Question from Councillor R C Jones to the Deputy Leader

“How many parents in Bridgend County Borough have registered to home school their children and how many children are currently being home schooled? What action is the authority taking to support parents who choose to educate their children at home?”

Question from Councillor RC Jones for the Deputy Leader:

‘How many parents in BCBC have registered to home school their children and how many children are currently being home schooled? What action is the Authority taking to support parents who choose to educate their children at home?’

Response from the Deputy Leader to Councillor RC Jones

Background

“Current data shows that Bridgend County Borough Council has 91 pupils known to be home educated.  It should be noted that this database is fluid and can change daily, as some pupils return to school or move and others de register. Also, we may not be aware of all families whose children are home educated as there is no requirement in law to inform the Local Authority if the children have not been educated through the state system. 

Data from the last 3 years shows that Elective Home Education figures are rising.  In July 2013, 34 pupils were known to the Local Authority compared with 76 pupils in July 2015. This is due to our robust attempts to ensure EHE children do engage with us and our significant efforts to engage with every family who elects to home educate.

Since 2013, a partnership has been established with parent representatives of the Bridgend Elective Home Education community which has proved to be successful.  Due to this partnership the Local Council is in a better position to understand elective home education, share good practice  and develop a working relationship built on trust.

Since 2013 we have also worked closely with other Local Authorities to establish a Professional Learning Community.  Currently, the consortium elective home education link workers meet termly to discuss trends in data; policy matters; current issues; cross border de registrations and to share ideas.  This is an excellent opportunity to share experiences and best practice.

Within the Welsh Government’s Consultation Summary of Responses: Registering and Monitoring Home-based Education (2013), Bridgend Local Authority was recognised as working effectively with it’s home educating community and suggested that this example of good practice should be emulated by other authorities across Wales.

In 2015, the Elective Home Education Policy was revised to reflect the need to ‘develop effective relationships’ as highlighted in the WG circular No 47/2006 (Inclusion and Pupil Support).  Cabinet approved the updated policy in April 2015.

A teacher is employed by Inclusion Services as an Elective Home Education Link worker to work with families that decide to electively home educate.  The Link worker contacts families to ensure they feel supported whilst home educating and to ensure that children do receive an education.

Links with other agencies such as health, inclusion , early help and Safeguarding are established and maintained in order to increase awareness of the law, Welsh Government Guidance and also to ensure wherever possible to full range of needs of these children are met.

Current Law

Parents are not legally required to register with the Local Authority; it is a legal choice to educate your child at home. It is the schools not the parent’s responsibility to inform the Local Authority of a de registration and we work closely with our school through the fair access panel to ensure that all our schools advise us when there is a decision to home educate.

Parents can refuse to meet with the Local Authority and can opt to just provide a report outlining the education provided to their child.

The Welsh Government guidelines suggest that the Local Authority make contact with parents on an annual basis.

Considerations

Parents might not be choosing to home educate for the right reasons, e.g., in some cases opt to home educate, sometimes because of behaviour issues in school, occasionally because of a difference of opinion between school and parents or for a multitude of different reasons. The young people can then become disengaged and not in education employment or training (NEET) despite being recorded as Elective Home Education.

A few  home educated pupils have difficulty attending mainstream school and have been de registered whilst undergoing a diagnosis for example for Autistic Spectrum Disorder and we work intensively with those parents to try and reassure them that we can meet their children’s educational and support needs.

Next Steps

Continue to maintain a database of those elective home educated children and young people known to the Local Authority and link with the Central Pupil Database to ensure all de registrations are captured.

On-going work to develop a systematic, confidential but accessible Information Technology system of recording contact and other related matters.

Ensure that all schools, including independent schools are reminded of the protocol and procedure when families de-register.

Continue to provide support and advice to Bridgend families when home educating, or thinking about home education in order to continue to develop a trusting relationship built on mutual respect.

Supplementary question from Councillor RC Jones for the Deputy Leader

“In engaging with the parents of Children who are being home educated, does this authority positively encourage participation in sports activities as part of the home education process?”

Response from the Deputy Leader to Councillor RC Jones

‘The Authority does advocate support between education and physical activity for children and parents are encouraged to undertake this as part of the home education process. He added that he would provide further details to Members regarding this outside of the meeting’

Supplementary question from Councillor DBF White to the Deputy Leader 

“The Member referred to the point made in the first response above, namely, that parents can refuse to meet with the Local Authority and can opt to just provide a report outlining the education provided to their child. He asked if this report was voluntary or mandatory”

Response from the Deputy Leader to Councillor DBF White

‘The report was mandatory’

Supplementary question from Councillor CA Green to the Deputy Leader

“Do the Education Authority examine the reasons why parents elect to educate their children at home, as opposed to sending them to school to be educated and is information to this effect collated and recorded”

Response from the Deputy Leader to Councillor CA Green

‘This data is both retained and analysed, and the Education Authority give as much support and guidance as they can to parents who choose to educate their children at home. He would arrange for this data to be sent to all Members’