Going to school...apprehensions, unsettled, experiences?

[ihavenocats]

So, my girl is 6 and we've decided to send her to school. We declined her place when she became school age so we had no involvement from the authority, which was fine as we do lots with her and are involved in groups.

So we went through enrolment and may get a place this year but if not it will be next year. The home education officer rang, she said she would visit us in Sept if she did not get a place.

I feel a little wary given the visit was presented as compulsory instead of voluntary, which legally it is. It's underhand to misrepresent the visit as needed when it's not. It's put me on the wrong footing inside. Why pretend? Why not be honest?

Why is she coming? I've sent my report voluntarily and enrolled my child in school and will carry on home educating until she goes to school.

What would the purpose of the visit be?

It's all new. The decisions was made quickly and things seem to be moving fast and I just don't know how I feel about it all..

Pretty sure the LA have the right to undertake informal enquiries regarding home education settings?

Why are you worried? There should be visibility of children don't you think?

Yes but it doesn't mean a home visit is compulsory.

To a degree of course, because abuse happens and who is going to stop this? It has to be an authority, but that doesn't mean it's set up to support those who home educate well. It just means their focus might be on reintroducing children to school as a blanket policy as this would save time and effort in assessing each case on its own merits.

Why am I worried? Not entirely sure, and seeking sympathetic peers for input via this post.

No of course it's not set up to support those who home educate; the focus is rightly on the child and ensuring they're receiving a satisfactory standard of education.

If you're doing that then there's really nothing to worry about and you can of course decline the visit 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think you are very wise not to trust people who have been misrepresenting the law to you. Unfortunately this is very common. It's a postcode lottery when it comes to how LAs treat home educating families. There is no effective oversight of them - in principle the Local Government Ombudsman and the DfE can intervene, but they choose not to - so even when they are pulled up on it and asked to change their practices, most of them carry on regardless.

So there are several reasons why people will usually advise you against accepting visits. As you point out, in your case the LA has already been dishonest with you in implying that a home visit is compulsory, so there's no reason to believe they will be honest in reporting back the outcome of their visit. If you invite them into your home, they can make subjective judgements about your family. These people are not professionals: there is no mandatory training and even if do they have a background in education it will usually be in teaching, which is totally different from home education - some will try to insist that there should be "lessons" and workbooks and formal assessments like in a school classroom!

If you submit a report instead of accepting a home visit, have the time to think it through and include everything relevant. You can get help with this from other home educators. For example, Education Otherwise offers a report checking service where they will read your draft report over and prompt you if you've omitted anything important, or if you haven't gone into enough detail in describing the education. You can lay it out in a way which makes sense, and not be asked leading questions which may not capture your style of education. You will also have a paper trail, so you cannot be subjected to the LA staff's creative interpretations of who said what.

Finally, some parents have said that they found the LA visitor hostile and that they or their children found the visit distressing. For example, where a child has been withdrawn from school due to severe bullying which wasn't tackled effectively by the school, the LA staff member may allude to the possibility of the child being sent back to school if their work at home is not of an appropriate standard. Of course, this is nonsense because home educated children don't have to do "work" and besides, it is the education on offer which is under assessment rather than the child's performance. But when a bureaucrat who appears to be in a position of authority makes such threats, children can be frightened by them. Your LA may or may not be supportive, but why take the risk when you don't have to?

OP, you said "I've sent my report voluntarily". Do you mean that you have already supplied information to the LA about your child's education? When was that, and what feedback did you get?

This 100%

I Home Educated my children and now my Grandchildren are Home Educated so i have been around this world for 30 years.

The vast majority and i would say 95% of people i have met who have had problems with their LA have been those who have had a visit or phone call for exactly the reasons Saracen mentioned - those who have kept it all in writing have rarely had any issues. This is an LA who are clearly overstepping their legal rights so you are very sensible to be wary of them.

I would tell them you want to keep everything in writing and say if there is any information they need that they have not already had to let you know. But are you on your local HE Facebook Groups - what are your LA like? Local people will know better how best to respond.