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“My child is 13yrs old (11yrs when left school after one term at senior/secondary school) and we attend an home education group known to the LA.
We are registered because I wanted to do things ‘by the book’
The LA contacted me by letter and my first impression was neither a positive or negative one; just as expected from reading up on what home ed entailed. I de-registered my child from school and then heard from LA with a several-page request to set down what I hoped to achieve and how. I'd copied several of the online ones to help me draft this, but when it came to it I found just answering the questions enabled me to set down a rough idea of what I wanted to do and why (which, however, has changed many times since!). Perhaps having had my child at school all her life until then, I was used to having to fill in forms!
After the first 'report' as above, setting out how I planned to home educate my child, I was then visited by an Inspector three months later, who wrote a report. He then visited, inspected and reported again six months later, and thereafter once a year (so once more since then).
The only person I've met is the annual inspector. I notice his first two reports were signed off by a Principal Education Social Worker whom I've otherwise never heard of, and never met, and the third by a Principal Inspector for Inclusion, ditto. There's also Pippa Fowler, the LA 'officer' who originally wrote to me after de-registration with the request for my detailed plan. I was unable to go to the day our Home Ed Centre organized for various LAs, so missed that opportunity of meeting her then; she attended at our invitation.
The visits are not helpful; they're not unhelpful, and they're pleasant, but they are not actively helpful. Our Inspector is a very nice man - a retired head teacher, he told us, whose special subjects were Geography and History. He seems pretty pro home ed - at least, he told my child at our first meeting that she'd learn more in an hour at home than in a day or week (can't remember which) at school. He writes extremely positive reports which I decided to view simply as a good thing because I very much have the sense that he could recommend, or his findings could lead to recommending, she return to school. But sometimes I think Well, nice of you to say so but bit of a cheek really! He has to make comments about us e.g. on my child's happiness etc - for obvious reasons, yes, but I feel like returning the 'compliment' by commenting on his looks, demeanour, etc. I don't, though... Other times I find remarks amusing - as if we're both just going through the motions, here, to fulfil the letter of the LA's requirements.
I feel that I am just supplying evidence.
I'm definitely getting his 'moral' support for home education in that he seems all for it and, as I say, writes very positive reports. But I'm not getting any kind of real support e.g. where to go for exam centres (I asked him and his report that time contained a suggestion that I "locate a local centre..[and]. Find out Examination Boards and Syllabus followed..." I also asked my LA, who were unable to assist.) So I definitely feel the object is for me to supply evidence; it didn't even occur to me that it might be for them to give me support!!!!
I receive a full copy of the report about a week after the visit and it is very reflective of our educational provision.
I don’t know whether our inspector understands the breadth of learning diversity within EHE, though I suspect he does or pretty close. Also he told me last meeting that he also visits our HE group chairperson - so if he wasn't aware before, he certainly will be now!
I do not feel Dorset is generally supportive of H.E.
However, I gather we now have a new 'head' - not sure of what, maybe Director of children's affairs (I heard this from HEC, not from the LA) - so things may change, especially in light of the government's apparent concern that LA s don't have a clue how many home educators they have in their area.
I live alone with my only child, and our very few relatives live in other countries, not in England. I doubt I could have managed the past two years without (a) our Home Education Centre - or, at least, another equally supportive and diverse group which I'd be hard put to find; finding HEC took some 'trial and error' doing, and (b) our local community learning centre with a very keen and dedicated teacher, within easy walking distance.
It is also a fact that having started school in the town we now live in, and having always been at school in the previous town, means my child has a good number of diverse friends and keeps up with what's going on in their lives, in and out of school (without necessarily having to experience all of it firsthand!); this not only increases her circle of friends and adds variety and input, it also reassures her father who's of the non-HE mentality that worries she might not be meeting enough children.
He and I also have a concern about healthy balance between at-home and not-at-home life. On that score, I think her interests (that would be 'extra curricular' if she were still at school) like sailing, golf and tennis, music, dancing, and singing, involving membership of various clubs and choirs and attendance of 'schools' of dance and of sailing and 'academies' of sport, plus school-holiday sport camps and occasional residential courses for her, and our archaeology and history and sight-seeing holidays, all contribute enormously to a well-rounded life that takes both of us out of the home a good deal. Apart from the fact that she wouldn't have time for all of these if at school all day and doing homework all evening, and would in any case perhaps not 'need' them all, my point is that such a life is not cheap, it's expensive, and subsidised by her father. Of course, the 'best things in life are free' but where there's only the two of you, there's no doubt in my mind that being fortunate enough to afford plenty of out-of-school opportunities helps this business of not-at-school education.” [03/2010]
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