Issue - meetings

(a) That the Committee recognise the importance of ongoing dedicated officer time to support and monitor provision for this particular cohort of children; and

(b) That a letter be written to the WG to encourage the creation of a national register database for children who were home educated. 

            The Senior Manager, Inclusion & Progression presented the report which contained information on the number of children who were being electively home schooled.  The report provided information on the ate and numbers for Flintshire, which was below the Welsh average at present and an outline was provided of the percentage of pupils becoming Elective Home Educated (EHE) and when this happened with year 7 a pivotal year for this when children moved to secondary school.  

              The Senior Manager reported that parents were not required to seek approval or notify the Authority that they were electively home educating their child.   There were processes to enable questions to be asked of parents and provide advice and support to them and she outlined some of the reasons given by parents.   The Authority was not required to provide financial support to parents but grant funding had been made available to support this and work was ongoing with families to determine how best to use that resource. The Authority had a duty to monitor the families, and if concerns were raised it could issue a School Attendance Order and nominate a school which the child must attend.  No Orders had been issued during the last year.   Information was provided on the monitoring role of the service and appointment of the Education Support Officer who was supported by the Education Welfare Service when raising concerns.  The Education Support Officer had received positive responses to meetings, and she highlighted some of the issues raised by parents and resolutions made.  The Authority was part of the regional and national forums and reassurance had been provided that revised guidance would be provided next year.  A mandatory database of all pupils who were EHE had been proposed by Welsh Government (WG) but this was being resisted by the EHE community so guidance on this was being awaited. 

            In response to questions from Councillor Dave Mackie, the Senior Manager thanked him for his positive comments which she would feed back to the team.  With regards to groups or similarities she said that this varied with some still experiencing high levels of anxiety and these children were able to access their education outside of school.  She explained some parents chose to do this because of pressure being put on them because of school attendance.  This was where the Education Welfare Service challenged parents to find out if this was right for the young person and the young person’s comments and involvement were part of this process.   She then highlighted the number of pupils who had returned to school following the proactive work undertaken by schools and the team. 

            In response to a question from Councillor Andrew Parkhurst on the monitoring of children who were not in education, the Senior Manager reported that previously colleagues in health notified the Authority for children in nursery and reception years.  This enabled contact with those parents when the children did not enrol in a school, but the Authority was challenged on this and told it was not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38