Labour suggesting new hs register and home spot checks for hs dc

[Sunshinesausages]

How does everyone feel about home spot checks and a home Ed register?

If these are welfare checks then would the same apply to school educated children in the holidays? Especially those private schools with the long holidays.

But what happens to schools that "offer poor education"? Many children are home educated because their needs weren't met at school, they weren't taught to read or they are bullied. Having (Ofsted) inspections don't seem to have improved the educational system at all.

This is why it will never happen.

Labour need to get people to vote for them - get people frothing about those awful home educators.

Meanwhile, in the real world, local authorities are going bankrupt, can’t keep staff, don’t know their arse from their elbow.

It’s a load of nonsense.

There aren't any targets in home education as they don't have to follow the NC. They just have to educate "according to age, ability and attitude, taking into account any special needs".
And actually, legally speaking all parents have to ensure that their children are educated "according to age, ability and attitude, taking into account any special needs".

Erm don't get why your not getting the checks once or twice a year. If your registered properly they already come out, very friendly and we've always been way ahead. As for abused children open your eyes and see how many times it happens in schools etc

It's necessary. I would be lovely to think that all families who elect to HE are doing it in the best interests of the child, but too many disappear from education to keep them away from the authorities and systems there to protect them.

How do you know that?

It's fact, it's the reason for this news. There are stats and I've seen it happen lots of times. Schools start raising welfare concerns and next thing you know the parents are HE

It would be interesting to see the stats for this.

However, there's no need to worry if the school has already raised welfare concerns. If that's already happened the child would already be known to Social Care and they would look into it regardless of whether the child is registered at a school or home educated.

That's not true though, the bar for actual intervention is staggeringly high (low?). Usually no action is taken, no case is opened, until a pattern has been established. Schools report multiple times before social care get involved. Children get removed before that happens.

The bar needs to be lowered then, doesn't it?

Yes, but the regulation of HE will help too.

How? If Social Care will only open a case when there is "an established pattern" of welfare concerns ( this isn't true) how would that work in HE? Daily or weekly inspections? Interviews with relatives and the football coach?

I would think this will be a first step to taxing home educators for the "luxury" of not needing to have 2 earners to make ends meet.

Home ed of a single child is effectively more expensive than private education (if the "cost" is the loss of salary that a SAHP would otherwise earn) and they are taxing that. Any family that home educates is effectively depriving the state of the £4k or so of tax&NI that HMRC would collect if the kids were sent to school and the SAHP had an average salary job instead.

If private education is a luxury that should be taxed then HE clearly is too. Labour want a state monopoly on education so as to have full control of what the next generation learns.

@lola8345

You have no clue. My eldest attended school. we now home ed as despite going to school child is miles behind peers and in a mental health crisis because of school.
Youngest, started school way ahead due to a natural ability to learn. This child was bored to tears at school as was given work same as peers.
Both are home educated and both so different in their needs and progress.

How dare you judge a child being unable to do something by a certain age, their are thousands of children being failed by schools.

It sounds good if done well. However it would need to be with the understanding that the house may be a mess and that isn't a concern. An evening looking after a poorly child and skipping tidying can mean things are everywhere when children aren't ever away in childcare, and the peope checking would need to be very careful to only pick up on actual issues not 1-2 hours of tidying that's been left for later.
Something like an annual doctor checkup where they check weight and speak to the child alone with a chaperone may be a better alternative.

Also what happens when someone refuses entry? Is a warrant then able to be approved? Usually there is a high threshold for forced entry, and if the adult has taken the child to the door then they can't really argue concern for welfare.

I am for and against this. This is just my opinion.

A register in theory is fine, potentially at any stage, a parent can request a return to school. Many children return for secondary. If you have a potential extra 25 children in a LA returning in one year then school places will need to be found. As HE becomes more popular it would be useful to monitor numbers and review the number who return. Plus it would be useful to monitor SEN children being HE as it would highlight significant failings in the current system. (We know they are there but who is fixing it?).

It is rare for children to be removed and not on radar of SS. HE is not a safeguarding concern in itself unless the school suspect that it was done after a concern was raised or the school have concerns about the child’s welfare. Quite often, when concerns are raised, advice is requested but the school still log it. Parents are only notified once a concern is acted on so there will normally be a long list of concerns logged by the school before the parent is even aware. When I was teaching, we were asked to log everything from dirty uniform to a child seeming tired. One off occasions didn’t raise concerns but would have been reviewed if a parent then decided to HE. In a previous work life I knew a parent who attempted this and even moved areas and SS were able to track them easily.

The issue with the involvement is where do we draw the line. If we give them some power to intervene now, how long before they start using fabricated evidence to start dictating what and when we educate. I chose HE for the freedom it allowed so it seems counterproductive to give some of that freedom away. Our LA HE department is not staffed by professional educators so what would they be checking? As another poster said if it is purely for welfare checks, will a qualified medical practitioner be on hand?

They also do not seem to be offering anything back for this invasion of privacy. I personally believe that they know the school system is at breaking point and, if they regulate the HE situation, more people will feel empowered to HE and remove children with no financial incentive. This releases the financial burden to them. Let’s face it, if they really have child welfare at heart, they need to look closer to home. I know it’s not as simple as this but it is an aspect to consider.

To be fair, this crops up every few years and we still are where we are.

Also, my LA already specifically requests to see evidence of how my child is socialising and the groups they attend. These groups all have safeguarding responsibilities.

Is this the same for all LA’s. What happens if your child does not attend any formal groups?