Up to 100,000 children missing from school rolls

[TheDailyCarbunkle]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60054253

If anyone has any doubt about the risk created by lockdowns, doubt no more. Many of those children will be absolutely fine, well cared for, educated at home. But many many of them will not - without regular attendance at school and someone outside their family monitoring them daily, they will have just fallen through the cracks. Who knows what the final fallout of this will be?

There is also a significant failure in social services and SEN support services that is absolutely failing vulnerable children. Children who schools have repeatedly flagged as concerns - even as desperately urgent concerns - have not been followed up because SS and other services would not make home visits and would not visit schools as recently as this academic year.

And to think this wasn't considered beforehand. This isn't news - it's the inevitable. At least, we knew it was.

This will cause far greater loss than covid ever has.

There is also a significant failure in social services and SEN support services that is absolutely failing vulnerable children. Children who schools have repeatedly flagged as concerns - even as desperately urgent concerns - have not been followed up because SS and other services would not make home visits and would not visit schools as recently as this academic year.

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That's what happens when you are in lockdown and cut funding.

Yet it has also been reported today home education has risen seventy five per cent. The council were well aware l had deregistered my son three years ago. l am sure it is a lack of communication.

@DaisyMum40 (It won't let me quote for some reason)

"Home schooling still requires certain elements of the curriculum to be met"

Home Schooling (it fall under the education otherwise than at school bracket) is a legal definition in the UK which is provided by the Local Authority and has no relation to home education.

Home Education doesn't require any elements of the curriculum to be met because the curriculum is not compulsory, nor are exams. The curriclum and exams are vital for schools because they are teaching multiple children at the same time and they need to be able to show parents they are providing a suitable education on their behalf. It's why OFSTED exists.

The only thing compulsory in the UK is that a school age child receive an education suitable to their age, aptitude, ability and any SEN they may have.

Some children, whose parent(s) had family in other countries, left to be with them throughout lockdown and haven't returned. Others found they like home-schooling and have continued. Schools are not supposed to 'off-roll' a child until they have proof that they have started at another school. If a parent wishes to home-school, the LA are informed and the LA should carry out safeguarding checks. Where we are told that a child has left the country, the CME (Child Missing in Education) team in my LA will get confirmation via the Home Office that the child boarded a flight to the named country.

Children don't just not turn up at school for weeks without a system designed to keep them safe. Sadly it is occasionally too late, as with the poor little Chadrack Mulo whose mum had had an epileptic fit and died and he was found dead too in the flat, after two weeks of non-attendance at school.

I am concerned and confused about how they were able to miss school and have no follow up at all?
I don't think even in my dds crap school over covid couidnt have missed dd coming back?

Where I work, we went on line and any student missing would have triggered follow up and then welfare.

@musicalfrog

Another case in Essex today where an adult has been charged with murdering a baby in 2020.

I think it's just the tip of the iceberg.

was that baby at school?

Where I work, we went on line and any student missing would have triggered follow up and then welfare.

Well, exactly. It was what took so much time in lockdown - logging and checking up on students - who was in school for vulnerable / keyworker care, who was logging on from home, who wasn't there. Chase up non attenders. Raise concern with poor overworked school staff trying to be SENCo, Social Services, a food bank, the local authority, SaLT and family support workers all rolled into one, since none of those were working. Chase up all previous referrals.

Then repeat.

[quote Aveisenim]@DaisyMum40 (It won't let me quote for some reason)

"Home schooling still requires certain elements of the curriculum to be met"

Home Schooling (it fall under the education otherwise than at school bracket) is a legal definition in the UK which is provided by the Local Authority and has no relation to home education.

Home Education doesn't require any elements of the curriculum to be met because the curriculum is not compulsory, nor are exams. The curriclum and exams are vital for schools because they are teaching multiple children at the same time and they need to be able to show parents they are providing a suitable education on their behalf. It's why OFSTED exists.

The only thing compulsory in the UK is that a school age child receive an education suitable to their age, aptitude, ability and any SEN they may have.[/quote]
Thanks for clarifying. So is there no mechanism to check that a child reaches a certain stage and can at least read, write and count? Is there no way whatsoever to check they are making progress? In other words anyone can not bother to send their child to school, claim they are home schooling when they are doing nothing of the sort?

@changingstages what's your point?

School children get murdered at home too.

@JanuaryBluehoo

I am concerned and confused about how they were able to miss school and have no follow up at all? I don't think even in my dds crap school over covid couidnt have missed dd coming back?

Where I work, we went on line and any student missing would have triggered follow up and then welfare.

In the first lockdown, my kids' school did nothing at all. We could all have died and they'd have been none the wiser.

[quote musicalfrog]@changingstages what's your point?

School children get murdered at home too.[/quote]
yes, I'm aware. What's your point? That baby wouldn't have been on a school roll. So why bring it up?

I was responding the the OP. Bizarre.

The issue here is, I think, that there are too many roles involved, and therefore too many gaps:

• Local authorities: do they know of every child living in their area? How many 'hidden' children are there who are simply not known to any authorities?

• Schools: are responsible for children on their rolls.

• Local authorities: have technical responsibility for home educating families, though provision and knowledge is patchy and there has klong been resistance to any kind of registration.

• Social services: are most directly responsible for welfare of families, babies and children at risk in their own homes, but are reliant on other services to flag issues to them.

• Health services: midwives, health visitors.

• Border authorities: have some records of those travelling in and out of the country.

• SEN services: work with the most vulnerable of children

It's interesting to think about which of these have been working 'as close to normal' except for the actual lockdowns (end March -June 2020 and Jan-March 2021) and which have worked at a much more restricted wfh level?

So this seems to have been a problem since well before COVID.

Yes, but the facts get in the way of blaming lockdown for every single problem we face in the country today.

@DaisyMum40 the legislation is different In Scotland, so possibly also for Wales and NI, but the scope for enforcing checks is very limited, unless there is some other additional reason to be concerned for the child's safety. Home educating and not engaging with the local authority is the family's choice. There is some case law but I can't remember the names, sorry, but it turned out that there was very little to enforce. One case was around a religious school. In the case of parents who feel the school and local council have let their children down very badly I can understand their reluctance to have some busy body come round to see whether the parents are doing a good job. Personally, I would sacrifice my privacy for a child's safety every time.

@DaisyMum40

"Thanks for clarifying. So is there no mechanism to check that a child reaches a certain stage and can at least read, write and count? Is there no way whatsoever to check they are making progress? In other words anyone can not bother to send their child to school, claim they are home schooling when they are doing nothing of the sort?"

Theoretically it's possible though highly unlikely due to societal norms (E.g. if abuse is being hidden then generally abusive parents go out of their way to make their family seem 'normal' and will avoid aything that could be interpreted as 'not normal' does that make sense?), IIRC something 95% of all home educated kids are known to the LA, the majority of which attended school first, the cases where home ed kids have been abused were all known to social services (whether they went to school at any point or not) beforehand but proper procedure wasn't followed which was why they were missed. A parent who chooses to home ed and bypass school entirely generally has thought long and hard before making the commitment because home ed isn't easy though totally worth it.

Society generally notices when kids aren't in school. (I was asked what school my kid went to from the age of 3 and have had to explain how home ed works numerous times over the years XD) parents known to the LA have to demonstrate their kids are making progress but not specifically to the curriculum, a very high percentage of home ed kids have SEN due to school failure to facilitate their needs so intrusive behaviour from the LA does more harm than good and many of them simply aren't able to meet curriculum standards.

School children get murdered at home too.

Right, but you know those numbers are really low?

Of the children who are murdered by a parent, the vast majority are under the age of 1.

Looking at the statistics of child deaths, the two biggest causes of death are drugs (25%) and suicide (29%). One could argue a child who is home schooled is far less likely to be exposed to drugs or the kind of bullying that can lead to suicide and therefore conclude they are safer not being at school at all.

Or, perhaps we could stop making everything about one or two very high profile cases, and look at the bigger problems society faces if a hundred thousand children are missing from the school system.

@musicalfrog

I was responding the the OP. Bizarre.

But the OP is about children missing from school rolls. I just don't get why you brought up the death of a baby who would not be registered at a school?

Very bizarre indeed.

@BoredZelda

School children get murdered at home too.

Right, but you know those numbers are really low?

Of the children who are murdered by a parent, the vast majority are under the age of 1.

Looking at the statistics of child deaths, the two biggest causes of death are drugs (25%) and suicide (29%). One could argue a child who is home schooled is far less likely to be exposed to drugs or the kind of bullying that can lead to suicide and therefore conclude they are safer not being at school at all.

Or, perhaps we could stop making everything about one or two very high profile cases, and look at the bigger problems society faces if a hundred thousand children are missing from the school system.

The trouble is statistics can be actively skewed, as in this case.

100K missing children has been quoted numerous times over the last few years. It makes a fantastic headline.

The problem is that home educated children who are known to their LA are included amongst that number who aren't missing from education at all.

So actually the headline should be '100,000 children not fully known to local authorities and social services'?

Schools have a vitally important role to play in noticing and flagging up issues to the appropriate authorities, which is why we have to be additionally sensitive if children are not educated in school each day.

However, for this 100,000, it's the LA and SS who need to be following up?

And lots of them ARE known to the LA, it turns out.

So how many of the 100,000 are REALLY not visible?

Maybe it extends to nurseries and health visiting too?

I'm pretty sure lockdowns will have increased child abuse in the home, whatever the age of the child.

I didn't realise the conversation was so prescriptive!

Local authorities: do they know of every child living in their area? How many 'hidden' children are there who are simply not known to any authorities?

As in Children’s services? They do not know of every child in their area. That data isn't held.

However the local education authority should know about most children hence all families of 4 year olds being contacted about registering for school choices for reception.