'We don't know how many children are kept out of school'

[Ali Admin]

Here we go again! It gets tiresome after a while dealing with these numpties. I suppose they must be pissed off at being knocked off the top Google spot by the real experts on Home Education in Staffordshire which points out Staffordshire Council's failings in no uncertain terms.

'We don't know how many children are kept out of school'

Councillor Jeremy Oates, who chaired the working group, said: "There are kids not in school and we don't know that. We found that realisation quite scary."

So they haven't a clue about the law then. No surprises there as you apparently don't need any qualifications or experience to be a councillor, just the right coloured rosette, an 'I know best' attitude and a big mouth.

The issue has come to light as part of a review of information, advice and guidance services for teenagers in Staffordshire, which are due to undergo a major overhaul this September.

The changes will see schools have a new duty to ensure all 13 to 16-year-olds have access to independent and impartial advice.

Not much hope of that on past experience of LA ultra vires activities.

...the council will be responsible for supporting vulnerable groups of teenagers, such as those who are home-educated, have special needs, are in care, or are at risk of dropping out.

Note the conflation of vulnerable and home educated at every opportunity. They must have been taking lessons from Badman, who also just made it all up to suit his paymaster's agenda.

[raq23]

I find that very insulting. My teenager is not vulnerable simply on the basis of her being home educated. Time to sack these numpties.

[Renegade Parent]

Thanks for this, Ali. I never bother to read the publication, it's always the same old news

This all seems well orchestrated with the advent of the new head of service, Jenny Dodd. Lest we forget she is an ex-head of a failing school that was served with a notice to improve: http://www.homeeducationstaffordshir...of-jenny-dodd/

It's a good job there are lots of us who are wide awake in Staffordshire, and networking hard and fast to ensure that new home educators know the actual law, rather than some random misinterpretation of it

[LouisaHerbs]

Originally Posted by Ali P

"The issue has come to light as part of a review"

Oh for goodness sake. Do these people know *anything*? Home Education has been going on since, what, 1944?

[KnownBandit]

Here are the findings of the Scrutiny committy.

http://moderngov.staffordshire.gov.u...ittee.pdf?T=10

There is the entire list of vulnerable with whom home educators have been lumped

IAG Definition of Vulnerable
It quickly became apparent that to ensure equity and transparency a clear definition of
the term “vulnerable”, as it applies to the new IAG targeted service, needed to be
established. We debated the range of groups that could be included within this category
and considered definitions from other authorities and that of the Client Caseload
Information System (CISS). It is important that all parties, and schools in particular, can
easily identify those students who sit within the targeted service area (which under the
new system will be provided by the LA) from among those who will receive the universal
provision (which in future will be the responsibility of the school setting).
We felt that “vulnerable” should cover those at risk of not achieving their potential and
becoming NEET, and proposed a definition covering the following categories:
Proposed Definition
• Young people with a Statement of Special Educational Need
(Young people who have been formally assessed by District Teams and relevant and
appropriate professionals and a Statement is produced and formally reviewed on an
annual basis).
• Young people who are Children Looked After
(Young people who are subject of a Care Order, or who are provided with
accommodation on a voluntary basis. Can be placed in children’s homes, foster
homes or at home with their parents or other relatives).
• Young people leaving care
(A young person who was looked after when they reached the age of 16, who has
subsequently left care).
• Young people under the supervision of the Youth Offending Service (YOS)
(A young person who is subject of a Final Warning, Referral Order, the community
element of a Detention and Training Order, or any other court order from which a
supervising officer from the youth offending service is allocated).
• Young people who are pregnant or are a teenage parent
(Young people who do, or do not, provide regular and ongoing care for their own
child as part of a larger family unit or as a single parent).
• Young people who are Electively Home Educated
(Young people who have opted out of local authority and/or mainstream education
and are being educated in the home environment under the surveillance of the
Elective Home Education team).
Page 52
• Young people who attend Education Other Than At School
(Young people who attend Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and/or alternative education
providers, whether single or dual registered or through private arrangement between
school and provider).
We feel it essential to ensure the definition is simple, clear and transparent to avoid
inconsistency of application. It is also necessary to see this as a dynamic document,
allowing additional categories to be included if necessary in the future (a breakdown of
the current number of Staffordshire vulnerable young people by district is at Appendix

2

[KnownBandit]

AND this....Is it possible that Staffordshire can call for a register even though it is not required elsewhere?

Non-Registered Electively Home Educated
We also have concerns that there is no requirement to register your child with the LA if
you elect to educate them at home and therefore there are a number of young people
for whom no educational record is kept and that the education service is unaware of.
Over the past five years the number of registered home educated pupils has increased.
There are currently 300 young people of school age who are registered by their parents
as being home educated but it is anticipated that there are two to three times more than
this number of school age young people who are not registered but obviously it is
difficult to quantify this number. There is no way of ensuring that these non registered
individuals are receiving education and are having their needs met, and more
specifically for this working group, have appropriate and timely access to IAG. The wider
issues of this are outside the remit of this group and we therefore:
2. RECOMMEND that the Cabinet Member give consideration to how this issue can
more widely be explored to ensure that these young people are having their needs met
and are able to access appropriate services including IAG.

Astrid

[llondel]

They can install a register if they want to, but they cannot force people to register. In practice, they already have a register, it's the list of names of known families.

There is also nothing to stop a family from registering if they consider that they will get more benefit from being registered than being unknown. What LAs fail to realise is that families choose to remain unknown because there is no net benefit for them in being registered.

[llondel]

We felt that “vulnerable” should cover those at risk of not achieving their potential and becoming NEET,

That probably also covers half the schoolchildren in their area.

[elysian]

• Young people who are Electively Home Educated
(Young people who have opted out of local authority and/or mainstream education
and are being educated in the home environment under the surveillance of the
Elective Home Education team).

Interesting wording! The arrogance is breath-taking, if all too familiar.

[llondel]

Well, it obviously doesn't include my son because he's not under their surveillance. No doubt most other home educators could respond along similar lines, even if they are known, because they are not 'under surveillance'.

Sometimes the way to deal with such toilet paper masquerading as documents is to put a good interpretation on the wording and encourage everyone but the writer to use that interpretation so it becomes the common usage 'understood and accepted by everyone'.