When accepting LA visits. Guidelines?

[reinforce]

Just wondering if there are any general guidelines for dealing with LAs, if you decide to accept annual visits from them. Any general advice aside from the EHE guidelines I mean that we could point people in the direction of (other than don't accept visits, and keep everything in writing ).

A friend of mine, and an experienced, long standing home educator, had a visit from the LA yesterday. The LA had said it was an 'information' visit to drop off some leaflets and give information they might find useful as home educators, not an education visit.

Apparently, and according to other home educators visited in this last month, this was just to get in the door, a safeguarding check via stealth. They didn't have any information other than some general leaflets handed to them on the way out, but wanted to see her two sons, mentioned safeguarding a lot (ticked boxes to say they had been seen), and said they would be asking them if they liked home education, and other questions.

This kind of thing doesn't sound ideal to me?

But it's ok. Once an LA realises that there is a child who is off the school rolls and isn't on their list, then they get in touch with the parents and ask what's happening, and then the parents say "we are home educating" and then the child is no longer on the CME list. Situation normal :)

But they shouldn't be organising safeguarding visits at all should they? If they think there's a safeguarding issue then it needs to be redirected to the relevant authority (e.g. social services)

Home education isn't a safeguarding concern in itself, or shouldn't be.

I can't believe that LAs can get away with this.

No, and if they try to arrange a safeguarding visit, you can write back, quoting the law at them and reminding them that HE is not, in law, considered grounds for a safeguarding concern.

We had a lovely visit from a very sympathetic LA person. He chatted with me and my son, told us about his experiences with HE (mostly very positive), gave us a huge pat on the back and a very kind, encouraging follow up report. We had no organised work or plan to show him, and our house was messy, but he could see that my son was happy and very engaged in what he was learning.

I think it is good that the LEA takes a perfunctory look at kids who might not otherwise be seen by anyone in any way responsible for children's welfare.

Have you read the OP, claraschu? I'm not sure how your post is relevant (sorry, I'm losing patience).

I read Clara's post as being aimed at reassuring the OP that a visit from the LA is not necessarily a negative experience.

I am the OP!

I think it is good that the LEA takes a perfunctory look at kids who might not otherwise be seen by anyone in any way responsible for children's welfare.

And I think most home educators would disagree with this, and its implications, quite strongly.

Please stop, you're derailing the thread now! This is not what I asked for in my OP. This is just personal anecdote and missing the point entirely.

This is about collating, and directing to guidelines for those who DO decide to accept visits from the LA. LAs vary considerably in their approach, and many act outside of their remit.

This is not a personal issue for me. But I've explained this in the OP.

You see, personal anecdotes about how it's helpful to have visits are not useful in this thread. This is about people who ARE accepting visits (many wish to have visits, and we know not all experiences are negative but that's not what this thread is about) and would like some guidance for those LAs not behaving as they ought to. So your advice is not relevant here. Thank you

Tbh I don't think I'd have accepted an 'information' visit without knowing more about what they wanted. You say your friend is an experienced home educator so I'm a bit surprised that she agreed to them coming. Might it not have been better for her to ask them to post the leaflets to her instead?

In recent years I've made a point of keeping my LA at arm's length by sending a report annually (before it's asked for, so I'm in control) and including in that a reference to the wider HE community where I go for advice and information. When they write to me to offer a meeting (always under the guise of giving advice and information) I thank them but say it's not necessary, though I'll contact them in the future if there's anything specific I need from them. This is a reasonable approach for those who DO want to have contact with their LA but who recognise that their LA may not be acting in their best interests, or don't know what they are talking about when it comes to HE.

I didn't mind having visits to begin with, but stopped after a couple of years when it became a waste of everyone's time and there didn't seem any point in continuing. I'd had a similar 'stealth' meeting and it changed my outlook on how much contact I was willing to have.

I agree. An information meeting does sound somewhat irregular and not something I would agree to without knowing more first.