Educational concerns

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Buckinghamshire County Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Buckinghamshire County Council,

A) Can you please categorise how those known to the team dealing with elective home education became known? E.g. School, Doctor, self-referral, concerns about the educational provision reported etc.

i) Does the local authority seek to satisfy itself that the educational provision the parent(s) are providing is suitable to the child's age, aptitude, ability and any SEN as soon as they become aware that parents are electively home educating, regardless of how they become known to the local authority?

ii) How many instances have there been in the years (from January 1st to December 31st) 2015, 2016, 2017 and to the date of this FOI where the person dealing with elective home education has or has had concerns that a 'suitable' education is not being provided?

B) I would also appreciate it if this information could be broken down into categories:

1) whether they feel that no education is taking place?
2) whether they feel that the philosophy of education is inadequate - for example in the case of autonomous or child led learning, that the particular child is not appearing to be learning 'enough'?
3) whether there are concerns because the family have not implemented a structured approach?
4) or whether the fact that the national Curriculum is not being followed is causing concern?
5) a qualified third party is not involved in the child’s education?
6) An educational report has not been provided by a third party such as; a teacher etc.

C) I would like to know of these children, how many of these concerns were proven?

i) Of the children in the above 4 categories, please indicate if further steps have or are being taken - for example, referred to CME or issued with a School Attendance Order. Please break it down into each year asked for.

ii) Please indicate how many of these went to court in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

iii) Please also indicate if any Education Supervision Orders are currently in court for this population?

Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective home education including policies, procedures (2013 - present) and recorded communications relating to elective home education (2016 - present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents.

Yours faithfully,

J Carter

Freedom of Information Mailbox, Buckinghamshire County Council

Dear Customer,

 

Thank you for contacting Buckinghamshire County Council.

 

Please be assured that your email is important to us.

 

Your enquiry has been received and we will respond as soon as possible,
but the statutory deadlines to respond are as follows:

 

Data Protection Act 1998 - 40 calendar days.

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - 20 working days.

 

Further information on our services can be found at: [1]www.buckscc.gov.uk

 

Information on the Council is available [2]here and independent guidance
is available from the Information Commissioner at: [3]http://ico.org.uk/

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Freedom of Information Team

 

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Buckinghamshire County Council

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Freedom of Information Mailbox, Buckinghamshire County Council

Dear J Carter

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

FOI/18/236

Thank you for contacting Buckinghamshire County Council.

 

Your request for information regarding Home Education has now been
considered and our response is as follows:

 

A) Can you please categorise how those known to the team dealing with
elective home education became known? E.g. School, Doctor, self-referral,
concerns about the educational provision reported etc.

 

Parent/Carer

Admissions

Children Missing Education

Education Welfare Service

Exclusions and Reintegration

Independent School

METAS

Other Authority

NHS

Paediatrician

Previous LA

Safeguarding in Education Team

School

SEN Team

Youth Offending Service

 

i) Does the local authority seek to satisfy itself that the educational
provision the parent(s) are providing is suitable to the child's age,
aptitude, ability and any SEN as soon as they become aware that parents
are electively home educating, regardless of how they become known to the
local authority?

 

Yes

 

ii) How many instances have there been in the years (from January 1st to
December 31st) 2015, 2016, 2017 and to the date of this FOI where the
person dealing with elective home education has or has had concerns that a
'suitable' education is not being provided?

 

We work with families until we are satisfied suitable education is in
place (and therefore do not hold information in the format you have
requested)

 

B) I would also appreciate it if this information could be broken down
into categories:

 

This question is not aligned to the guidance, and therefore we are sorry
but we cannot comment. The guidance states:-

 

Providing a full-time education

 

3.13 Parents are required to provide an efficient, full-time education
suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child. There is currently
no legal definition of "full-time". Children

normally attend school for between 22 and 25 hours a week for 38 weeks of
the year, but

this measurement of "contact time" is not relevant to elective home
education where there

is often almost continuous one-to-one contact and education may take place
outside normal

"school hours". The type of educational activity can be varied and
flexible. Home educating

parents are not required to:

 

teach the National Curriculum

provide a broad and balanced education

have a timetable

have premises equipped to any particular standard

set hours during which education will take place

have any specific qualifications

make detailed plans in advance

observe school hours, days or terms

give formal lessons

mark work done by their child

formally assess progress or set development objectives

reproduce school type peer group socialisation

match school-based, age-specific standards

 

1) whether they feel that no education is taking place?

2) whether they feel that the philosophy of education is inadequate - for
example in the case of autonomous or child led learning, that the
particular child is not appearing to be learning 'enough'?

3) whether there are concerns because the family have not implemented a
structured approach?

4) or whether the fact that the national Curriculum is not being followed
is causing concern?

5) a qualified third party is not involved in the child’s education?

6) An educational report has not been provided by a third party such as; a
teacher etc.

 

C) I would like to know of these children, how many of these concerns were
proven?

 

N/A

 

i) Of the children in the above 4 categories, please indicate if further
steps have or are being taken - for example, referred to CME or issued
with a School Attendance Order. Please break it down into each year asked
for.

 

N/A

 

ii) Please indicate how many of these went to court in 2015, 2016 and
2017.

 

No cases went to court

 

iii) Please also indicate if any Education Supervision Orders are
currently in court for this population?

 

None

 

Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective
home education including policies, procedures (2013 - present) and
recorded communications relating to elective home education (2016 -
present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include
communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively
home educating parents.

 

We hope that the records/information available on our Elective home
education pages are of help here:

 

[1]https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/educ...

 

[2]https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/educ...

 

If you have a complaint about the handling of your request then please use
the Council’s complaints procedure in the first instance by writing to:

FOI Monitoring Officer

Buckinghamshire County Council

County Hall

Aylesbury

Bucks

HP20 1UA

Or via email: [3][Buckinghamshire County Council request email]

 

You can also then complain to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Fax: 01625 524510

Email: [4][email address]

[5]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

Regards

 

Neil Doling

 

Freedom of Information Officer

 

Assistant Chief Executive’s Service | Strategy & Policy | Customer
Experience & Communications

 

[6][Buckinghamshire County Council request email]  

[7]http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/foi/freedo...  

Buckinghamshire County Council

County Hall

Walton Street

Aylesbury

Buckinghamshire

HP20 1UA

 

 

 

[8]Be A Good Neighbour
Buckinghamshire County Council

Visit our Web Site : [9]http://www.buckscc.gov.uk

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All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in
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The views expressed in this email are not necessarily those of
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Dear Freedom of Information Mailbox,

Thank you for your response. Can you please answer the latter part of the final question from the initial FOI?

Please provide copies of recorded communications relating to elective home education (2016 -
present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents.Any information falling under S40 is expected to be redacted.

For the avoidance of confusion, this refers to communications to and from the elective home education team and any meetings in which elective home education has been discussed.

Yours sincerely,

J Carter

Freedom of Information Mailbox, Buckinghamshire County Council

Dear Customer,

 

Thank you for contacting Buckinghamshire County Council.

 

Please be assured that your email is important to us.

 

Your enquiry has been received and we will respond as soon as possible,
but the statutory deadlines to respond are as follows:

 

Data Protection Act 1998 - 40 calendar days.

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - 20 working days.

 

Further information on our services can be found at: [1]www.buckscc.gov.uk

 

Information on the Council is available [2]here and independent guidance
is available from the Information Commissioner at: [3]http://ico.org.uk/

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Freedom of Information Team

 

[4]Be A Good Neighbour
Buckinghamshire County Council

Visit our Web Site : [5]http://www.buckscc.gov.uk

Buckinghamshire County Council Email Disclaimer

This Email, and any attachments, may contain Protected or Restricted
information and is intended solely for the individual to whom it is
addressed. It may contain sensitive or protectively marked material and
should be handled accordingly. If this Email has been misdirected, please
notify the author or [6][email address] immediately. If you are
not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print
or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached, and all
copies must be deleted immediately. Whilst we take reasonable steps to try
to identify any software viruses, any attachments to this Email may
nevertheless contain viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to
identify. You should therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before
opening any documents.

Buckinghamshire County Council will not accept any liability for damage
caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document
supplied with this email.

All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in
accordance with relevant legislation.

The views expressed in this email are not necessarily those of
Buckinghamshire County Council unless explicitly stated.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for content and
for the presence of computer viruses.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/
2. http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-cou...
3. http://ico.org.uk/
4. https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/care...
5. http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/
6. mailto:[email address]