School wants to see child's passport to prove their right to education

[coffeedregs]

Has anyone been asked to take their child's passport to school (to be photocopied for the school to keep) to show evidence that they have the right to be educated in the UK? School says it is a recent Home Office Directive. Never heard of this before, so curious to find out if others have. (A quick look on the home office website was not helpful.)

You are welcome. It was always a dodgy requirement.

We had this at nursery, we don't have passports but took birth cert and one of our utility bills.

I was asked to bring in a passport or a birth certificate. I assumed it was for checking the child has been put in the correct year.

The local council asks for no Identification or forms to prove address or dob when you complete the schools admissions forms so I assume they have told the schools to confirm data.

Schools, colleges, hospitals, landlords, employers have become extensions of the HO.

We were asked for birth certificate and proof of address - in Scotland if that makes a difference

It was always a dodgy requirement.

Why? In an over-subscribed school, why can the authorities not check that all prospective pupils are legitimate residents/citizens? People expect to be able to prove they live where they say they do. What's so very different about this?

We have been told we can't even chase up birth certificates!

We had to provide birth certificates for all of mine at school start. My oldest is in the 6th form now.

OhdearGod maybe because education is a universal right that we shouldn't limit to 'the British?'

EllenJane, Of course we have to limit it to people who have a legal right to be living in Britain. British taxpayers are not obliged to offer (and pay for) education for the whole world.

Schools have no entitlement to copy birth certificates or passports. They do however have to see proof of date of birth. We view the birth certificate and sign an internal form to say when it was seen.

The reason is to ensure they are not smuggling a three year old into reception :)

You were never required to show a passport to get an education - Theresa May wanted to introduce it as Home Secretary, and deprioritise school places for the children of illegal immigrants. Nicky Morgan, then Education Secretary, told her to get lost.

The right to an education is included in the United Nations Convention on the rights of a child.

The right to an education is included in the United Nations Convention on the rights of a child.

Sure, but not in any country of your choosing. You need to have some right to live there.

Children don’t generally get to choose where they live.

Their parents do, though. And they're the ones applying for a place, potentially fraudulently.

The child has a right to an education regardless of what country they are in.

The child has a right to an education regardless of what country they are in.
Not funded by the British taxpayer though.

Yes, funded by the British taxpayer. Because they’re children, and they have the right to an education, and it is in everyone’s best interests that they get one.

They have to check ID and proof of address but not nationality anymore. Even when they did it was only for statistic purposes, not to check any entitlement.

No one should be keeping copies of ID documents. They should be checked and noted. If it is necessary to take a copy, it should be destroyed once the checks have been done.

So, noblegiraffe, are you saying that any child, from anywhere in the world, can come to the UK and be educated at our expense? And clearly they wouldn't come alone, but with their families?

OhDearGod (should I say that twice? ). No, there are immigration laws to prevent that, but once here, yes every child is entitled to education as as Noble says, society is better off for it.

Yes, ohdear while they’re here they have the right to an education.

That’s not saying that they have a right to be here, and if not, then the system for dealing with illegal immigrants should deal with that.

That’s not saying that they have a right to be here, and if not, then the system for dealing with illegal immigrants should deal with that.

Exactly. It is not the role of schools to police the immigration status of their pupils. The role of the schools is to educate.

The right to an education as a child is a basic human right that shouldn't be denied to you just because your parents have no right to be living here.

Luckily this isn't just my opinion, and that of most right minded people, but the law. So go back to reading the Daily Mail, OhDear.

When DS2 was registered with the school, they used his birth certificate. Not all 4yos have passports.

We had to provide dc3 birth cert before she started Reception last September (2017). They didn't need to see them for dc1 & 2, so I think it changed between dc2 starting & dc3 starting, he's 2 academic years above her.