With permission, I have forwarded a message from a member of another home ed list. (Edited mildly.)
There are new pupil regulations coming in that could mean the loss of deregistration on demand. As far as we know the proposal is to insist on schools leaving a minimum of 2 days before deregistering a child from school. However this is a miminum and there is no maximum. It will open up home education to even more abuse from LEAs (now called LAs apparently). It could also lead to children who are being home educated and waiting for deregistration being open to being treated as truants, with families being prosecuted.
There is also a possibility that families with children in a mainstream school who have a SEN may have to seek permission to dereg from an LA, whereas at the moment they deregister in the same way as any other child.
The problem is that we cannot fight this properly as we are not able to actually see what is in the proposed pupil regulations until they've actually been passed!!!!
There is a way to find out and that requires us to write to our MPs and ask them to ask questions on our behalf.
Below is a sample/standard letter you can send. Use it as a template. MP's tend to disregard mass mailings of form letters as not representative of real people but a highly organized groups with compliant members. You can write to them here:
www.writetothem.com/write
Sample letter to your MP
To: Your MP
House of Commons
Westminster
Dear Sir,
I am writing to enlist your help in an urgent matter.
I understand that the DfES are currently drafting a
statutory instrument in relation to pupil
registration, which may include changes to the way in
which pupils are deregistered from school. I am sorry
not to be able to be more concise about what may be
included, but despite the best efforts of all
concerned about these changes, we have been unable to
establish exactly what is likely to be included.
We understand that it is possible that two changes of
interest to the home education community may be
included in the new statutory instrument: a) a two-day
delay in headteachers deregistering a pupil from a
school roll when a parent writes to request the child
be degistered, and b) a requirement for the parents of
children with a statement to obtain approval of the
LEA for their intention to degister a child.
Currently, as you may know, it is a criminal offence
for headteachers not to immediately deregister a child
when a parent has written asking for them to be
removed from the school roll, and only children with
statements which name a special school, who are
attending a special school, require LEA approval to
deregister.
Members of the HE community have written individually
to ask for further information, but this has been very
difficult to obtain from the DfES. In the last
missive sent by David Fletcher, who is apparently
responsible for the drafting of the statutory
instrument, he appeared to say that due to crown
copyright considerations, he would be unable to
confirm what was going to be included in the statutory
instrument until 24 hours before the SI was approved.
He has given us no idea how to confirm the contents,
and if necessary protest about their inclusion, by any
means other than writing to our MPs.
This is why I am writing to you. I would be very
grateful if you can establish what is being included
in the statutory instrument, especially relating to
parents electing to home educate their children. We
are very concerned that there should be no change to
the current arrangement whereby a child is immediately
deregistered from school. We are also very concerned
that there should be no changes to the current
arrangement whereby a child with a statement of
special needs is treated in exactly the same way as a
child who does not have one, except - as is the case
currently - where that statement includes attendance
at a special school.
We are very concerned that it seems impossible for
constituents to even obtain information about what is
likely to be included in the draft, and the reasons
for changes if included. Any information that you can
obtain on my behalf would be very welcome.