Independent Review of Home Education in England
Independent Review of Home Education in England
Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire about processes for
supporting and monitoring home education. Completion of the questionnaire is
entirely voluntary. Responses will be completely confidential and used only for
the purposes of the independent review.
The Government is committed to ensuring that systems for keeping children safe
are as robust as possible. As part of this continuing commitment, an
independent review of home education will assess whether the right systems are
in place for ensuring that home educated children have access to the five Every
Child Matters outcomes. This includes whether Government should do more to
support local authorities in discharging their duties in relation to home
educated children. The full terms of reference for the review are available
online at: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ete/homeeducation
As organisations responsible for ensuring the safety, wellbeing and education of
children and young people in your localities, we very much value your input into
this review.
You may find it helpful to read through the questionnaire before attempting to
complete it. Please note you cannot save the questionnaire and go back to it at
a later date. Therefore, if you need to discuss responses with colleagues
before submitting the form, please do so before attempting to complete the
questionnaire. Please also note that we ask that the Director of Children's
Services and Lead Member for Children and Young People 'sign off' the
questionnaire before it is submitted and you will be asked to confirm whether
that has happened at the end of this questionnaire.
Thank you for taking time to respond to these questions.
Privacy statement
About your local authority
Q1 Name of LA
Reading Borough Council
Q2 Tel. No of main contact
0118 9376545
Q3 E-mail of main contact
xxxxxx.xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Q4 Would you be willing to take part in the next phase of the research in
February/March (including in-depth interviews with key personnel in your
organisation)?
yes
no
Q5 Which team(s) have the main responsibility for supporting and monitoring home
educated children within the local authority and other agencies?
Education Welfare Service
Q6 List all teams / professionals involved in supporting home educating families
EHE Co-Ordinator
Head of Attendance, EWS
Social Care
Education Welfare Service
School health
Educational Psychologist
Speech and Language Service
Youth Offending Service
Connexions / Intensive Personal Advisers
SEN
Parent Partnership
Q7 List all teams / professionals involved in monitoring home educating
families.
EHE Co-Ordinator
SEN
Head of Attendance, EWS
Social Care
Q8 Describe how you ensure collaboration and communication between these teams /
individuals
Accurate and up to date records are kept. Regular monitoring meetings between EHE Co-ordinator and Head of Attendance.
All cases causing concern are reported to the relevant agencies including Social Care and SEN.
Regular contact maintained with other professionals on a case to case basis.
3 yearly reports to Senior Management and Lead Members.
Information is kept on the central database.
Data and Tracking
Q9 How many children are currently home educated in your local authority of
primary age (Registered with LA) 25
Q10 How many children are currently home educated in your local authority of
primary age (Non-registered with LA) Not known
Q11 How many children are currently home educated in your local authority of
secondary age (Registered with LA) 25
Q12 How many children are currently home educated in your local authority of
secondary age (Non-registered with LA) Not known
Q13 Total (Registered with LA) 50
Q14 Total (Non-registered with LA) Not known
Q15 Are these figures accurate or based on estimates?
Accurate
Estimate
Q16 If accurate, where do you get this data from? Schools when previously on roll. Education Management system, from home educating parents, Education Welfare Officers and other professionals, e.g. Connexions.
Q17 If accurate, how do you know the data is accurate? EHE Co-Ordinator makes regular checks and closely monitors
Q18 If estimated, what data have you used to arrive at this figure? (List all
sources)
Q19 How confident is the local authority in the accuracy of this data?
Very confident
Fairly confident
Don't know
Not very confident
Not at all confident
Q20 How often does the local authority get updated data? (List frequency for
each source separately)
On case by case basis.
Q21 What proportion (as a percentage) of your home educated population is
statemented for SEN? (please state whether accurate or estimate) 8% accurate
Q22 What proportion (as a percentage) of your home educated population is
non-statemented for SEN (please state whether accurate or estimate) 4% accurate
Q23 What proportion (as a percentage) of your home educated population is from
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller heritage (please state whether accurate or estimate)
0% accurate
Q24 What proportion (as a percentage) of your home educated population is made
up of other Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups At least 8% Estimate
Q25 Please list which BME groups.
Pakistani
Black Caribbean
White/Black Caribbean
Any other Mixed background
Q26 Do you believe the local authority knows about allthe home educated
children in your area?
Yes, we are confident we know about all home educated children in the area.
We think we know about the vast majority of home educated children in the area
We probably do not know about a fair number of home educated children in the
area
We probably do not know about a significant proportion of home educated children
in the area
Q27 Do you think that you will be better able to track children in your area in
the near future? e.g. planned changes to your own systems, ContactPoint, other
system improvements?
yes
no
Q28 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
Due to the current legal position, parents do not have to inform LAs if they are home educating unless they remove their child from an existing school roll. EHE families who move in and out of an area are less likely to be tracked.
Supporting Home Educating Families
Q29 How does the local authority ensure families know about their rights and
responsibilities in relation to home education? (List all approaches used)
Information is on the LA website and EHE information is sent to all newly registered families and to all who make an enquiry. EHE Co-Ordinator offers advice and support.
Q30 What support does your local authority provide to home educating families?
(List all forms of support offered)
EHE Co-Ordinator contacts families, offers to visit, explains responsibilities of parents. Where asked, makes suggestions for contacts / resources. Suggests contacts with other relevant agencies. Refers families to organisations such as Education Otherwise.
Q31 How does the local authority let families know about the services provided
to support them in home educating their children? (List all approaches used)
By letter, home visit, via telephone etc. See q 29.Assessment and Monitoring
Q32 Following the initial assessment visit, are further monitoring visits made
to a home educated child?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q33 If yes, how often, on average, are these carried out?
More than twice a year
Twice a year
Once a year
Less than once a year
Q34 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
Where there is seen to be no cause for concern, contact is made less frequently -e.g. annually. Where there are concerns, parents are seen more frequently.
Q35 On average, how often is the child seen when a visit is made?
Always, at each visit
Usually, but not always
Sometimes
Never
Depends on the child / circumstances
Q36 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
Q37 If the child is seen, where is s/he usually seen?
In the home
At the home, but do not go inside
Another venue
Depends on the child / circumstances
Q38 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
Q39 If you are not permitted access to a child, is any further action taken?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q40 If yes, what further steps are taken?
Where access is refused and there is cause for concern, Social Care is informed. This is all we believe we can do and we are not happy that this is the case.
Q41 How is the suitability of the education provided to the child assessed?
(Please describe)
EHE Co-Ordinator has Qualified Teacher Status. Each programme is assessed against the legal criteria for EHE.
Q42 Is the local authority clear about what the definition of a 'suitable
education' is?
yes
no
Q43 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
The LA's information and guidance material defines this.
Q44 Does the local authority have systems in place to track the educational
progress of home educated children?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q45 Please use this space to add further detail to the answer you have just
given
This is not always easy if contact is through telephone or written report.
Q46 Of the home educated children in your area of whom you have knowledge, what
proportion (as a percentage) in your estimation is receiving a suitable, full
time (20hrs a week) education? (Please describe)
86% receiving suitable education - We are awaiting information on 14%
Q47 Does the local authority take any further steps if a home educated child's
education was found to be unsuitable or not full time?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q48 Please use this space to add further detail to the answer you have just
given
Frequent contact with family. Where appropriate, other agencies involved. Legal action where necessary.
Q49 Does the local authority face any challenges in assessing whether home
educated children receive a suitable education?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q50 If you answered yes to Q49, please describe the challenges and what you
think could be done to overcome these
The law does not permit sufficient powers of access, or give LAs the right to insist on seeing the child or to see examples of their work. The legal position needs to be more robust so that the needs of the child are foremost and the monitoring requirement by the LA is strengthened.
All EHE families should be required to register with the LA.
Q51 Thinking about your local area, in the last five years, how many cases have
you come across that use the premise of home education as a 'cover' for child
abuse, forced marriage or other aspects of child neglect? 0
Q52 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given.
Please include the number of Serious Case Reviews you know about that have a
home education element.
Q53 Do you think the current system for safeguarding children who are educated
at home is adequate?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q54 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
EHE children can be very vulnerable as it's possible that they are not monitored by any agency e.g. where the family is not registered as EHE. Unless there is cause for concern, LA's powers are limited.
Q55 Do you think that home educated children in your local authority are able to
achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes? Please say why you think that for
each of the five outcomes
This is variable depending upon each individual case. Some families take their responsibility very seriously in each of the 5 areas but the concern is about those that do not.
Q56 Do you think there should be any changes made to the current system for
supporting home educating families?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q57 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
Suggest that parents should be asked to present a plan to the LA to show how they intend to fulfill their responsibilities for providing a suitable education before they are approved by the LA.
Q58 Do you think there should be any changes made to the current system for
monitoring home educating families and ensuring that home educated children are
able to achieve the five outcomes?
Yes
No
Don't know
Q59 Please use this space to add detail to the answer you have just given
We believe there should be minimum standards and a means of assessing whether these are being met. There should be a requirement for all children to be seen regularly and for their work to be presented and assessed.
Declaration
Q60 Has the Director of Children's Services and the Lead Member for Children and
Young People seen and agreed with the answers you have given above?
DCS
Lead member
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