Agenda item

To receive information on children receiving Elective Home Education in Wiltshire, including the numbers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).

An update about how the Education Welfare Service supported children receiving elective home education was provided by the Head of Targeted Education. The head of service highlighted that there had been a slight increase in the number of children receiving home education between the academic year ending September 2021 and 2022. She also stated that there had also been a slight increase in the proportion of children with SEND within the overall number of children being home educated. Although there was no official national data recording the number of elective home educated children, the number of children starting home education was broadly in line with the regional average. Wiltshire Council worked closely with schools and parents to ensure that the education provided was compliant with Department for Education (DfE) guidelines. In addition, an online portal would be developed to make it easier for families to register their children as elective home educated, once legislation had gone through parliament requiring national data to be collected.

During the discussion points included:

• Members thanked the head of service for the update and praised the support provided by Education Welfare Officers.

• It was noted that 31 percent of the elective home educated children had SEND, so it was queried whether this was seen as an indicator that there were an insufficient number of suitable places for children with additional needs in the county. In response, the head of service stressed that elective home education was often seen as a positive choice by parents, and it was important to ask parents the reasons why they wished their child to be home educated.

• The head of service noted that the Education Welfare Service liked to hold discussions with parents before they decided to take their child out of school.

• The Director for Education and Skills reassured members that provision for SEND school places would continue to grow at Sliverwood sites in Trowbridge and Chippenham.

• The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills confirmed that there were no current plans to close sites at the former St Nicholas or Larkrise Schools, now part of Silverwood School.

• The director also offered to get information from schools about how much work was required by them to bring home educated children back to school.

• It was explained that the formation of the Targeted Education Service in November 2021 allowed Education Welfare Officers to get enhanced support from other teams, including the Medical Needs Service, as they were now part of the same service.

• A councillor noted that they had been informed by a parent with a home educated child that they attended a support group. The head of service observed that they were aware of support groups and were always looking to build strong links with these organisations.

• It was confirmed that legislation going through parliament to create a Children Not in School Register would improve the recording of children who had always been home educated. NHS data was currently being used to help identify children who had never attended school.

• When asked about the attainment of home educated children, the head of service explained that they were working closely with their Education Employment and Training team to develop post-16 support for previously home educated children. As part of this work, information was being gathered about the longer-term employment of previously home educated individuals and how they compared to the wider population. 

Resolved

To receive an annual report in a year’s time but for it to first be considered by the Standing task group in its draft form to ensure that it provides the information needed by the committee to be reassured about the quality of the council’s performance, especially as the DfE is working to formalise the data collection for elective home education from October 2022 which should enable benchmarking.