Elective Home Education Paperwork

The request was successful.

Dear Staffordshire County Council,

Following the consultation on the home education guidelines in 2019. Can you please provide a copy of the current paperwork sent out to electively home educating families and a copy of the current local home education policy for SCC?

Can you also provide the dates (and accompanying notes) of any meetings which have occurred with the home educating community since January 2018 regarding EHE policies, procedures and paperwork?

Yours faithfully,

A Thurstan

Staffordshire County Council

Dear A Thurstan,
 
Thank you for your request for information received by Staffordshire
County Council on 06/09/2019.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.
 
If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact us.
Please remember to quote the case reference number above in any future
communications.
Yours sincerely,
 
Access Team

Portch, David (Corporate), Staffordshire County Council

7 Attachments

Dear A Thurstan

Thank you for your request for information about Elective Home Education (EHE).

Please find information provided by the relevant service area(s) set out below / attached.

There have not been any formal meetings with the EHE community since January 2018.

Please see policy, procedures and other EHE associated documents attached.

If you have any comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority you should contact us in the first instance.  Send your comment or complaint to:

Access Manager, Access Team, Staffordshire County Council, 2 Staffordshire Place, Stafford ST16 2DH or email [email address]

If you then have any further comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority, please contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Regards
  
David Portch

Information Governance Unit
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH

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Dear Portch, David (Corporate),

Thank you for your speedy response, however, this has raised some questions.

I would like to make sure I am understanding the above response correctly, please confirm that no consultation meetings have taken place since January 2018 and that the following have therefore been amended without consultation with the home educating community?

1. SCC Home education policy and procedures - the version which was worked on with the community can be found here:
https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Educati...

As you can see, it is very different and includes the removal of valuable information for new home educators about different educational approaches. This also appears to have occurred with the following documents;

2. The welcome letter.
3. The record of information.

4. Have enquiries been made since January 2018 regarding the LA meeting home educators (either from home educators or the local authority) to consult, and are there any plans to organise formal meetings?

Lastly, please supply a copy of the school exit form and a copy of the redacted correspondence and/or meeting notes concerning the changes to the documents named above. To narrow it down the departments involved are likely to be (but not limited to) between Karl Hobson (County Manager Targeted Services), the elective home education team, educational welfare and the SEND department.

Yours sincerely,

A Thurstan

Portch, David (Corporate), Staffordshire County Council

Dear A Thurstan

I will forward your request for clarification/further information to the relevant service team(s).

As your request ref. F0001630 has been closed on our system we will log under a new (linked) reference to enable us to track your request. You will receive a separate acknowledgement email containing the new reference.

Regards
  
David Portch

Access Team
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH

Telephone:  01785 278176

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Portch, David (Corporate), Staffordshire County Council

Hi Denise

Please can you log as a new request linked to previous & send standard acknowledgement. Then let me have the new ref. & I will forward to service team(s).

Thanks.

Regards
  
David Portch

Access Team
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH

Telephone:  01785 278176

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Dear Portch, David (Corporate),

Can you please advise when I will receive a full update to this FOI request?

Yours sincerely,

A Thurstan

Portch, David (Corporate), Staffordshire County Council

Dear A Thurstan

Your further request (logged as reference F0001878) has been forwarded to the relevant team/persons.

Our records show that we have not yet received a reply. I have therefore 'chased' for the information/explanations requested.

I will continue to follow up in line with our procedures and hope to be able to provide you with a further response as soon as possible.

Regards
  
David Portch

Access Team
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH

Telephone:  01785 278176

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Portch, David (Corporate), Staffordshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear A Thurstan

Thank you for your email below.

This was forwarded to the relevant service team who have provided the following response.

"We have not had a further meeting with members of the EHE community since January 2018, the local authority was waiting for the publication of the new DfE guidance on EHE. Since its publication the local authority has drafted a new policy, which will be made available for EHE parents shortly.

There are no meeting minutes to supply in respect of the changes made to the documents, as these are undertaken by the EHE co-ordinator, and then changes approved by Mr Hobson.

Attached copy of school exit form."

If you have any comments relating to how your request for 'recorded information'has been handled by our authority you should contact us in the first instance.  Send your comment or complaint to:

Access Manager, Access Team, Staffordshire County Council, 2 Staffordshire Place, Stafford ST16 2DH or email [email address]

If you then have any further comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority, please contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Regards
  
David Portch

Information Governance Unit
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH

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Dear Portch, David (Corporate),

Thank you for your update can you please confirm that the Oct '18 home education policy is currently the one that is in place and not the Feb '18 policy?

I would appreciate clarification on this matter.

Yours sincerely,

A Thurstan

Portch, David (Corporate), Staffordshire County Council

Dear A Thurstan

The relevant service has confirmed that the Oct 18 home education policy is the one that is currently in place. However, a draft of the new EHE policy currently being prepared and reviewed. The Oct policy was written prior to the new DfE guidance on EHE which has informed the new (currently draft) policy and some changes to current practice.

I hope that this helps clarify.

Regards
  
David Portch

Access Team
Staffordshire County Council
1 Staffordshire Place
Stafford
ST16 2DH

Telephone:  01785 278176

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