If you prefer to listen, click the link below for Episode #3 of The Plumley Pod
https://rumble.com/vmqbj5-episode-3-of-the-plumley-pod.html
The above is taken from the following document from the Department for Education (DfE) on Elective home education. Departmental guidance for parents:
The term ‘compulsory school age’ includes children between the ages of 5 and 16:
“A child becomes of compulsory school age from the first of the following dates (31 August, 31 December or 31 March) which occurs after she or he becomes five years old (or if the fifth birthday falls on one of those dates, on that day). The child remains so until the last Friday of June in the academic year in which she or he becomes sixteen.”
Essentially, that is it. You, as parents, are required to ensure that your son/daughter is provided with a suitable, efficient and full-time education.
You’ll also be pleased to learn that none of the terms: ‘suitable,’ ‘efficient,’ or ‘full-time,’ are defined in law!
However, it is wise for us to look at how local authorities (county councils), the DfE, and the courts may interpret them.
EFFICIENT: “… it can be interpreted as meaning education which ‘achieves what it is intended to achieve.’”
So, in plain English, this suggests that you will need to be able to show that your child is making academic progress which achieves whatever you set out to achieve.
FULL-TIME: “Children attending school normally have about five hours tuition a day for 190 days a year, spread over about 38 weeks. However, home education does not have to mirror this. In any case, in elective home education there is often almost continuous one-to-one contact and education may sometimes take place outside normal “school hours”.
This is demonstrably false. The average secondary school provides 5 x 1-hour lessons per day. However, students regularly have to change classrooms, clothes, borrow and return equipment, answer registers and piles of other clutter that will not be the case in a home school environment. From my personal experience of teaching in both Primary and Secondary schools, you can deduct 15 minutes from each hour. A more realistic amount of time would therefore be 5 x 45 minutes (3 hours and 45 minutes per day). The advice continues:
“Home-educating parents are not required to:
• have a timetable
• set hours during which education will take place
• observe school hours, days or terms
In practice, the question of whether education for a specific child is full-time will depend on the facts of each case; but you as parents should at least be able to quantify and demonstrate the amount of time for which your child is being educated. Education which clearly is not occupying a significant proportion of a child’s life (making due allowance for holiday periods) will probably not meet the s.7 requirement.”
Essentially, as home-schoolers, you can do what you like, when you like, so long as you can account for ‘a significant proportion of a child’s life.’ There is also a very strong case to be made regarding the power of 1-2-1 attention verses the more likely 30 to 1 ratio in a state school!
SUITABILITY: “… it must be suitable to the age, ability and aptitudes of the child, and any special educational needs. This means that it must be age-appropriate, enable the child to make progress according to his or her particular level of ability, and should take account of any specific aptitudes (for example if a child is very good at mathematics, it might focus more on that than some other subjects). More generally, you should bear in mind that:
a. even if there is no specific link with the National Curriculum or other external curricula, there should be an appropriate minimum standard which is aimed at…”
This is a horribly grey area and the term ‘age-appropriate’ when taking into account particular levels of ability is almost impossible to objectively define. This is where some parents may choose to use the National Curriculum as a rough guide, or indeed simply use their own intuition. So long as your child is making good progress in his/her academics then you can be secure that the education is suitable.
Indeed, an awful lot of the ‘levelling’ and ‘grading’ that goes on in schools is made up. Fiction. It’s based on an arbitrary set of standards written by a committee. Independent (private) schools often make a mockery of the National Curriculum, many of their students are capable of achieving a complete set of top grades/levels in GCSEs one to two years early, if my experiences as a private tutor to private school students is anything to go by!
Properly home-schooled students often secure the top grades at GCSE also. In fact, the merits or otherwise, of target setting a la the National Curriculum, is oft debated in academic circles. Some argue that targets can ‘cap’ or ‘stunt’ the natural growth and progression of students, so that we never get to see what they are truly capable of. Others are fiercely defensive of targets and grades, claiming that it is these things that predominantly elicit the very best from exam candidates.
Here are two other considerations from the DfE guidance regarding the ‘suitability’ of your son/daughter’s education:
“Local authorities may use minimum expectations for literacy and numeracy in assessing suitability, whilst bearing in mind the age, ability and aptitude of the child…”
“Education may not be ‘suitable’ even if it is satisfactory in terms of content and teaching, if it is delivered in circumstances which make it very difficult to work (for example in very noisy premises).”
I’ve scanned two local authority websites this weekend, one from the South and one from the North of England and neither gave any indication as to the ‘minimum expectations for literacy and numeracy.’ Both websites linked back to the DfE document which I have been quoting throughout. Some local authorities *may* have set these standards and I encourage you to seek out such information from your local council’s website.
I will be sure to highlight any that I think have done it well… should I find any!
Given county councils are unlikely to have many (any) qualified teachers working in these kinds of ‘child safeguarding’ and ‘elective home education co-ordinator’ roles, I will be very surprised if any have done anything other than quote the National Curriculum. Alas, we will get there in due course!
There is more good news regarding the flexibility of elective home education (EHE), also known as home-schooling:
“There are no legal requirements for you as parents educating a child at home to do any of the following:
• acquire specific qualifications for the task
• have premises equipped to any particular standard
• aim for the child to acquire any specific qualifications
• teach the National Curriculum
• provide a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum
• make detailed lesson plans in advance
• give formal lessons
• mark work done by the child
• formally assess progress, or set development objectives
• reproduce school type peer group socialisation
• match school-based, age-specific standards”
It goes on to say:
“However, many home-educating families do some of these, at least, by choice. Furthermore, it is likely to be much easier for you to show that the education provided is suitable if attention has been paid to the breadth of the curriculum and its content, and the concepts of progress and assessment in relation to your child’s ability.”
It is easy to pick out which of those bullet points above are worth investing time and energy into. For example, I will be covering ‘broad and balanced curriculum,’ ‘formal lessons,’ ‘marking work' (this is essential to encourage and develop the student, whether given verbally and/or in writing), ‘formally assess progress and set development objectives,’ and ‘reproduce school type peer group socialisation.’
That said, just because this course covers it, it doesn’t mean that you have to adopt those principles for your own teaching.
The DfE guidance for parents goes on to talk about possible reasons for wanting to home school:
• Ideological or philosophical views which you feel would be better promoted through education at home
• Religious or cultural beliefs
• Dissatisfaction with the school system
• Distance to a local school
• Bullying
• As a short term intervention for a particular reason
• The child’s unwillingness or inability to go to school
• Special educational needs not being met within the school system
• Health reasons, particularly mental health
You DO NOT have to give a reason as to why you wish to home educate your child. You are under no obligation what-so-ever to do so. However, given that GP’s, other NHS employees, teachers, social workers, and other local authority staff, all share information about children within their jurisdictions, I would encourage you to agree on the most positive reason you can think of for switching to home schooling.
I would avoid the following:
- Anything to do with the current ‘public health narrative’
- Dissatisfaction with the school system
- Distance to a local school
- Bullying
- Child’s unwillingness or inability to go to school
- Health reasons, particularly mental health
My reasoning is that if you were to raise any of the above, then it will likely invite further investigation (interference) from the state into your private life. As that is likely the reason you are taking your children out of state schools in the first place, it seems silly to give a reason that will result in more infringement upon your civil liberties. Whatever you do, DO NOT tell a school, or council employee that you’re taking them out because of any vaccines! That will be like a red-rag to a bull. My sister is a social worker and never have you met a more ardent Vax-Nazi! We don’t speak.
So, think of the most positive version you could give. It might be things like:
- My son is showing a natural ability for ‘x’ and we want to dedicate more time to it
- My daughter has ambitions to play tennis for GB, so we want to ensure her education fits around training
- My son is good with his hands, so is learning to be a carpenter rather than spending time colouring in, in geography classes
Obviously, do not come up with something wildly improbable, keep it as close to the absolute truth as possible. My advice is to not give a reason unless pressed for one. If pressed for one, ensure you always trot out the exact same reason and for goodness’ sake make it sound positive. You want to convince the nosy-parkers that you’re taking action to ensure your son/daughter receives the best possible education for them. If they are not a budding violinist, or county-standard athlete, then go for the 1-2-1 tuition angle. After all, class sizes of 20 to 35 can never be as effective as 1-2-1 learning. Case closed!
TAKING THE DECISION TO HOME EDUCATE
“If your child has never been enrolled at a school, you are under no legal obligation to inform the local authority that he or she is being home educated, or gain consent for this. However, it is strongly recommended that you do notify your local authority of the fact, in order to facilitate access to any advice and support available. Some local authorities operate voluntary registration schemes which are linked to support arrangements.”
My honest advice would be to say and do nothing. If you have never enrolled your child at a school then keep quiet and carry on! The section in bold and italics is basically a lie. I’ve personally read this document in full for you:
It’s called: Elective home education Departmental guidance for local authorities and it is almost twice the length of the one for parents (link to full document at the end). It is essentially all about searching for children whose education is not ‘suitable’ or ‘efficient’ or ‘full-time’ and the steps they can take to force your child into school. Including the use of ‘safeguarding’ legislation, if all else fails, which is more than a little sinister in places!
If you’ve never registered with a school, keep your name off the list, but be aware that GPs, social workers, local authority employees, the police etc. are all legally allowed to share data on children under the pretext of ‘safeguarding’ - notice how it’s always “for your safety” [rolls eyes!!]
So, if you go to the doctors with your home-schooled child, be on your guard and aim to give them as little information as humanly possible. Do the same with anyone or anything related to the state.
The section which says: “However, it is strongly recommended that you do notify your local authority of the fact, in order to facilitate access to any advice and support available. Some local authorities operate voluntary registration schemes which are linked to support arrangements,” is a front. It’s suggesting that there is lots of great help and support available to home school parents. This is true in almost no county councils. Most of the ‘provision’ is a few website links and the occasional ‘support group.’ My assessment is that this is little more than a thinly disguised ruse to get you to put your name on their snooping list.
In any case, if you are reading this, it is very likely that you will want a VERY different kind of support group than the usual home school crowd! More to come on this and I of course should remind you about our Teacher-Talk Thursday (19:30 - 21:00). This is a live thread that I email out each Thursday night so that like-minded parent-teachers can get together, share ideas and support one another. I am also there each and every week to help advise and support in any way I can. It’s a private group and we are hidden from public view by the £3.50 per month (or £35 per year) paywall, so that we are away from prying eyes! It’s been a real blast so far and I urge you to be bold and join us. Everyone that has been, has benefited and in turn contributed something to the group - even if only sharing their concerns. I look forward to welcoming more of you very soon!
IF YOUR CHILD HAS BEEN/IS CURRENTLY ON A SCHOOL REGISTER:
“If your child is currently on the roll of a school you are not obliged to inform the school that he or she is being withdrawn for home education or gain consent for this. However, it is sensible to do so, in order to avoid subsequent misunderstandings as to how you intend to fulfil your parental responsibility for your child’s education. The school is obliged to inform the local authority of children removed from its admission register and will give home education as the reason, if notified of this by the parent. Parents of children withdrawn from school for home education are not legally obliged to inform the local authority themselves - but again it is sensible to do so, either directly or using any local registration scheme which exists, to facilitate access to advice and support.”
There’s that lie again: “to facilitate access to advice and support.” For a handful of exceedingly average website links that are freely available anyway - no thanks!
In this case, I do recommend informing the school, mainly so that you don’t get emails and phone calls threatening you over ‘attendance.’ Again, do not give a reason, simply send a letter and an email stating that you wish to de-resister your child with immediate effect and that’s it. The school may well kick up a fuss (because for each child they lose, they lose a pot of money), however, in reality there is nothing they can do about it.
The school are obliged to inform the local authority, so it is up to you whether you choose to do that also. If you do tell the local authority though, you will be ‘on the list’ and are certain to receive communications regarding the nature of your home school programme for your son/daughter. Essentially, it seems to me, that county councils/local authorities rely on you putting yourself on the list that they will subsequently chase up.
The local authority is required by the DfE and by law to ensure the ‘safety’ and ‘suitable’ education of all children in its area. So, theoretically, all home school parents should have an annual review of their son/daughter’s educational provisions. With budgets so stretched (and with the likely Tsunami of parents withdrawing children from schools) my best guess is that they will not have the resources to check up on the majority of elective home educators. So, keep your head down and carry on!
**IMPORTANT**
If your son/daughter has an EHC (Education, Health and Care plan) and/or a statement of SEN (Special Educational Needs) then there are some slight differences in the advice. Please follow the link below and read from page 13 onwards.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791528/EHE_guidance_for_parentsafterconsultationv2.2.pdf
If you do not know what an EHC or SEN statement is, then don’t worry, your child doesn’t have one.
What are the responsibilities of your local authority?
“Your local authority has no formal powers or duty to monitor the provision of education at home. However, it does have a statutory duty (under s.436A of the Education Act 1996) to make arrangements to enable it to establish the identities, so far as it is possible to do so, of children in its area who are not receiving a suitable education.
The simple fact that a child is being educated at home does not mean that he or she is not receiving a suitable full-time education. However, in order to fulfil their section 436A duty, local authorities are entitled to make informal enquiries of parents to establish what education is being provided.
The local authority is therefore likely to make such enquiries if it becomes aware that you are educating a child at home - or may be doing so. As parents you are under no legal obligation to respond, but if you do not, the local authority is entitled to conclude from the absence of any response that it appears that your child is not receiving a suitable education, with all the consequences which can follow from that.
Some local authorities will ask to see the child at home or in another location, as well as seeing examples of work done. As parents, you are under no legal obligation from education law to agree to such a meeting (but see section below on safeguarding) or to produce specific evidence but you should consider carefully the reasons for not doing so, what is in the best interests of your child, and what is the most sensible approach. If you do not do enough to satisfy the local authority about the education being provided at home it may have no option but to conclude that the education does not meet the s.7 requirement.”
The key point from this section is; if the local authority contacts you requesting information about your son/daughter’s home-schooling arrangements then co-operate with them. I know the temptation may well be to tell them to go forth and multiply, but at the end of the day, it is probably some over-worked and underpaid pleb with a huge case-load. If you do a reasonable job of providing samples of your child’s work and some kind of loose timetable (they’ll be sessions on this) then they’ll probably file you under ‘sorted’ and leave you alone for at least 12 months. Plus, things can get really complicated and downright dangerous if the local authority don’t like the cut of your jib!
My intention is to provide you with some case-studies from the home-school families that I have been tutoring for privately since 2015. So that you can see how they handled the local authority and for you to be able to model your response based on their experiences.
“Once the local authority is satisfied that your child is receiving a suitable education, it is likely to want to update periodically the information it has on your child, and its policy will normally set out the arrangements which it makes for this, often being an annual review with an opportunity to discuss your child’s position with a specially assigned local authority officer.”
In reality this often doesn’t happen, however, if you are contacted and give them a prompt and satisfactory response, they’ll clear off and go after the lower-hanging fruit!
If you do not engage with the local authority after they have contacted you, informally, for some information on your child’s home schooling, then things can get a bit ugly. I don’t recommend this course of action (though I do understand your possible desire to resist this over-reach!)
“If your local authority feels that it has not had sufficient information about the home education being provided, or has had no information, and it appears to the authority that your child is not receiving a suitable education at home, it must serve a notice (known as a s.437(1) notice), requiring that you as parents satisfy the authority that the child is receiving a full-time and efficient education at home suitable to your child’s needs. Again, it would be sensible to respond to such a notice if you receive one; and you will have at least 15 days to respond so that you have time to gather suitable material that you may wish to supply.
The local authority must consider the response, if any, which you make to the notice, in order to decide whether your child is receiving an education which meets your responsibilities under s.7, taking account of any evidence you have provided and any other information it has about the education your child is receiving. If parents make no response at all, then the local authority is entitled to conclude that the child is not receiving a suitable education.”
If you let things get this far, then you have some serious reading to do - amongst other things - from the link below:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791528/EHE_guidance_for_parentsafterconsultationv2.2.pdf
Pages 15 and 16 will be of particular use, if you are mad enough to want to challenge the beast system!
CONCLUSION:
The overwhelming majority of home-schooling arrangements go without any, or any over-zealous, interference from the local authority. Generally speaking, if you are doing the work - and if you are here reading this, then you really are doing your homework - then there is nothing to worry about. The local authority, if they come asking will likely be relieved that they can tick a box and not have anything to do with you for 12 months at a time.
I appreciate that this local authority oversight might sound daunting (and if you read the document below in full you’ve good reason to feel this way), but don’t be put off, if you are considering removing your children from school, then I am sure you are doing it with the sole intention of improving your son/daughter’s educational experience.
By sticking to the ‘suitable, full-time and efficient’ principles, which are not even defined in law, I am sure you’ll do a mighty-fine job.
I will of course be providing you with case-studies, templates, and other materials to help you deal with these aspects of home schooling as well as the more interesting side - the actual teaching and learning!
Here is the link to the full document that I have quoted here at length:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791528/EHE_guidance_for_parentsafterconsultationv2.2.pdf
Also, for those of you who want to read up on all of the gory ‘safeguarding’ details, or perhaps for your future reference, here is the link to the same document from the local authority perspective, rather than the parents one above:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791527/Elective_home_education_gudiance_for_LAv2.0.pdf
All for now, keep going, and I’ll be in touch with information on the LIVE ZOOM WORKSHOPS VERY SOON INDEED!
Sarah Plumley
Thinker-Teacher-Truther