Agenda item

The Strategic Director of Social Care and Education submits a report to provide an overview about the provision of education to children who are not on the roll of a state-maintained school also those on roll but attending alternative provision, and the statutory responsibilities and processes of the local authority.

The Strategic Director of Social Care and Education submitted a report to provide an overview about the provision of education to children who were not on the roll of a state-maintained school, also those who were on roll but attending alternative provision, and the statutory responsibilities and processes of the local authority.

The Principal Education Officer presented the item, it was noted that:

·         It was a parental duty to ensure that their children had access to education, and the Council’s powers and responsibilities around children out of school were limited.

·         There had been a significant increase since the pandemic of children being electively home educated.

·         The Council took action to follow up on those children who were missing from education.

·         There were 14 independent schools in the city, the Council now received the data of who was coming onto and off of those school rolls.

·         There was a new duty to ensure that independent schools had appropriate safeguarding audits in place. There were specific inspections around safeguarding.

·         There were also responsibilities around monitoring those moving schools, applying for schools when emigrating, or leaving the city.

In response to questions from Members and Youth Representatives, it was noted that:

·         There was a through approach in finding children whose cases needed to be followed up.

·         The largest change on numbers in previous years was the numbers being electively home educated. There had been a fluctuation in independent school numbers as well.

·         The level in movement in numbers was now more dynamic than in previous decades.

·         The start of the school year was a hotspot point for parents to withdraw their children from school rolls.

·         These figures were not published on a national level so comparison with other authorities was not currently possible. However, DfE were expected to soon be publishing more data in this area which could lead to comparison.

·         The increase in those being electively home educated seemed to be a national trend.

·         There was now only one independent school which had not provided a safeguarding audit, an escalation process was ongoing. This could lead to the school being identified to the Independent Schools Inspectorate.

·         The Council had no role in regulating the provision of online education. It was anticipated regulatory powers may be brought in with the upcoming Online Safety Bill.

·         The DfE were not currently providing any additional funding for these new responsibilities despite the expectation of new burden funding, there was widespread concern about this. Efforts were ongoing to manage the increased demand with lesser resources. 

·         Current guidance suggested the Council do an annual check on each home educated child.

·         There was evidence that there were home educating groups to allow contact with peers. Is there was no evidence of socialisation for children then that would be of concern from the Council regarding this.

·         There was no obligation for parents home educating to follow any given curriculum.

AGREED:

1.    That the Commission expresses concern over the lack of new burden funding for the additional responsibilities around monitoring children out of school.

2.    That the Commission asks for a verbal update at a future meeting regarding the outstanding safeguarding audit from the independent school