(a)

the Elective Home Education support service was delivered by the ACE Multi Academy Trust who held the register of children who were electively home educated; ACE Multi Academy Trust monitored the curriculum and the delivery of home education however there was no requirement for families to register but this was encouraged. This contract was due to end in August 2019 and the monitoring and oversight of home education would be the responsibility of Plymouth City Council;

(b)

Electively Home Educated (EHE) pupils were also monitored through a Local Authority register; appropriate action was taken where it appeared that an EHE pupil was not receiving suitable education;

(c)

the Department for Education was conducting a consultation in relation to establishing a local authority registration system for children who did not attend state-funded or registered independent schools;

(d)

the Home Education Bill had its third reading at the House of Commons on 24 July 2018 – the outcomes was the withdrawal of the Bill at this point in the process however the Department for Education subsequently launched a Call for Evidence regarding children not in school. This call for evidence incorporated elective home education as a theme.  This call for evidence closed on 24th June 2019 and officers were awaiting the outcome with regard to the impact for children who were electively home educated;

(e)

Officers considered that parents should be given a two week cooling-off period once they have withdrawn their child from school – this would provide officers with a short window of opportunity to work with parents to find out possible resolutions to problems. Officers also suggested that a child who had withdrawn from school should be able to return to school up to a six month period after they had withdrawn to make it easier for them to return to the formal education system.

(f)

there was currently a voluntary registration system for home education therefore it was not known how many children had only ever been home educated as parents were not required to notify the Local Authority;

(g)

a significant number of those who had elected to be home educated had given the reason for this choice to be ‘other’ on the questionnaire instead of  specifying why – it was considered that this was because it was a lifestyle choice and they had elected not to be a part of the local authority education system;

(h)

the school was required to notify the local authority if a child had been removed from a school setting to instead be electively home educated;

(i)

schools were working closely with the Council to recognise and reduce pupil movement, specifically with regards to elective home education;

(j)

from the data provided it was highlighted that those who had elective home education were mainly white British;

(k)

the majority of children in the city who were part of the travelling community were enrolled in school settings; an education officer would visit children who had arrived to the city;

(l)

Officers were often unable to identify reasons for a child being home schooled, or to see if a child had previously had multiple school settings or exclusions as the child was immediately removed from roll once the child was withdrawn so this information was not available to them.