Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Education & Cultural Services

Forward Plan Ref: 2018/113

Contact: Lauren Rushen, Policy Officer Tel: 07990 367851

Report by Elective Home Education Working Group (CA12).

The Education Scrutiny Committee agreed to undertake a short investigation into the reasons for an increase in elective home education (EHE) across the county in December 2017. The working group comprised of Councillor Waine and Councillor Smith. This report presents the findings of the investigation and the recommendations to Cabinet.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)          consider the recommendations of the Education Scrutiny Committee Elective Home Education working group;

(b)          agree which of the following recommendations the Cabinet will accept:

(i)           further analysis is undertaken to understand the reasons for higher numbers of EHE at years 5 and 9 through modifications to the EHE parent/carer questionnaire;

(ii)          further analysis is undertaken by officers on a school level and locality basis to understand the trends associated with EHE in locality areas to see if there are links with social deprivation, gender, adoption or SEND provision. This should be reported to the Committee in 6 months’ time;

(iii)        the concept of a 2-week cooling off period before taking pupils off the roll at a school is discussed as part of the attendance conference in July, or at another suitable occasion with head teachers, to gauge level of commitment from schools to understand whether it would be feasible to implement a system across Oxfordshire;

(iv)        that the authority advocates that school leaders in include information about numbers of EHE children in their termly reports to governors/directors or other reporting mechanism that may exist;

(v)          schools and colleges in the County are contacted and asked if they would be prepared to provide access to private candidates to expand the range of exam centres in the County for EHE pupils;

(vi)        a named contact on the MASH is identified as a point of contact for EHE issues and concerns;

(vii)       a briefing is organised for representatives on the MASH about EHE and the role of the County Attendance Team in EHE;

(viii)     the EHE questionnaire is further modified to give the ability to include a more detailed explanation from parents/carers, if they wish to share more detailed reasons for opting for EHE;

(ix)        the New College, Swindon example of good practice is investigated and any information is shared with Further Education establishments in Oxfordshire.

and;

(c)          ask the Director for Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Education, to prepare a response a future meeting of the Education Scrutiny Committee.

The Education Scrutiny Committee agreed to undertake a short investigation into the reasons for an increase in elective home education (EHE) across the County in December 2017. The working group comprised of Councillor Waine and Councillor Smith. The Cabinet had before it a report which presented the findings of the investigation and the recommendations to Cabinet for consideration.

Councillor Michael Waine, Chairman of the Education Scrutiny Committee highlighted the key findings of the deep dive which had been carried out with Councillor Emily Smith who had raised a Motion at Council on the same topic at the same time.  He thanked officers for providing timely evidence and support for the Review.  The Review’s findings were in line with the National picture of a rise in Elective Home Education.  The findings mainly focused on those children that had attended School and then had dropped out for some reason, rather than those who home educated from the beginning as a choice.

There was a concern around the legislation and the non- statutory guidance regarding the local authority’s responsibility and the authority’s ability to enforce it.  The working group noted that the comparative lack of High Needs Funding contributed to EHE together with the need to create an inclusive learning environment within schools so that issues could be addressed within the school.

The working group also felt that further data analysis was needed to gain greater understanding of the underlying issues that gave rise to elective home education.

The working group were supportive of the RAG rating that had been introduced. The rating system should mean that parents/carers who had taken a proactive approach to home educating felt supported and intervention work could be targeted where the authority might have concerns or families needed support. The working group wished to continue to monitor EHE numbers, the impact of the restructure and the introduction of the system to ensure that the right resources were in place.

Councillor Emma Turnbull, Shadow Cabinet Member for Education & Cultural Services drew the Cabinet’s attention to two areas in the report which she felt needed to be prioritised: the higher numbers of EHE in SEND Children( highlighting the inadequacy of SEND provision and the urgent need to carry out of the SEND Review) and the need for of a Review of how the County Council communicated and maintained relationships with the parents of EHE children in order to build trust and have a relationship with these families and to fulfil the Council’s Statutory responsibility to ensure children are safe from harm and that there learning needs were always met.

Councillor John Howson, local member for St. Margaret’s spoke in support of Councillor Michael Waine. He referred to the need to focus on 2 groups, those who had started school but were removed from school at one point or another, particularly at Year 9, and Gypsy Roman and Traveller Groups.  He asked the Cabinet to ensure that EHE did not become a route for schools to off-roll those children that cost more to educate for whatever reason and to ensure that children were not denied state education because the school had made it clear to parents that to EHE would be better than a less attractive alternative such as fixed term or permanent exclusion.

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment welcomed the findings of the report, noting the huge increase of EHE in one year, but felt that the report did not go far enough in highlighting the number of children that had been excluded or suspended or had been driven someway into EHE. She requested that recommendation one be expanded to compare the statistics on EHE with statics of those who had been excluded and suspended to see how they matched up, noting that the increase in exclusions had mainly happened in Years five and nine.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of the Council referring to the pockets in the County where EHE was high, queried why 2 primary schools within his Division had some of the Highest numbers.  David Clarke, Deputy Director undertook to look into the schools.

Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Cabinet Member for Education & Cultural Services introduced the contents of the report and moved the recommendations.  She thanked the Elective Home Education Working Group for their work highlighting this issue and agreed to expand recommendation one for further work around the link to exclusion rates.

RESOLVED:   to:

(a)          consider the recommendations of the Education Scrutiny Committee Elective Home Education working group;

(b)          agree which of the following recommendations the Cabinet will accept:

(i)           further analysis is undertaken to understand the reasons for higher numbers of EHE at years 5 and 9 through modifications to the EHE parent/carer questionnaire;

(ii)          further analysis is undertaken by officers on a school level and locality basis to understand the trends associated with EHE in locality areas to see if there are links with social deprivation, gender, adoption or SEND provision. This should be reported to the Committee in 6 months’ time;

(iii)         the concept of a 2-week cooling off period before taking pupils off the roll at a school is discussed as part of the attendance conference in July, or at another suitable occasion with head teachers, to gauge level of commitment from schools to understand whether it would be feasible to implement a system across Oxfordshire;

(iv)         that the authority advocates that school leaders in include information about numbers of EHE children in their termly reports to governors/directors or other reporting mechanism that may exist;

(v)          schools and colleges in the County are contacted and asked if they would be prepared to provide access to private candidates to expand the range of exam centres in the County for EHE pupils;

(vi)         a named contact on the MASH is identified as a point of contact for EHE issues and concerns; and

(c)          ask the Director for Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Education, to prepare a response a future meeting of the Education Scrutiny Committee.