It's a shame so many people seem to be so cynical as to the purpose of a home visit.
I've 14 years experience of such visits as a Reception teacher (baring the Covid years of September 20 and 21, where we had a Zoom meeting to 'meet' the family, gather some basic information about their child's needs and answer any questions they may have. Having experienced both types, I much prefer a home visit in terms of building a relationship with the family and, most importantly, understanding their individual needs and circumstances. They are the main purposes of a home visit.
First and foremost we want to build a relationship with the child. I find that children do tend to come in happier and settle quicker on their first day if they've seen us in their home. If they don't, it's far easier to reassure them and calm them down if you can refer back to the visit and strike up a conversation about their cat that you met, or a toy that you remember playing with together at their house etc. It reminds them that you're not a stranger and you're already starting to learn about things that are special or important to them.
Not only do we want to build a relationship with the child, we want to build a positive relationship with their family too. We want to be approachable, for the parents to feel they can talk to us about anything, any time they need to. Far from being an official meeting where we are judging and making mental notes on anyone's perceived 'failings' (cleanliness, the area they live in, and all the other things it appears from this post that people sadly assume we'll be judging on), it's about ensuring our families see that we value them as equals in this partnership of educating their child. We're not unapproachable strangers, when it comes to them and their child we're interested and we're here to help, rather than being superior beings who look down our nose at them. Personally I've found people are much more likely to open up about concerns/issues in the comfort of their own home than in a meeting in the classroom or via Zoom. They're also far more likely to approach us with issues in the future if they've met us in their home. That's a huge positive for us.
We chat about anything and everything on the home visit. We check they're ok for uniform and talk about the importance of naming it (most children love to proudly show it to us!), we discuss PE days and book changing days, how early reading works, how to order dinners etc. It's not just about us asking them questions about their child and the family, it's a chance for them to ask us questions about starting school too so they feel as informed as possible.
The other reason I'm a fan of home visits is that it really does help us to build a picture of that family, their needs, and how we can best support them. It is not about judging, it's about understanding. Someone said it's not appropriate in current times, with people living in overcrowded homes etc. That makes it all the more important in my opinion. Schools need to know about the individual circumstances of our cohort and nothing helps us to understand a potential problem better than seeing it for ourselves. We are professional people who are there to support, not judge. It's much easier to know who may require a (consented) referral to our family worker team if we've witnessed their living conditions for ourselves. It's far easier to understand why little Johnny never reads at home, if we know that he's sharing a bed with his mum in his grandparents home, which also houses an Auntie, Uncle and 3 cousins and there's never any peace and quiet or a space to call his own. It's far easier to understand why little Sally always appears tired if you've seen for yourself that her 'bedroom' is actually the corner of the family sitting room in a home with teenagers who are up past 10pm every night. I have seen it all over the years (the above stories are of course fabricated examples loosely based on experience but that's doesn't even scratch the surface of some of the cases of poverty I've encountered in the very deprived area I work in). Teachers do need to know these things. Not because we're nosey, but because we can only offer the help and support families may need if we know about their personal circumstances.
There are of course safeguarding issues which also make home visits such a useful tool in building a picture of the needs of individual families. We are definitely not judging an untidy house, but if I do spot anything which indicates a child is not safe I am duty bound to report it to protect that child. I would be failing a child if I didn't report it. That's not judging, that's safeguarding. Health visitors work very much on the same principle. They're visiting your home first and foremost to help and support, but if they do spot a major safeguarding issue they have to report it. For the sake of children, thank goodness health and education professionals do visit family homes from time to time, otherwise far more children at risk of harm would slip through the net (with high profile examples of tragedies sadly being all the more common during the Covid years, where such visits were not routinely taking place).
Fortunately I've only had to raise concerns on a handful of occasions over the years but I'm talking serious stuff here (obvious drug or alcohol abuse, smashed windows/unsecure doors/broken glass etc).
Promise me when I say, if you have nothing serious to hide you have nothing to worry about with regards to a home visit. I would be ashamed of any colleague/fellow professional if I felt they were judging families based on often unavoidable circumstances relating to financial hardship, poor mental health etc. We do want to support our families as best as we can though, so seeing our pupil's living conditions for ourselves is really important in helping us do so.