

Wow! We have strict uniform policy but for an injury situation accompanied by note in planner resolves the situation.
If I spot an 'infringement' in one of my form and they have a decent reason I write that we've discussed it in their planners and they get no further problem - that's one of the points of planners surely!
Our students have to agree (and their parents) to a reasonable use policy to be able to use the school IT network - the teachers do too.

[CouthyMow]

Still wont be signing it though. It doesn't stop me from ensuring my DC's are at school and have done my homework, however it means that when I needed to contact the school to express my displeasure that my 15yo in Y11 was put into isolation because she was wearing her trainers due to a VERY severe blister caused by her new school shoes, I was able to point out that not all rules can be followed blindly.

There was a note in her planner to the effect that she was in trainers to allow her blisters to heal, yet the school seemingly were putting their school uniform code above a pupil's health, as the previous day, my DD's socks had had to be thrown away as the blisters had bled so much.

God I hate this Academy. And I have another 4 2/3 years MINIMUM to deal with their brand new rules that weren't there when my DD started in 2009, and weren't even there when I applied for DS1 just one year ago. There's strict and then there is stupidly enforcing arbitrary rules with your eyes closed despite the consequences...

I care about my DC's education, not what footwear they wear - unless it makes them bleed, in which case I will send them in something else.

[CouthyMow]

In the past, at my DC's Secondary school, nothing has happened when I haven't signed it. This year, it came home emblazoned with the phrase "If you do not sign this Home-School agreement then your child will no longer have a place at this school, or any within the XXXX Consortium".

Which is every damn Secondary in our town, bar one. Which has one of the worst GCSE pass levels in the Country, and has been in and (just) out of SM for the last 10 years.

Guess it's obvious that the local Secondary became an Academy in April?!

[NoComet]

Since our HSA were in the welcome stuff we handed in at the last parents meeting some DCs would have been asked to sign them before their 11th birthdays.

I honestly don't think you can legally hold a 10/11y to anything they have signed.

[propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS]

I don't sign them. Neither do my friends. Intelligent, critical thinkers tend not to follow the herd, in my experience. There are no repercussions to refusing to engage in a pointless exercise.

[123caughtaflea]

Well, I signed because I knew I could commit to what I was signing to and I know my son's school is trying to climb out of the pit Ofsted has dumped them in. This seemed a harmless enough way of supporting them.

But I refused to get DS to sign it, because I knew because of his SN he could not possibly commit to his bit, even if he understood it.

Dear Miss HT, I will not be asking DS to sign this at present, as it would be damaging to his mental health. Following our many conversations re DS' s additional needs, I am sure you will understand my reasoning. However, should you need to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind regards, 123

Has she been in touch? No, of course not.

Possibly not quite so helpful there then. Oh well.

[Topseyt]

I have had several of these over the last 13 years of having children in school. They seem to be some sort of an attempt to put into writing the loco-parentis agreement entered into when enrolling a child at a school. This was always a sort of unwritten agreement when I was a child. Now I think it is fairly standard for all schools to write it out. After all, it gives someone somewhere something to do.

The last one I had was for my eldest daughter when she joined the sixth form. It still preached that I was responsible for ensuring she got to school on time every day, just as it did when she was in the infants (she was, of course, 16 by then).

They are meaningless crap. The loco-parentis arrangement is in place regardless. I have never seen my home-school agreements again in all the years of having been asked to sign them. They were simply never referred to afterwards).

[NoComet]

I send notes with DD1 as DD2 tends to just leave them to get more and more crumpled.

Probably a fitting end for HSAs

[valiumredhead]

I sign it and the form sits in ds's bag for the whole year as he forgets to hand it in

[nennypops]

I'm uncomfortable with these agreements, because I think some schools in effect con parents into thinking they carry more weight than they do. Although I'm a school governor, I have never signed these for my children.

[storytellinganimal]

Pass the smelling salts to SurburbanRhonda.

It's because I'm a reasonable parent that I don't need to sign this piffle.

[TrueStory]

I found the homeschool agreement rather patronising, the underlying assumption being that without reading and signing this bit of paper I would be too thick to work out what my child was doing at school.

Second, the documents suggests the school is the final authority in all matters. There is an implication in signing that you cannot dissent from the school's policy, either now or in the future.

Thirdly, its not a good habit/practice in life to sign papers and documents you don't want to or don't agree with.

Reason 4, it appeals to the lowest common denominator and makes the majority of parents appear infantile subjects.

If a school wants to set out their standards, expectations and practice that is fine. But to my mind trying to get parents to sign such a document actually symbolises a schools impotence, and surely encourages rebellion in the most independent-minded parents!

[NoComet]

Our secondary one contains some twaddle about bed time and healthy eating.

I'd like to know just how I'm meant to force, night owl DD1 and veg refusing DD2 to do things they have stead fastly refused to do since they were toddlers.

[bluefeeling]

I didn't sign it for my ds due to his disabilities. 2 of the things I was supposed to agree to he couldn't physically comply with because of his disabilities. Didn't stop them permanently excluding him though for 'not complying' with their rules .
If schools only abide by ethical and moral rules and duties when it suits them they can hardly be annoyed if parents don't want to sign their 'agreements'.

[SuburbanRhonda]

Most of the time I love MN.

Then a thread like this comes along

[Vivacia]

Which bits of the agreement do you disagree with?

[Vivacia]

Well I'd be more inclined to sign it if they agreed not to strike

Yes, how dare they exercise this legal right?

[SatinSandals]

I can't see why you wouldn't because they are all things a reasonable parent would do anyway so I can't see any harm in putting it clearly for the unreasonable parent. Sadly there are unreasonable parents.

[Pixel]

MrsLouisTheroux I know, scary isn't it.

Does anyone actually ever think about the home-school agreement ever again once they've signed it and sent it back? I know I never have.

[BrokenSunglasses]

Unfortunate there are some parents out there that need it to be spelled out to them that they should get their children to school on time and enable them to do homework.

I wouldn't blame schools for needing to state the bloody obvious, I blame the people who don't do these things automatically.