Author Archives: HHaricot

DCSF : my response to their answer – prob a bit too stroppy – what do you think?

Posted on February 4, 2009 | 8 comments

Thankyou for your email response. If you don’t mind i would like to reply for
clarification. to make the ‘thread’ work, i will respond in between your
answers

>
>Thank you for your email of 26 January regarding the review of Home
>Education. I have been asked to reply.
>
>With regards to the review of home education, it may be helpful if I
>explain that we are committed to ensuring that systems for keeping
>children safe, and ensuring that they receive a suitable education, are
>as robust as possible. We have been progressively strengthening the
>systems and it is good practice to ensure that they are operating as
>intended. An independent review of home education is part of this
>continuing commitment to strengthening the system and to ensure all
>children achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes.

I have read this as quite an aggressive first paragraph actually, and this
does nothing to reassure me with regards to your intentions. I am
concerned when you mention ‘the systems’ in such a blanket way. Which
systems are you referring to?
Also, the every child matters document doesn’t suggest every child should
achieve this. Instead it suggests that :

‘The Government’s aim is for every child, whatever their background or their
circumstances, to have the support they need to:

* Be healthy
* Stay safe
* Enjoy and achieve
* Make a positive contribution
* Achieve economic well-being

which is somewhat different in meaning. obviously one can’t legislate
against ill health! i found the subdivisions of the following document helpful

http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=pr

oductdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=DCSF-00331-2008
i would be forgiven for thinking this was entirely aimed at school children
due to the number of times schooling is mentioned. Possibility due to the
risks inherent of bullying and antisocial behaviour at school. If the full 5
every child matters is going to be adhered to strictly, I would like a proper
confirmation and clarification particularly of the sub division that every child
should attend and enjoy school. i think that this is outwith the education
act – all children should receive and education. i do not expect that the
majority of schooled children will achieve ‘stretching national educational
standards’ because they would then not be stretching.

i have no objection to the overarching theme of wanting to give children a
‘good start in life’ and the 5 outcomes do appear ‘noble’. but unless you are
planning widespread action against LA’s and schools for not achieving this
wholescale, expecting home educators to achieve wholescale [particularly
when the subdivisions are not recognising home education] appears to be
unfair.

home educators have retained the responsibility of educating their children.
Like all parents, they have also retained the responsibility of raising, caring
and protecting their children. i do not believe that parents in this country
have agreed to be bound by every child matters outcomes. I do not believe
that these 5 outcomes are contextually relevant in a non-institutional
setting.
>
>The guidelines on home education that we issued last year have not
>resolved the concerns of some LAs about their ability to fulfil their
>responsibilities in relation to home educated children. The recent
>public consultation suggested that many people – home educating parents
>and local authorities included – feel the guidelines and legislation are
>confusing and sometimes perhaps at odds with each other. We know there
>is an issue now and it is right that we identify any barriers -
>perceived or real – to children’s entitlement to achieve the five
>outcomes. We will take whatever action is necessary to strengthen the
>arrangements.

Having responded to the previous consultation, and spoken to many home
educators on the subject, I believe that if you analysed the commentary as
well as the yes/no then you would find that home educators on the whole
felt the law was clear enough, and the new guidelines in parts were at odds
with the law.

Which barriers do you perceive will threaten children’s entitlements to
achieve the five outcomes? Do you believe that child centred, paced
education within a loving, stable and safe environment is a threat?

I believe that ‘we will take whatever action is necessary to strengthen the
arrangements’ could certainly be take as a threat. I do not know which
arrangements you mean, and whatever actions you would consider, but i
hope you will elucidate.

>
>I note the concerns you have surrounding the shorter consultation, the
>Review of Home Education is being led by Graham Badman, former Director
>of Children’s Services at Kent County Council. Mr Badman has decided
>that he wants his review to be informed by material from a wide range of
>stakeholders, so he decided to offer the opportunity for organisations
>and individuals to contribute to the review by filling in a
>questionnaire.
>

he appears to have used different questionnaires for different ‘stakeholders’
. I would argue, that having not abdicated my rights to educate my child
entirely legally, and there being no evidence that I am not doing so, that
myself and my child are the only stakeholders of interest.

>The new Code of Practice on Consultation issued by BERR says that:
>
>’…a formal, written, public consultation will not be the most
>effective or proportionate way of seeking input from interested parties
>eg when engaging stakeholders very early in policy development
>(preceding formal consultation) ……In such cases an exercise under
>this Code would not be appropriate. There is, moreover, a variety of
>other ways available to seek input from interested parties other than a
>formal consultation’
>
but you are not very early in policy development. your subsequent
paragraph suggests a potential change to either law or guidance.

>Once the Review is complete it will be presented to Ministers who will
>then decide whether or not to take forward any of the recommendations.
>We anticipate that any Review recommendations that trigger proposals to
>change the law or guidance would be subject to a full public
>consultation.
>
>With regards to the consultation only being available on the internet,
>experience of other reviews suggests that this approach is an effective
>way of collecting information from the public in a relatively short
>period of time. We know that the home education community uses this
>method extensively in their contact with the Government.
>
Actually, a small minority of vocal home educators uses this medium to
consult with the dscf. If the lower estimate of 20,000 home educated
children is accurate, and approximately 1000 consultation responses are
achieved [similar to the previous consultation] this would confirm only a
minority of views are being canvassed.

>You mention that in the questionnaire, it is suggested that home
>educated children are abused, we know this is not necessarily the case
>and that most home educated children are neither abused nor neglected.
>However, parents who abuse or neglect their children will find it easier
>to conceal this if they say they are educating their child at home as
>they will not be seen regularly by a teacher or other professional. This
>means that LAs do not have the same level of assurance about the welfare
>of children being educated at home, and there is a greater risk that the
>warning signs of abuse of a child not in school will not be picked up at
>an early stage.
>
I think we will very definitely disagree on this one. The NSPCC
spokesperson confirmed that they have no evidence whatsoever regarding
abuse in home educating families. The majority of abused children are
either pre-school or schooled, and the abuse is rarely picked up for these
cases through school concerns. home educated children will see other
professionals as often as schooled children. they are just being educated
otherwise, not cloistered.

please, if you have concrete evidence rather than allegations of abuse
within the home educated community, rather than those missing in
education, please formalise this.

LA’s have no assurance about the welfare of preschool children either.

>We are aware of allegations and concerns in this area but we want to
>establish what evidence is available. This is not just about that
>whether or not home education is currently used to cover child abuse,
>but also about ensuring that proportionate measures are in place to
>prevent it being used in future as a cover for neglect, forced marriage,
>or other forms of child abuse.

I see. i am sure as you wrote this you realised what a poor justification this
is, to curtail freedoms for the conceived potential of future problems. What
would be a proportionate measure for a current imagined future problem?
Are not social services stretched enough with real cases? Please, I would
be most interested in where you felt proportionate measures may lead.

I am aware that this email is starting to seem combatative. Possibly due to
the aggressive and dismissive way in which you formulated your response.
my responses are obviously aimed at your department rather than you as
an individual. After all, very similar responses have been received by other
home educators so I am assuming a departmental basic memo has been
used.

>
>I would like to assure you we are not singling out home educating
>families. Every child – whether home or school educated, is entitled to
>the five Every Child Matters outcomes.
I agree that schooled and home educated children are similarly entitled to
be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve learning objectives relevant to the
childs age, ability and aptitude, make a positive contribution with their
subsequent life and ideally be self funding thereafter [achieve economic
wellbeing]

>We need to ensure that home
>educated children are able to achieve the five outcomes, just as
>children in maintained schools do.
i am not sure that you are able to achieve this within the schooled setting,
and I don’t agree that you need to ensure this within the home educated
population. i am quite happy that you would like this to be a goal for all
children, however, I do not see why one group has to achieve it, when it is
impossible for all children. As I have not abrogated responsibility to an
institution, it is therefore my responsibility to ensure to the best of my
ability that my child’s goals are met.

>The Department has recently announced
>a review of safeguarding in independent schools, non maintained special
>schools and boarding schools. The circumstances of a child educated at
>home are different from those educated at school and we need to be sure
>that the systems and procedures that are in place to protect these
>children are fit for purpose.
>
You are assuming again that home educated children require systems and
procedures to protect them, that home education itself is a risk factor for
abuse.

>Government has also commissioned reviews of Local Safeguarding Children
>Boards and Serious Case Reviews. These reviews are part of our ongoing
>commitment to ensure that all children are safe and well.
>
>i hope you find this informative.

unfortunately, your response has thrown up a number of other questions, I
hope that you will be so kind as to reply to my email in more detail,

Yours sincerely,

8 Comments

Posted in political

an answer from the dcsf

Posted on February 3, 2009 | 3 comments

Dear Ms [!! and my surname]

Thank you for your email of 26 January regarding the review of Home
Education. I have been asked to reply.

With regards to the review of home education, it may be helpful if I
explain that we are committed to ensuring that systems for keeping
children safe, and ensuring that they receive a suitable education, are
as robust as possible. We have been progressively strengthening the
systems and it is good practice to ensure that they are operating as
intended. An independent review of home education is part of this
continuing commitment to strengthening the system and to ensure all
children achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes.

The guidelines on home education that we issued last year have not
resolved the concerns of some LAs about their ability to fulfil their
responsibilities in relation to home educated children. The recent
public consultation suggested that many people – home educating parents
and local authorities included – feel the guidelines and legislation are
confusing and sometimes perhaps at odds with each other. We know there
is an issue now and it is right that we identify any barriers -
perceived or real – to children’s entitlement to achieve the five
outcomes. We will take whatever action is necessary to strengthen the
arrangements.

I note the concerns you have surrounding the shorter consultation, the
Review of Home Education is being led by Graham Badman, former Director
of Children’s Services at Kent County Council. Mr Badman has decided
that he wants his review to be informed by material from a wide range of
stakeholders, so he decided to offer the opportunity for organisations
and individuals to contribute to the review by filling in a
questionnaire.

The new Code of Practice on Consultation issued by BERR says that:

‘…a formal, written, public consultation will not be the most
effective or proportionate way of seeking input from interested parties
eg when engaging stakeholders very early in policy development
(preceding formal consultation) ……In such cases an exercise under
this Code would not be appropriate. There is, moreover, a variety of
other ways available to seek input from interested parties other than a
formal consultation’

Once the Review is complete it will be presented to Ministers who will
then decide whether or not to take forward any of the recommendations.
We anticipate that any Review recommendations that trigger proposals to
change the law or guidance would be subject to a full public
consultation.

With regards to the consultation only being available on the internet,
experience of other reviews suggests that this approach is an effective
way of collecting information from the public in a relatively short
period of time. We know that the home education community uses this
method extensively in their contact with the Government.

You mention that in the questionnaire, it is suggested that home
educated children are abused, we know this is not necessarily the case
and that most home educated children are neither abused nor neglected.
However, parents who abuse or neglect their children will find it easier
to conceal this if they say they are educating their child at home as
they will not be seen regularly by a teacher or other professional. This
means that LAs do not have the same level of assurance about the welfare
of children being educated at home, and there is a greater risk that the
warning signs of abuse of a child not in school will not be picked up at
an early stage.

We are aware of allegations and concerns in this area but we want to
establish what evidence is available. This is not just about that
whether or not home education is currently used to cover child abuse,
but also about ensuring that proportionate measures are in place to
prevent it being used in future as a cover for neglect, forced marriage,
or other forms of child abuse.

I would like to assure you we are not singling out home educating
families. Every child – whether home or school educated, is entitled to
the five Every Child Matters outcomes. We need to ensure that home
educated children are able to achieve the five outcomes, just as
children in maintained schools do. The Department has recently announced
a review of safeguarding in independent schools, non maintained special
schools and boarding schools. The circumstances of a child educated at
home are different from those educated at school and we need to be sure
that the systems and procedures that are in place to protect these
children are fit for purpose.

Government has also commissioned reviews of Local Safeguarding Children
Boards and Serious Case Reviews. These reviews are part of our ongoing
commitment to ensure that all children are safe and well.

i hope you find this informative.

Yours sincerely

[deleted by me]
Public Communications Unit

www.dcsf.gov.uk

so very happy to have a response. interesting to see how many identical ones, as it didn’t cover the points as i raised them. but, TBH, i woudl do a mass email response too if I were them

3 Comments

Posted in political, Ponderings

returning

Posted on February 2, 2009 | 1 comment

we had a lovely time at monster teenies this weekend. late nights, chats, a brisk walk around the allotment [as it was v cold, and then snowed!] some overly tired children to bring home!! thanks to hosts.
wondering just how snowy it might be when I get up tomorrow!!

1 Comment

Posted in General

waves of fire 2

Posted on January 30, 2009 | 9 comments


IMG_6223, originally uploaded by Scrumbledelicious.

i haven’t managed to upload video as on lappy with older uploader. when do will embed in post below – but look, isn’t it FAB!! [and home made!!]

9 Comments

Posted in General

waves of fire

Posted on January 30, 2009 | 16 comments

before i start on wed, i would like to poit out that i finished work at 10pm on tues, so somewhat knackered. i think i am finding work a bit overwhelming in the hours dept at the mo, and it will get worse. ho hum. but i am being resolutely polyanna that i do have a job, and a well paid one – well, i am trying to be anyway as i cerebrally know that is good!! but occasionally it is good to take a second to feel sorry for oneself, and wonder how i got here!

so i dragged myself up on wed early early and the kids so we could go to london, i knew it would be worth it!! we had brekkie of croissants and brioche in the train – such a good idea! a surprise as we saw the manor borns at one of the stations along the way, but they were waiting for another of their party, so we waved and carried on.

we had a plan you see! SB and I were going to an RI lecture on explosive sounds [or something like that] and chris and BB were going to the science museum so she had something fun to do. and then we were going to have a picnic lunch with friends – including the monster teenies – and then spend vouchers in waterstones before going home, SB having her brownie whatsit thingy and judo. well, that was the plan!

SB and i did duly go to the lecture and met up with michelle, c and their friends there. the monsterteenies were rain stopped play though. it was truly fab. being early, we had ringside seats, and the chappie was v enthusiastic, inhaling helium and oh tarnation I have forgotten what the heavy gas was sulphur hexa fluoride anyway we had squeaky and then low darth vade voices, and discussion of asphyxiation and drowning in gases. we all did various not mexican waves as well. the kids all v happy.

the piece de resistance was his home made flame wave machine. when uploaded to youtube, i will put it here. it was well worth the early morning start. we loved it!!

[imagine short video here!]
[flickr video=3239676358]

Afterwards i hired the pda’s and went down to the basement to interact with the museum exhibits. what a fab idea that was. we had to skip out to meet chris and BB, but next time would spend longer in the museum.

We ate at a place called cilantro [ :roll: that too trendy to be called coriander!] and then spent 90 mins in waterstones agonising over books. BB surprisingly rejected the latest Winnie’s Flying Carpet (Winnie the Witch) [which i wanted to read!] and instead had a dinosaur theme! Dinosaurs Love Underpants Dangerous Dinosaurs Jigsaw Book (Horrible Histories Novelty) Jungle (Sounds of the Wild) and SB sorted out a variety of books having melted down over the roald dahl books and not chosen any of them… We saw M and C for about 5 mins, had a wrong book trauma best glossed over and missed train by a minute.

oops, so we missed the beginning of brownies, SB missed her swearing in, and by the time she finished judo she was wiped out. we did read books on the train though!

BUT a fab day!

ooh, forgot to say, that I got this book. We had a bit of discussion round it on the tube, and you could see lots of peerers over!!

16 Comments

Posted in Books, Butterbean's HE, General, geography, history, literacy, Out and About, pre reading, science, Stringbean's HE

we saw some more birds

Posted on January 26, 2009 | Leave a comment

i saw the wren whilst getting dressed, so will agree on yesterday’s sighting! also 2 bluetits, a coal tit and 3 chaffinches so that is our lot!! we feed these birds well for the privilege of a quick peak at them!!

SB and BB have sylvanianed again today, and also done some maths and piano. when i got home SB chose to do SOtW as it was richard lionheart to robin hood. since we have done less crafty things with this castle phase than i thought we would, she has decided to do some stop animation, so then spent a fair while working out what she needed – ie now to paint a background. she has the story apparently sorted.

Whilst SB at ballet, BB and i did some painting together, and then played tummy ache and operation. SB came back a bit deflated with her grade 2 ballet result [just missed passing] be we reassured her that all was ok, and actually they get a certificate for taking part. SHe had the RAD dvd for xmas, so will do a bit of that occassionally for fun! [OMG, does that mean i need to do more ballet?]

Chris put up some shelves in the girls room, and I am feeling a bit mis to be back at work, but…

Leave a comment

Posted in Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, daubing and making, DIY/ house renovation, early maths skills, General, history, music, numeracy, pre reading, Stringbean's HE, writing

that DCSF consultation! a first draft

Posted on January 26, 2009 | 11 comments

yes, that one. actually this is the second as i have added 3 and 4! but changing the title would prob change various links oops now the third! as have sort of finished, but would really like feedback before i submit, much nearer to the deadline!

i admit that my response isn’t finished or filed yet, that other peoples blogs have v much influenced me, but here goes!!

1 Do you think the current system for safeguarding children who are educated at home is adequate? Please let us know why you think that.

YES

Comments:

There is no evidence to show that children educated at home are at increased risk of abuse of any kind. in fact, due to the lack of evidence of child abuse publicised in the population subset it may be that they are less at risk. i am presuming that the question is indeed referring to those educated at home rather than those ‘missing in education’.

Like other children they access healthcare providers, community facilities and have families, neighbours and friends, all of whom would be able to access the standard child protection facilities. i cannot see how this would work more or less successfully in the home educated population than it does in the schooled population [where there seems to be woeful under-reporting]

Is this new ‘rushed’ consultation the government response to the consultation that suggested no further inspection powers to be granted for LA’s? from reading the guidance, this does seem to be the premise. Again it seems that there is some muddling of thought between educational provision and child protection. the LEA has provision to investigate if it is felt that there is no evidence of home education provision. even should they investigate, this does not act to safeguard children at home. Are you instead suggesting that all home educators should be regularly visited by social workers? when social workers are already overloaded with cases that potentially have some basis, adding a huge layer of extra work in a population group that has not been evidenced to be of high risk does not sound reasonable. if you are suggesting all home educators are visited for a ‘safe and well’ assessment, is this not targeting the population group unreasonably?

I agree with the Government definition of bullying as:

‘Behaviour by an individual or group, usually repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally’.

I also find helpful the following clarification by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, which states that bullying mostly falls into two categories:

* emotionally harmful behaviour, such as taunting, spreading hurtful rumours and excluding people from groups; and
* physically harmful behaviour, such as kicking, hitting, pushing, or other forms of physical abuse.

The following three conditions are used to define incidences of harmful interpersonal behaviour as bullying behaviour. Behaviour is bullying behaviour if:

* it is repetitive, wilful or persistent;
* it is intentionally harmful, carried out by an individual or group; and,
* there is an imbalance of power leaving the person who is bullied feeling defenceless.

It crosses my mind that these repeated consultations are a form of government intimidation and bullying. with wilful and persistent spreading of rumours against the home education population, suggesting that the parents within that group abuse their children, are not educating their children, with a clear imbalance of power, leaving home educators feeling defenceless.

2 a) Do you think that home educated children are able to achieve the following five Every Child Matters outcomes? Please let us know why you think that.

2 a)

Be healthy

YES

Comments:

i am not sure why the 5 have been separated. I see no difficulty for any home educator in aiming to achieve these

The aim is for all children and young people to achieve the five outcomes of Every Child Matters, that is to:

* be healthy;
* stay safe;
* enjoy life and achieve their full potential;
* be interested and fully involved in the community they live in;
* achieve economic independence.

In particular, children and young people should expect to:

* be able to grow and develop in safety and free from prejudice and discrimination;
* be listened to and have their views taken into account;
* be treated with respect;
* belong to and be valued in their community;
* see their needs and interests at the heart of everything we all do.

in fact for many of them i would imagine it would be easier to turn the aiming into a reality.

However, in the be healthy, like in any population subgroup this is an aspiration rather than a 100% achievable goal, children may have illness, disease, accidents in this group as in any other. however, in a home educated environment, many children may find it easier to achieve their full potential despite illness that would cause difficulty in a larger group setting
2 b)

Stay safe

YES

Comments: I think this is palpably easier to achieve in the home educated setting, where the child’s abilities and freedoms are scaffolded by the parent, where there are less opportunities for being bullied, for having undesirable interactions with peers that may involve physical, sexual or mental aggression [as evidenced by a number of surveys]

2 c)

Enjoy and achieve

YES
Comments:

home education is a more direct, interactive and child focused method of education, whether it be of a ‘home school’ type, following a curriculum [even if not the rather dire national curriculum] , a child led or autonomous approach, or the many shades in between including Montessori, Charlotte Mason etc styles. This leads to a clear feedback between child and parent on interest, on the speed and depth which might suit each child individually. This means that the child is far more likely to enjoy their education, as it is tailored to them personally, with varying levels of child/parent involvement as suits the individual and the family. It is clear that not only do children learn at different speeds, but they learn in different ways at different times, and home education, is ideally placed to follow these patterns.
research has suggested that autonomous education is indeed a very efficient learning method.
I would suggest that home education has the ability here to outperform other educational establishments.
I also think that in looking at this question, perhaps the government is ignoring the ability of home education families to be flexible in their resourcing, using open university, online course, colleges, tutors etc to provide as high an educational rigour as many schools do for examination subjects as required.

ultimately, i think that home educated children have a higher likelihood of being able to ‘enjoy life and achieve their full potential’ due to the freedom and ability they have to influence daily the education and knowledge they learn.

2 d)

Make a positive contribution.

YES

Comments:

i think this is a very poorly thought out aim. A positive contribution to what? Society, community, family, scientific theory? or just…
it seems that really the 4th aim is
‘be interested and fully involved in the community they live in’
and I believe that home education is ideally tailored to this, as the child to adult is fully participating in the community from early on.

2 e)

Achieve economic well-being

YES

Comments:

I think that any home educated child is as likely if not more so to ‘achieve economic independence’ as a school educated child. this is because as the child progresses into their teens, then part of the process is considering interests, and moving forwards. Skills suitable to ability and aptitude are developed.

I notice no great mention is made of the subsidiary aims
* be able to grow and develop in safety and free from prejudice and discrimination;
* be listened to and have their views taken into account;
* be treated with respect;
* belong to and be valued in their community;
* see their needs and interests at the heart of everything we all do.
which again I would say are probably at the heart of every families educational philosophy on how to proceed. I sincerely wonder how these aims can even be begun to be achieved in large schools with huge class sizes of disparate educational goals, abilities and aptitudes.

3. Do you think that Government and local authorities have an obligation to ensure that all children in this country are able to achieve the five outcomes? If you answered yes, how do you think Government should ensure this?. If you answered no, why do you think that?

No

Comments.

from reading around the admirable every child matters documentation, it is clear that these targets are an aspirational goal, for LA’s to put systems in place that can work towards helping children achieve these goals. there is no outcome framework attached with 100% targets. They are in fact ambitions, not backed by legislative force, and certainly couldn’t be achieved to 100% within the schooled population who you seem to believe are more adequately monitored.

4. Do you think there should be any changes made to the current system for supporting home educating families? If you answered yes, what should they be? If you answered no, why do you think that?

yes

Comments:

I don’t actually see that the home educated community is supported in any way at the present. If you actuallyy wish to support home education, rather than vilifying and deriding, there are some simple and low cost options:
the provision of free meeting rooms for group home education meetings
the provision of places to sit free of charge examinations as external candidates – such as GCSE etc, and possibly the availability of free Open university courses.
suitable training and resourcing of any liaison personnel with home educators, such that they are not extrapolating school to school at home, but have a broad ranging understanding of the different methods of home education and can encourage the diversity without bias.
free access to school resources through local libraries would also be much appreciated.

5. Do you think there should be any changes made to the current system for monitoring home educating families? If you answered yes, what should they be? If you answered no, why do you think that?

no

Comments:

I believe that the law as represented in the Elective Home Education Guidelines 2007 is appropriate for monitoring educational provision. This appeared to be the outcome from previous exhaustive consultations. please see guidelines at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities/index.cfm?action=content&contentID=11357&categoryID=75&subcategoryID=106 and the follow up consultation on implementation, both of which I responded to. Suggesting that a single question in a further consultation might negate the previous consultation does not appear valid.

I also feel that having a separate much larger consultation for LA’s/professionals only rather than all stakeholders running concurrently seems designed to purposefully introduce bias towards the governments agenda and hoped for outcomes.

The law needs to respect the balance between citizen and the state. Local authorities must respect the law, understand where they genuinely have duties and where they don’t and not overstep these duties

6. Some people have expressed concern that home education could be used as a cover for child abuse, forced marriage, domestic servitude or other forms of child neglect. What do you think Government should do to ensure this does not happen?

Answer:

I would like to see the evidence behind this. it appears that the NSPCC itself holds no evidence for this. i find, in the absence of any references given, this to be a defamatory statement [In law, defamation (also called calumny, libel, slander, and vilification) is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image] and feel that this should be immediately retracted.

Introducing compulsory checks for all home educating families will be a waste of valuable and limited resources, is highly unlikely to turn up the needle in the haystack and would be an abuse of civil rights and human rights, in contravention of Article 8 of the ECHR. Should this be introduced, the logical extension is for all children not receiving external childcare, and this would include those of pre-school age who do not attend nursery or alternative external to home placements.

I would like to reiterate that like other children, those home educated access healthcare providers, community facilities and have families, neighbours and friends, all of whom would be able to access the standard child protection facilities. In all the high profile child protection stories in the newspapers, there have been multiple flags from a variety of professionals including doctors and social services already involved. It does not appear that the presence [or absence in the case of some withdrawn] of schooling has been a deciding or flagging factor in raising the alarm of abuse.

I would again like to state that these repeated consultations are a form of government intimidation and bullying. There appears to be wilful and persistent spreading of rumours and slander against the home education population without corroborative evidence, suggesting that the parents within that group abuse their children or are not educating their children or looking towards their wider welfare. there is a clear imbalance of power towards the government, leaving home educators feeling defenceless and bullied.

I will be including this in a complaint to the Select Committee for Children Schools and Families [csfcom@parliament.uk] and also to my MP
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hmmm comments please so i can improve on this. i really am quite crap at consultation writing! i got a bit bored towards the end, so have stopped there for now!

11 Comments

Posted in General, political, Ponderings

bring back the birds!

Posted on January 25, 2009 | 6 comments

we have had a v relaxing end to the week, and have chilled, read and gamed. SB has declared undying love for roald dahl, and is rampaging through his books, having read this weekend Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fantastic Mr Fox and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (Young Puffin Read Alone) she is going to make a list [who does she get that from] of all the roald dahl books we have, and then spend her book vouchers on getting the ones we don’t. not that she has stuck with fiction, other nose in a book moments with See Inside Your Body (Usborne Flap Books) and The Search for Radium: Marie Curie’s Story (Science Stories). but actually what she has mostly done this weekend [and this is a falling of perch moment plus extra drumrolls] is writing!!!!!!!! My daughter, the not keen on writing one, must have spent about 8 hours this weekend writing. SHe has written thankyou notes to all her friends who went to centreparcs [all of her own volition, and the one i caught site of was v effusive] as she wanted to let them all know how much she loved them – aaaah. please remember agape! those whose children receive them, will hopefully receive them more happily than the rainbow friend, who when SB told her she loved her, said that that was highly inappropriate [raised eyebrows emoticon!] lots of 2 way explanations involved which i thought rather saddened the whole thing. ANyway, proud of all her writing, we carried on with all the christmas thankyous. SB has also done some piano practice [last pieces in the gbdf book] and maths – spurred on by BB with her head in the clouds declaring that she was catching up!

yep, BB feels she is v clever in maths, and is happily working through her earlibird 1B, reminding me to do it with her. we are doing odd and even at the moment, but we had a minor blip when she insisted she was counting pairs of shoes, not individual ones, so 3 pairs are odd :roll: i think it is time to group then plant seeds!! aubergines and chillis to be precise! she did a bit of Get Ready for the Code – Book B which she is particularly keen on as there is a dinosaur on the front! we had done lots of reading together, including most of the quentin blake books we got from the book people, incl this one Mister Magnolia (Red Fox Mini Treasure) .

hmm, what else, oh, we did french, some conversation using l’arte de dire, and also I’m Too Big/Je Suis Trop Gros (I Can Read French) and we played lots of games [Orchard Toys Tell The Time , Blokus , Guess Who ] we tcikled, giggled, sylvanianed – the girls doing good compromise and cooperation – phew! BB did some brianbox electronics, and was most pleased to get a circuit that could light [she wasn't following instructions]PRIMARY2 KIT – Electronics & Science Construction Kit [bah to all that text in the link!!].

oh, and we fed the birds, and then attempted to find them for the rspb birdwatch. sigh! we saw 14 starlings, 3 blackbirds, 2 wrens [tho only sb saw them, it is a possibility] 1 robin, 2 collared doves, 3 woodpigeons and a chaffinch. and allegedly, but not so believably a thrush. we think we might try again!

each eve we have chilled with the tv – Dr Who first series [bit creepy are you my mummy] and tonight the 4th harry potter. so that us. back to work for me tomorrow – sigh

6 Comments

Posted in Butterbean's HE, early maths skills, General, history, language, literacy, little languages, music, numeracy, pre reading, science, Stringbean's HE, writing

Splashing about

Posted on January 24, 2009 | 4 comments

unlike some people :wink: we didn’t take laptops/internet access devices with us, so did not blog from centreparcs. so this is not going to be a blow by blow account!

we had a fab time. we certainly did A LOT of swimming. our swimming biorhythms seemed to cross across other families, so we saw a lot of our friends in the pool. it was a family holiday with contiguous friends and was very lovely. [ the making it up, deependers, going against the flow and manor borns on the blogring] we had a plan, and it failed, which was for us all to swim before taking the car round to the cabin, but my swimmies were missed out :cry: so i left chris and the kids swimming and took the car round, and realised i couldnt unpack it as i didn’t have key to the bike rack. grr! never mind. said hello to all arrivals, and generally chilled! we took one premade meal, and next time would take 2!

we swam on the whole 2ce a day, a morning and late aft/eve. this was in part because we like swimming, we liked swimming in the dark! and because it limited our desire to pay for other activities!! SB is a bit of a water nymph. she and clo went round the slides and rapids countless times. i did go down various, and most impressed with my white sliding, as i had been concerned that all the pool water would exit! i think each child got a fair crack at the attention!! BB got braver and braver in the week, and by the end was ‘diving’ in the shallows sans any life saving devices since she could stand back up. we must go more regularly, as she will i imagine begin to progress towards not quite drowning.
we all enjoyed the indoor river and the waves. the deependers and us were disappointed that our patience was not rewarded in the hot pool though. Michelle deserves a special mention as nose clip finder extraordinaire… oh, and the snow falling on swimming the rapids was apparently cool, but when me and bb got to the hot salt pools to investigate it was just v cold rain!

so, we also did some extras. jo suggested bowling one evening, and we loved that. it was partic good as it had no music track to be too noisy. that our family is fairly hopeless, but enjoyed it. i tore half my thunb nail off – still painful. BB and shannon kept swapping news and info – which was v cute.

SB walking past the aerial adventure was v keen on it. and seeing it reduced from 22 to 15 quid, we gave it a whirl, in fact, clo tagged on too since chris was there to be the adult. they both loved it. i was v proud of SB not giving up when she had difficulty with the spiders web, and getting round. she then had a bit of a wobble facing the zip wire at the end, and i felt for her [being 25 m away in distance and prob 15 in height] but clo whizzed down first, and she felt she could then do it. she was v happy to have done it, but thinks she would like to try just jumping off next time! jo also did it, and we stayed to cheer her round as well.

free activities were cycling, as chris took sb and clo on a cycle tour of cp that lasted some while. considering the mixture of on and off roading they seem to have done, i am surprised they made their way back. bb did a fair bit of cycling on her new bike. but she seems to be using it mostly as a like abike at the moment. my bike had a broke front wheel :roll: i am going to buy a bike to encourage a bit of usage!

then there was interaction with friends, games playing and grownup interaction too – mostly at jax ‘n’ tim’s as there were 2 families there. all v lovely. A brief swim and visit by Em, E and R was a treat as well.

bB slept in the car and then all eve, so has been awake till far too late, but we are all of the exhausted persuasion i think. will flickr at some point – ah yes, the camera! we bought a v cheap underwater camera there. it took dire photos, and then wouldn’t delete, so we took it back and got money back. they are on tim’s laptop though, and hopefully he’ll send us them, and we can post the 1 or 2 out of 26 that you can see identifiable shapes on!!

Here is the centreparc photo set

4 Comments

Posted in General, Out and About, socialisation

a book buying week [oops]

Posted on January 16, 2009 | 4 comments

my order from the little linguist arrived, and we have read since i got home from work The Giant Turnip Walking Through the Jungle (Mantra duets), Not Again Red Riding Hood. they were great hits, as the english is funny, the french doesn’t appear to be a direct translation, but use nice language [must check with katy!] and we also bought jill and the beanstalk, 3 billy goats gruff – which i remember borrowing from leeds library in english/arabic [and a couple of others :blush: ] un beknownst to me, chris had also weakened on the resource front! Great Inventors and Their Inventions: Archimedes, Gutenberg, Franklin, Nobel, Bell, Marconi, The Wright Brothers, Edison (Junior Classics) Great Explorers of the World: Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Vasco Da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Captain Cook, Lewis and Clark, Livingstone … Apollo Mission to the Moon (Junior Classics) Great Scientists and Their Discoveries (Junior Classics) . i blame michelle :lol:

otherwise, thurs was tots group and SB and BB went, bB ecstatic as did lots of recordering. Sb listed to stuff about the phoenix lander. then they had gym, and sb got her level 7 and 6 badges – rofl at gym going backwards.
today there was a playdate, that apparently went reallly well.

chris may or may not blog this obviously :wink:

4 Comments

Posted in Books, General, language, little languages