fiona2

has anyone tried sheffield council conciliation service or parent partnership ( this is a genuine request for information ! ) i know of parents who have found parent partnership service useful in doncaster but i don't have experience of it in sheffield. http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/information-for-parentscarers/conciliation-services

i do voluntary work with young offenders and drug addicts and i do advocacy work with young people who are homeless or in supported accommodation. what you suggest has usually been tried already. youth homelessness is a major problem. i am in correspondence with richard caborn about it. sorry to be over-earnest and take you literally though ! one problem is that the young rascals can tell if you are bluffing...and so they shape up for a little while but all the underlying stuff still festers and then erupts again. need to break the pattern. best wishes fiona

whether or not the young person was living under the same roof as the parent, the parent would still be legally liable for school attendance while the young person remained registered on the school roll and below the compulsory leaving age ( ie the end of the academic year in which the young person reaches 16, NOT "when the person reaches 16" which is what sue's son appeared erroneously to believe ) what you are suggesting is analagous to someone who can't keep up mortgage payments and just posts the keys back through the lender's door and does a bunk. legally it doesn't FIX anything. best wishes , fiona

school still gets all the per capita funding ! which varies by region but is likely to be around 2k for primary pupils. ( i can give you hansard refs ) i just found this in hansard. keith vaz asked a question in parliament and jacqui smith replied : Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills) Hansard source Parents of children of compulsory school age are required to ensure that their children receive a full-time education, by attending school or through other arrangements. They may exercise their right to educate their children at home full-time on a temporary or permanent basis. Schools have the discretion to agree arrangements that combine part-time school attendance with home education. 328,344 children currently attend school on a part-time basis across all 150 LAs. We do not collect data on the reasons that these pupils are attending on a part-time basis, which may include education in reception classes, reintegration to school following illness, and partial home-education." [end of quote] that's a lot of children who aren't attending fulltime. i make ten messages now so i can reply to you as PM ! or you are welcome to phone me fiona

i have had a PM about flexi-schooling. flexi schooling is legal. it is entirely the discretion of the headteacher ( who may not realise that flexischooling is legal ) i know of primary and secondary pupils registered at sheffield schools who attend part time under flexischool arrangements. they are marked in the register as "educated off site" or "authorised absence". you are still obliged to follow the national curriculum. you can express a preference for which days/part -days your child is out of school but all decision making rests ultimately with the headteacher. you need to prepare your argument carefully and arrange a meeting with the head where you would be able to convince him/her that you have thought it all through. it seems best to warn the head in advance of the subject of your meeting ( week, ten days ) rather than just ask for a meeting and spring it on someone. this makes 9 posts so i will be able to reply to PM soon ! fiona

sorry benson , i now see you were probably replying to sue and i see why you might be concerned with mobile number and everything. sue could PM me but i can't yet reply privately to a PM ( the 10 messages rule ) speaking of which, someone has sent me PM query about flexi-school and i can't reply in PM till i posted 10, nearly there now . fiona

hey, thanks for the note of caution. i see what you mean but i only reply on the forum when someone alerts me to education/home education query. and i need 10 posts before i can use the PM system. i used to be cautious about giving out my number but it is out there on the internet anyway because of my work with Education Otherwise. i decided to risk it here because sue's message sounded so urgent. no easy way to decide this stuff ! (one more post on the way to 10 ) fiona

hi we just talked on the phone so i hope you are feeling a bit better about your legal options. maybe talk tomorrow night on the phone ? l fiona

Hi I am the local contact for Education Otherwise in Sheffield. I have 8 years of experience in statute and case law regarding education. I am also currently in discussions with the Director of Local Delivery at CYPD in Sheffield. Please get in touch with me for more information about your legal position. Regards Fiona Nicholson 0114 2751142 fiona_j_nicholson@hotmail.com

thanks ! ( that makes four posts...) there are c150 home educated children and young people known to sheffield LEA ( data from FOI request ) 20, 000 known to LEAs across the country, plus unknown quantity who were never registered with a school and therefore are not known. fiona

yes, of course ( that makes three posts !) fiona

I posted the other day about being the local contact for Education Otherwise. I should perhaps have added my email address which is : fiona_j_nicholson@hotmail.com Fiona

Hi, I just joined the Sheffield Forum. I am the local contact for Education Otherwise in Sheffield and would be happy to answer any questions about home education whether or not anyone is a member of EO. Some home educated children have never been to school, but many more have been deregistered after some time in The System. I have a 13 year old boy who has never been to school; he is educated autonomously without using any textbooks, workbooks, planned curriculum etc. We have a good relationship with Linda Barrett from Access and Inclusion at the Children and Young People's Directorate ( formerly the LEA ) and we have started discussions to change the council website which gives a misleading impression about how much the council might ( or should ) interfere. There is a thriving home ed community in Sheffield with many group activities organised by local parents. I hope this helps. Please get in touch ! Fiona