The Unprecedented Number of Attacks on Home Education

In order to highlight the unprecedented number of attacks on home education in the press over the last few weeks, most of the articles in this week’s Update relate to the issue.

The parents of a child actress who played Matilda in the musical are in dispute with Westminster council over her home schooling. Edward Hardy and Eileen Tracy have been sent a school attendance order. They told The Guardian that they had sent evidence of her progress, including samples of her work and explanation about her studies, to the local authority, but the council said this was not enough. Read more

The Liberal Democrats have published ‘Every Child Empowered: Education for a changing world’ in preparation for their conference in March. Section 9 outlines their plans for home education (which is conflated with unregistered schools). It reveals that the LibDems will require twice yearly visits to every child not registered in school, together with a compulsory teaching of the National Curriculum for all home educators. Read more

Ofsted has ordered its staff to look at high rates of fixed-period exclusions in the north-east, Yorkshire and the Humber. Inspectors will also ‘look very carefully’ at whether schools are improving their results by ridding themselves of ‘troublesome’ pupils. The region is home to six of the 10 worst-offending areas in terms of the proportion of secondary school pupils who faced suspension in 2016-17. Read more

‘It is essential to ensure that a family perspective is consistently applied to policy making’ – so said Lord Farmer as he began the Second Reading debate of his Family Relationships (Impact Assessment and Targets) Bill in the House of Lords. Lord Farmer’s excellent Bill – which was well-received by Peers – would ensure that all policy is subject to a statutory family impact assessment. Read more

The parents of a child actress who starred as Matilda in the award-winning musical have warned they are prepared to go to jail in an escalating row over her home schooling. Edward Hardy and his wife Eileen Tracy have been ordered by their local council to send their 12-year-old daughter Lilian to school by March 7 – or else face prosecution. Read more

The world knows their names and pixelated photos of their faces were splashed on front pages all over the world. The four teenage girls who left Britain to join Isis three years ago, seduced by the idea of becoming a jihadist bride in Syria are all now feared to have died in the war zone. Less well-known is a fifth girl, B – it later emerged in a family court hearing held to decide her future, that she had been home-schooled. Read more

The education secretary, Damian Hinds, is to crack down on illegal schools amid growing concern that children are at risk of being radicalised, trafficked, abused — or simply growing up ignorant. Insiders at the Department for Education said Hinds was determined to take a tougher line on illegal schools and out-of-hours tuition centres than his predecessor, Justine Greening. Read more

Concerns have been raised about child safety in unregistered schools, after a BBC investigation filmed a teacher appearing to strike a pupil’s head. The BBC filmed a suspected unregistered ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Essex, and photos from two other such schools showed dirty and unhygienic conditions. Ofsted said it has identified more than 350 suspected unregistered schools, but lacked sufficient powers to close them. Read more

School inspectors have warned that there are hundreds of unregistered schools but that they have few powers to investigate or shut them down. More than 350 sites have been investigated in England by education watchdog Ofsted since a specialist taskforce was set up two years ago. Ofsted inspectors say they don’t have proper powers to inspect or close them. Read more

Local councils, health services and police forces will have to involve schools in their safeguarding work from now on, the government has announced. Updated statutory guidance on ‘Working together to safeguard children’ will include an expectation that all schools be ‘given a voice’ in the work of those who set local safeguarding policy. Read more