Educational Concerns

The request was successful.

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough 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 6 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 (2015 - present) and recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect to be redacted).

Yours faithfully,

J Carter

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

3 Attachments

Dear J Carter
 
Further to your recent Freedom of Information enquiry regarding elective
home education, please see below, in bold, Wirral Council’s response to
each point of your enquiry.
 
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.
        School
        Self Referral
        Health 
 
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?
2015       #*
2016       #
2017       7
2018       8
 
*In accordance with DfE guidelines, numbers of 5 or fewer are suppressed
to reduce the risk of disclosing the identities of individuals. Low
figures are considered exempt under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 where disclosure would allow the possibility of the
identification of a living individual(s), thereby breaching the Data
Protection Act 1998. In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, and to
provide you with relevant advice and assistance, where applicable low
numbers have been represented with ‘#’ .
 
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?
        0
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'?
        19
3) whether there are concerns because the family have not implemented a
structured approach?
        0
4) or whether the fact that the national Curriculum is not being followed
is causing concern?
        0
5) a qualified third party is not involved in the child’s education?
        0
6) An educational report has not been provided by a third party such as; a
teacher etc.
        0
 
C) I would like to know of these children, how many of these concerns were
proven?
i) Of the children in the above 6 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.
2015       CME (0)      School Attendance Order (0)     Further visit
required (#)
2016       CME (0)      School Attendance Order (0)     Further visit
required (#)
2017       CME (0)      School Attendance Order (0)     Further visit
required (7)
2018       CME (2)      School Attendance Order (0)      Further visit
required (6)
 
ii) Please indicate how many of these went to court in 2015, 2016 and
2017.
2015       0
2016       0
2017       0
2018       0
 
iii) Please also indicate if any Education Supervision Orders are
currently in court for this population?
        0
 
Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective
home education including policies, procedures (2015 - present) and
recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 -
present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include
communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively
home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect
to be redacted).
 
Please see attached documents
 
 
       
You have the right under Section 17 of the Act to ask for an internal
review if you are unhappy with the Council’s handling of your request.
This should be sent to [1][Wirral Borough Council request email]. If you were
dissatisfied with the result of your internal review, you then have the
right to complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at
[2]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
 
We trust this information is of use to you.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Lynette Paterson
Senior Information Management Officer
Business Services - Digital
 
Treasury Building
Argyle Street
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 1AH
 
[3]Tel: 0151 691 8201
[4][Wirral Borough Council request email]
 
 
 
 
This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.   You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge
 
 
 
 
 
 
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]
2. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
3. file:///tmp/Tel:0151
4. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

3 Attachments

Dear J Carter
 
Further to your recent Freedom of Information enquiry regarding elective
home education, please see below, in bold, Wirral Council’s response to
each point of your enquiry.
 
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.
        School
        Self Referral
        Health 
 
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?
2015       #*
2016       #
2017       7
2018       8
 
*In accordance with DfE guidelines, numbers of 5 or fewer are suppressed
to reduce the risk of disclosing the identities of individuals. Low
figures are considered exempt under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 where disclosure would allow the possibility of the
identification of a living individual(s), thereby breaching the Data
Protection Act 1998. In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, and to
provide you with relevant advice and assistance, where applicable low
numbers have been represented with ‘#’ .
 
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?
        0
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'?
        19
3) whether there are concerns because the family have not implemented a
structured approach?
        0
4) or whether the fact that the national Curriculum is not being followed
is causing concern?
        0
5) a qualified third party is not involved in the child’s education?
        0
6) An educational report has not been provided by a third party such as; a
teacher etc.
        0
 
C) I would like to know of these children, how many of these concerns were
proven?
i) Of the children in the above 6 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.
2015       CME (0)      School Attendance Order (0)     Further visit
required (#)
2016       CME (0)      School Attendance Order (0)     Further visit
required (#)
2017       CME (0)      School Attendance Order (0)     Further visit
required (7)
2018       CME (#)      School Attendance Order (0)      Further visit
required (6)
 
ii) Please indicate how many of these went to court in 2015, 2016 and
2017.
2015       0
2016       0
2017       0
2018       0
 
iii) Please also indicate if any Education Supervision Orders are
currently in court for this population?
        0
 
Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective
home education including policies, procedures (2015 - present) and
recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 -
present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include
communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively
home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect
to be redacted).
 
Please see attached documents
 
 
       
You have the right under Section 17 of the Act to ask for an internal
review if you are unhappy with the Council’s handling of your request.
This should be sent to [1][Wirral Borough Council request email]. If you were
dissatisfied with the result of your internal review, you then have the
right to complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at
[2]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
 
We trust this information is of use to you.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Lynette Paterson
Senior Information Management Officer
Business Services - Digital
 
Treasury Building
Argyle Street
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 1AH
 
[3]Tel: 0151 691 8201
[4][Wirral Borough Council request email]
 
 
 
 
This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.   You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge
 
 
 
 
 
 
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]
2. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
3. file:///tmp/Tel:0151
4. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]