The good news of home education As part of the media attack on home education, The Telegraph published an article recently about twelve year old Lilian Hardy. Not many people will have heard of her before the article was published. She hit the headlines because her local council, Westminster, decided to issue a School Attendance…
New polling shows the public want parents at the heart of new relationships education proposals, with most wanting parents informed of the curriculum content ahead of time and to know who is delivering classes. This comes as the government is consulting on what form compulsory relationships education should take for primary school pupils in England,…
Will or won’t parents retain the right to withdraw their children from sex education? Education secretary, Damian Hinds MP, reignited the sex education debate recently when he confirmed in several interviews that parents would retain the right to withdraw their children from sex education classes once the new compulsory subjects of Relationships Education (RE) in…
The press hysteria surrounding home education shows no sign of abating – if anything, it seems to be getting worse. Following the introduction of a Private Members’ Bill by Lord Soley last autumn, which attempts to introduce registration and enforce home inspections, pressure has been building from a range of sources. The Times appears to…
The dubious practice of off-rolling Ofsted has announced that it is to conduct an investigation into exclusion figures, in particular trying to establish why two regions in the north-east (Yorkshire and the Humber) have higher rates of excluded pupils than anywhere else in England. Six of the 10 worst offending areas are situated in the…
Life in Ms Spielman’s totalitarian democracy Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, caused something of an upset recently when she spoke at the Church of England Foundation for Education Leadership conference. She advocated the use of muscular liberalism to counter religious belief. Ms Spielman thinks that religion should be removed to…
Common sense on home education? The Welsh Assembly recently announced a consultation on elective home education. The Children’s Commissioner has been calling for compulsory registration and an annual inspection for all home educated children. Everyone thought that this was going to happen. Instead, Kirsty Williams AM, who is the Cabinet Secretary for Education, decided that…
Amanda Speilman petition gaining thousands of signatures! CLICK HERE to sign the petition Background to the Petition In a recent speech to the Church of England Foundation for Education Leadership (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielmans-speech-at-the-ch…), Head of Ofsted Amanda Spielman claimed that extremists are using religion actively to pervert education and indoctrinate young people. Singling out for particular mention…
The Department for Education is currently conducting a call for evidence, hoping to discover what parents and young people want to see in the new Relationships and Sex Education curriculum. The policy revision is proving controversial, with good reason. At the moment, parents have the right to remove their children from sex education lessons, apart…
Relationships Education and Parental Freedoms – Consultation Ends February 12th There is a new law coming into force in September 2019. All schools will have to teach Relationships Education in Primary Schools; and Relationships & Sex Education (RSE) in Secondary schools. No school – academy, free, independent – will be exempt. The Department of Education…
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