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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

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Original poster

Teens out 'n about during 'school hours'?

21 replies

gentheyank · 23/05/2012 07:51

Hello, my girls just turned 13 and they are swiftly becoming more independant and wanting to do things without me, obviously, quite normal at this age. My question is that if they could stopped by truancy officers and if so what should they do or say? Has anyone ever had an issue like this?

They just wanna go shopping!

OP posts:

Gumby · 23/05/2012 07:53

Well obviously they can't go shopping if they're meant to be at school
If it's outside school hours they won't have to worry

MavisG · 23/05/2012 08:21

Of course they can shop during school hours Gumby! They're home educated!

gen could they explain they're h-edded & if necessary give your phone number to the officer to confirm?

5madthings · 23/05/2012 08:28

i think education otherwise do some cards, little credit card sized things that explain the child is home educated and they can show them to anyone that asks :)

Original poster

gentheyank · 23/05/2012 08:48

Ill do that Mavis. They want to go out today so Ill just write a note I think.

thanks!!

OP posts:

Saracen · 23/05/2012 08:59

How confident are your girls, Gen? They shouldn't have to carry cards around with them, but if they feel it would be helpful then go for it! It doesn't have to be an ID or membership-type card, it could just summarise the law on home education, to tell/remind the officer that they should not be detained unless he/she has good reason to doubt that they are HE. Several of the HE organisations supply them or you can make your own.

I understand that sometimes EWOs accompanying the police try to collect personal data from HE children (names/addresses etc), arguing that they need to verify that they are really home educated. There is no legal requirement to comply with this request. The children's word that they are HE should be enough, unless there is reason to believe they are lying (eg wearing school uniform, seen leaving school premises, personally known to the police officer etc).

The way it should work is that they are asked why they are out during school hours, they reply that they are HE, and they are allowed to go on their way. If that doesn't happen and if they aren't able to reach you by phone, I suggest they could say to the police officer, "We'd like to go now. Could you please step aside? Or are you going to take us to the station?" Taking them into custody is a big step and the officer will be reluctant to do that without having watertight grounds to do so. If they aren't taken into custody then no one can legally detain them.

We've never had any trouble in our area and my 12yo dd is out in town on her own or with friends constantly. But we do live in a city which attracts foreign tourists, and there are also lots of private schools with longer holidays, so I think she is not so conspicuous as she might be elsewhere.

flussymummy · 23/05/2012 20:45

If they have mobiles with them I'd suggest that they just offer to call you and have you verify that they are HE- I can't imagine that there'd be any dispute if a parent's story was the same as the child's (and I'm sure that your DDs would feel reassured by your presence on the phone if they were in the awkward position of being challenged.

streakybacon · 24/05/2012 07:16

My 13 year old carries a card with a list of phone numbers - mine, his grandparents, mobiles for both, plus LEA officers responsible for HE. He knows that if he's ever questioned he's to suggest they phone one of those numbers to verify that he is home educated. He's been out of school for three and a half years now and has never been asked.

DarrowbyEightFive · 24/05/2012 07:45

I've been wondering about this from a slightly different perspective. We live abroad and often visit the UK in our school holidays , but during the UK school term. So far the DC haven't been out by themselves but that will come now DD1 is nearly 14. I think a Brie explanation plus the offer to phone me will be best. Perhaps she should also speak to them in fluent German ..
Out of interest, how often do he kids get stopped by truancy officers, even when with parents?

DarrowbyEightFive · 24/05/2012 07:46

Oops, phone turned brief into Brie. It must like cheese.

mummytime · 26/05/2012 07:49

I think it is very very unlikely that kids will be stopped (unless they are causing problems) even if in full school uniform! There are so many reasons kids aren't in school: Inset days, medical appointments, work experience, home ed, school holidays (private ones canbe very different), study leave, travel to the local sports centre etc.

numbertaker · 26/05/2012 09:53

My DS1 will not go out and about during school hours without me as he hates the looks he gets off other adults.

Personally if its shopping, or going to town, then I would not let my children do that anyway.

There is always weekends for this type of thing.

Original poster

gentheyank · 26/05/2012 13:32

To each his own I suppose. I honestly have no problem with my teens going shopping without me during school hours. But thats me. I dont really like them just hanging out in town, with no reason to be there except to 'hang out' in random shop door ways the way I see teens do on weekends, sitting there smoking and doing nothing useful. But shopping is different, going with a purpose is different, imho.

Thanks a bunch for all your replies. They went shopping, spent all their money and came home without incident.

OP posts:

julienoshoes · 26/05/2012 16:51

We've been stopped.
They asked "Excuse me, is this your daughter?" and then asked why she was not in school.
I replied that she was home educated and the copper said "Good answer!"

If they were out without me, I'd told them to just reply that they were home educated, and if pressed, ask why they should give their details, unless the Policeman thought they had committed a crime?
They also know that they could call me any time and I would have spoken to the EWO/Police Officer.

Once my children wanted to go out and about in town, they could of course do so, for a home educating family like ours there is no difference between weekdays and weekends, term times and school holidays....except weekday term time shopping is so much better because it isn't so busy!

They are legitimately going along minding their own business, causing no problems. Our teens could therefore do that where ever they liked, when ever they liked.

HighFibreDiet · 26/05/2012 16:55

Ds1 (10yo) often goes out without me. They know him very well at the library, bakery and funky stationery shop! He's quite used to explaining that he is homeschooled.

Cabbageflowers · 27/05/2012 00:03

My dc has never been asked, but carries one of those truancy cards, quoting the law, just in case.
We're also supposed to be on the LA list of home educators circulated amongst truancy patrol officers. Though we've walked past them in the town centre and haven't been approached or questioned

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 28/05/2012 13:37

We just carried the Education Otherwise cards. I actually used to get all smug when the snotty bitch on our local truancy patrol used to get in my face. She must have remembered us eventually, but she persisted in asking every time she passed us in town. DS rarely went anywhere alone though, he was HE because of horrendous bullying issues and it made him afraid to leave the house for a while, and it took some time to build up his confidence so he would go places on his own again :(

musicposy · 30/05/2012 19:52

My girls have never been asked. They were shopping with me the other week and there was a police officer down the street. They went off on their own and walked past him 3 times, as they're quite keen to be asked but were not stopped. I think it's unlikely you will be, from our experience.

Mine don't carry anything but they are confident teens and would happily speak up for themselves. If they weren't I might give them a note.

aliportico · 02/06/2012 00:34

My dd took one of those EO cards out with her - gave her a bit more confidence knowing she could just show that. I told her not to give her name (not registered, so not as if they could check!) but to phone me if there was any problem. She was never asked, and was in town frequently :-)

I have only been stopped once in 11 years by a truant officer - in the library of all places, because of course all truants hang out at the library!

greenbananas · 03/06/2012 19:51

aliportico I used to skive school at the library quite regularly when I was a teenager (25 years ago now). I always thought it was a great place to hide from the truant officers

ID cards are a good idea, but I don't think it's hugely likely that home educated teenagers are likely to have problems when they are out and about. A few years ago, I worked with teenagers who had been excluded from school, and started noticing how many teenagers there were around the town centre in the daytime. I got into the habit of striking up conversations with them, and most told me they were truanting and that nobody had ever challenged them about it - I was quite sad about this at the time as some said they had been having real problems at school and I felt it was just more evidence of young people slipping through the net.

gentheyank hope your girls have a lovely time shopping

Betelguese · 03/06/2012 23:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Marjoriew · 04/06/2012 11:16

The police and those accompanying them know myself and grandson now if we are in town and just wave us away. Truancy patrols are hot here, usually on a Monday and the first couple of days after school holidays/half terms.

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