Unregistered schools are illegal
Understand what they are and keep your children away from them!
Hello Everybody,
I’ve been hearing some alarming things with regard to the setting up of independent schools, or to put it less formally, those with ideas of hiring a venue, getting together some like-minded teachers and parents, and putting on some education for those who no longer wish to attend schools.
Before you go any further and before you consider using such a place for some of your child’s educational provision - or indeed all of it - please read this document in full!
It is not only your child’s education that is at stake if you get this wrong.
Now, this article is not designed to scare anybody or to rain on the parade of well-meaning people who only want what’s best for their children and those of other like-minded folk in the community.
HOWEVER, prosecutions, fines, imprisonment, and involvement of ‘social services’ along ‘child protection’ and ‘child welfare,’ grounds are commonplace and the law is pretty clear in this area:
Screengrab from Unregistered independent schools and out of school settings, DfE 2018: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/690495/La_Guidance_March_2018.pdf
Before I unpick what this means and how it fits together with inspections, prosecutions, and the way in which you are required by law to register your proposed independent school BEFORE YOU OPEN IT… I want to highlight that you have the right to educate your child at home. The extract below is from The Department for Education’s (DfE) document: Elective home education, Departmental guidance for parents, which can be accessed here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791528/EHE_guidance_for_parentsafterconsultationv2.2.pdf
2. What is the legal position of parents who wish to home educate their child?
2.1 As parents, you - not the state - are responsible for ensuring that your child, if he or she is of compulsory school age, is properly educated. Despite the term ‘compulsory school age’, education does not have to be undertaken through attendance at school…
N.B. Compulsory school age in the UK is 5 to 16 years.
So, if you only intend to educate your children at home, then you have nothing to worry about and can simply wait for my article on: Elective home education to be released in the coming days. It will explain, at a leisurely pace, your rights and responsibilities as a parent who elects to home educate or home school. I’ll be providing you with some helpful advice that I’ve gleaned from my home-school parents over the past 6 or so years.
That said, if you can spare the time, it may well be worth you reading on in order to perhaps help others who may be about to make an ill-informed decision. My hope is that you will digest this information and pass it on!
I’ve included links to all original government documents that I have personally read - in full. This article has also been (unofficially) proof-read by a current Ofsted employee with over 15 years’ experience to try to ensure accuracy. Please be aware that I am not qualified to give legal advice and that this document is meant as a guide to help you to formulate your own understanding of your rights and responsibilities regarding the education of your child/children.
Unregistered independent schools
It doesn’t matter what you call yourself, your organisation/institution might only be a group of eager parents, however, the Department for Education (DfE) will regard you as an unregistered school if you have 5 or more children of compulsory school age together at a venue - even a private house.
Here’s the section I am referring to:
“An ‘independent school’ is defined as a school that is not maintained* by a local authority or is not a non-maintained special school, and at which full-time education is provided (a) for five or more pupils of compulsory school age or (b) for at least one pupil of that age who is looked after by a local authority (within the meaning of section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or has a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.”
*Maintained means “paid for.”
You will also notice that ‘full-time education’ is a factor. Full-time education is not defined in law; however, I will explain - using government documents - how this term will be interpreted by the DfE, Ofsted, and the Local Authority in due course.
If you are looking at home-schooling in a group of less than 5 children, you will also be regarded as an unregistered independent school if ONE of those children is a ‘looked after child’ - like someone in foster care - or has a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) or has an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC).
In plain English, that means that if even one child in your ‘education group’ has, for example, dyslexia or ADHD, then you are automatically classed as an unregistered independent school. This is illegal and prosecutions have already taken place, which means there is good case law in existence.
I am reliably informed that many prosecutions against what might be described as ‘unregistered independent faith schools,’ have already been successfully carried out. This was in the era of so-called Islamic Terror; however, the term ‘extremism,’ which appears in government documentation regarding schools, doesn’t only apply to terrorists. It can be argued that some of our favourite alternative researchers are now classed as ‘domestic extremists,’ so we must not assume that we are exempt from being labelled (in my opinion, wrongly) as extremists… or even ‘domestic terrorists’. It’s coming.
So, if you are determined to get together in groups to educate your children then you must ensure that no-one in your group has: SEN, an EHC, and/or is a ‘looked after’ child (think: child in care). You must also have less than 5 children together. As a minimum you will need to satisfy ALL of the criteria in this 30-page government document entitled: Registration of independent schools.
Link to document: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/865049/BRANDED_independent_school_registration_guidance_21_August_2019Ms.pdf
In addition:
“Independent schools in England must be registered by the Secretary of State for Education, the independent schools regulator, before operating. It is a criminal offence to conduct an independent school that is not registered. If convicted, a person could be subject to an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment up to six months.”
Yes, that’s right. As well as complying with all of the stipulations in the Registration of independent schools document, you must also register with (seek the permission of) the Secretary of State for Education… you may well want to completely remove your social media channels from the internet before you do so – those who wish to set up independent schools, legally, have to be considered ‘appropriate’ for the task.
I’m a former secondary school classroom teacher, a current GCSE mathematics expert examiner, and a private tutor of over 10 years’ experience. In addition, I’ve worked in both Primary, Secondary, Behavioural and Faith schools, and I’m fairly confident the State Secretary would turn down my application… can you guess why?!
Full-time education
Let’s go back to the original wording of the definition of an unregistered independent school:
“An ‘independent school’ is defined as a school that is not maintained by a local authority or is not a non-maintained special school, and at which full-time education is provided (a) for five or more pupils of compulsory school age or (b) for at least one pupil of that age who is looked after by a local authority (within the meaning of section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or has a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.”
This time I’m looking at the term ‘full-time education’ because you might be thinking that so long as you only go to your pop-up school ‘part-time’ you will neatly circumvent this problem.
Not so, I’m afraid.
In another DfE document called: Registration of independent schools…
… it says:
“Full-time education: There is no legal definition of what constitutes ‘full-time’ education. However, we would consider an institution to be providing full-time education if it is intended to provide, or does provide, all, or substantially all, of a child’s education. Relevant factors in determining whether education is full-time include:
a) the number of hours per week that is provided - including breaks and independent study time;
b) the number of weeks in the academic term/year the education is provided;
c) the time of day it is provided;
d) whether the education provision in practice precludes the possibility that full-time education could be provided elsewhere.
Generally, we consider any institution that is operating during the day, for more than 18 hours per week, to be providing full-time education. This is because the education being provided is taking up the substantial part of the week in which it can be reasonably expected a child can be educated, and therefore indicates that the education provided is the main source of education for that child.
Inspectors from Ofsted may inspect any premises if they have reasonable cause to believe that an unregistered independent school is being conducted there. At such inspections, inspectors will assess whether the school meets the definition of an independent school, which will include assessing whether or not the school is intending to provide, or is providing, all or substantially all of a child’s education.”
You can see where they are going with this, by the repetition of the sections I have highlighted in bold and italics.
They are talking about ‘intention’ to provide all, or nearly all, of a child’s education. So, if you are looking at getting together with others to educate your children you can only do so within the law if it is: less than 5 children (none of whom can be SEN, EHC and/or a ‘looked after child’), it is supplementary to the MAIN PORTION of education for your child, and it does not operate for more than 18 hours per week.
This doesn’t mean that it’s okay for you to attend for less than 18-hours per week, but that the place MUST NOT BE OPEN FOR 18 hours, or more, per week.
So, if you try to attend on a rota, say every other day for 2 or 3 hours, that would still be illegal if the centre (venue) was open for educational purposes for 18 hours or more, per week.
Please note also that the venue being a private house, does *NOT* exempt you from unannounced Ofsted inspections, cautions, and prosecutions as laid out here in an Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) document called: Unregistered school inspection handbook.
Link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/988345/Unregistered_schools_handbook_August_2020.pdf
It reads:
“During the inspection
Arrival at the institution
25. Inspections under section 97 may be carried out at any reasonable time, without notice.
26. On arrival, inspectors will enter and inspect the premises. The inspector will explain that the inspection is being carried out under section 97 of the 2008 Act because they have reasonable cause to believe that an unregistered independent educational institution is being conducted at the premises.
Powers of entry
27. Section 97 provides a right of entry to all types of premises, including a private house, to carry out an inspection.
28. If any inspector is unable to gain entry to any part of the premises, they may arrange for assistance from the police or re-schedule the inspection.”
Prosecuting unregistered independent schools
If you were hoping to keep things low-key, then take a look at this section from the DfE’s document titled: Policy statement: prosecuting unregistered independent schools:
“The Department and Ofsted become aware of suspected unregistered independent schools in a number of ways, such as:
• Reports from the police;
• Reports from local authorities;
• Complaints from members of the public or other schools;
• Media (TV & newspaper articles, leaflets etc.); and
• Information arising out of Ofsted inspection activity.
For any possible unregistered independent school, either the Department and/or Ofsted will take immediate steps to look into or investigate whether the institution is operating unlawfully.
An inspector or inspectors from Ofsted may decide to make an unannounced inspection of premises under section 97 of the ESA 2008, in order to investigate whether an unregistered independent school is being conducted there and to establish the identity of those responsible.”
It goes on to explain about cautions, interviews under caution, and criminal prosecutions.
Safeguarding and Child Protection
Throughout all of these DfE and Ofsted documents the terms ‘safeguarding’ and ‘child protection’ seemingly come up EVERYWHERE. The inference is, that if they cannot close you down by any other means then they will raise these kinds of concerns instead.
I already know of parents who have had spurious allegations raised against them regarding ‘safeguarding’ simply because they wish to de-register their child from school!
This is obviously a gross misuse of these powers by schools and/or local authorities, however, parents I am currently working with find themselves in these situations.
Thankfully, if you are merely intending to educate your own children at home, then there is very little that can be done to stop that! More on this in my article on Elective Home Education (home-schooling), out soon.
This is the very reason I have chosen to focus on training parents as teachers. This is the best way of insulating yourself against the interference of the state in your child’s education. You also will reap the benefits and joy of watching your children develop academically and know that you’ve made all the difference. The work will need to be put in, but if you do your prep (homework) then you will reap the rewards.
Conclusion regarding making your own schools
In one sentence: don’t do it and don’t get involved with those who do.
Whilst those who run, own, or are responsible for unregistered independent schools are criminally liable, the parents of children in attendance will also come under DfE and local authority scrutiny. This is because it will be inferred that you, the parents, are not providing ‘efficient, full-time and suitable’ education for your children. As the provision of such education is the legal responsibility of the parents, you will become of interest to the authorities. So, do your homework and keep your children out of such establishments!
I perfectly understand your concerns about socialisation – though, when lockdowns (by whatever name) return this winter, then EVERYBODY will be struggling to socialise their children.
It is my intention to provide you with lots of ideas for socialising, during periods of relative freedom, very soon, as plenty of you have been asking about this. It is also worth bearing in mind that lots of parents have previously chosen to home school, and haven’t had any trouble whatsoever with the social development of their children.
In fact, those who home schooled in the ‘before times’ actually had far better social lives than I did as a teacher in a school (!)
Indeed, the children whom I tutored privately and were entirely home schooled, would recount all kinds of exciting and engaging encounters from the previous week; museum trips, pottery classes, outdoor BBQ, visiting relatives etc. Home schoolers from the ‘before times’ really took advantage of term-time and day-time discounts, cheap holidays, and much more.
If you decide to go ahead – against my advice – and make your own schools, on your own head be it and for goodness’ sake make sure you read, digest (and preferably take legal advice on) all of the following documents:
Registration of independent schools:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/865049/BRANDED_independent_school_registration_guidance_21_August_2019Ms.pdf
Unregistered independent schools and out of school settings:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/690495/La_Guidance_March_2018.pdf
Policy statement: prosecuting unregistered independent schools
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826588/Prosecuting_unregistered_independent_schools_policy_statement_21_August.pdf
The Education Act 1996
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/contents
I hope this document will help those of us who are creating solutions to modern educational challenges and that you will share it far and wide so that our truth-seeking friends and colleagues can continue to make intelligent and informed decisions.
Shortly, I will be sending out an article on Elective home education (home-schooling) so that you are fully up to speed with the advice, guidance, and legislation pertaining to educating your own children at home, outdoors, and in other settings.
All for now,
Sarah Plumley
Thinker-Teacher-Truther