“I would like to know which department within Devon County Council local authority deals with elective home education?
The service sits under Devon County Council (DCC) Children’s Services, Education and Learning. However, Babcock LDP is commissioned on behalf of DCC to provide our Elective Home Education Service.
I would like to know who is currently employed in this team, and who the team leader is.
This information is publicly available on the Babcock website at www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/homeeducation
I would like to know who they report to.
Dawn Stabb, Head of Education & Learning at Devon County Council
What form of contact they use with families the first time they contact them.
Letter of introduction.
Please supply copies of policies and procedures used for elective home education, for staff use or supplied to Home educators.
‘Information for home educators’ booklet is publicly available on the Babcock website at babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/homeeducation.
EHE Procedure (Sept 2017) and EHE Safeguarding Procedure (Sept 2017) are available via the links provided.
Has the LA made the team dealing with elective home education aware that there is no requirement to investigate a case or for the LA to seek to satisfy itself that a suitable education is being provided when they know the reason why a child has ceased to attend school? The specified reason being, parents have given legal notification to a school that they are educating otherwise than at school.
The Elective Home Education Service is guided by the Elective Home Education Guidance for Local Authorities 2007 document.
I would like to know how many children are currently known as being electively home educated in the local authority.
951 registered; 236 not registered (as at 08/02/18)
How many pupils have been de-registered from school to be electively home educated?
Please provide numbers for: July 2015, July 2016 and July 2017. Please categorise these into:
– Children with no known SEN
– Children with SEN
– Children de-registered from special schools
2015: 36 pupils; (01/07/15-31/07/15). We are unable to disclose the number of children with SEN for this time period under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is because the numbers are small (5 or below) so there is a chance that the individuals concerned could be identified. This would be in breach of the 1st Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998
2016: 36 pupils; (01/07/16-31/07/16). We are unable to disclose the number of children with SEN for this time period under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is because the numbers are small (5 or below) so there is a chance that the individuals concerned could be identified. This would be in breach of the 1st Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998
2017: 65 pupils; 7 SEN (01/07/17-31/07/17)
No pupils came out of special schools during July 2015, July 2016 or July 2017.
– Children with care plans
Zero children under a “Child Protection Plan’. The question describes as ‘Care Plan’. DCC has interpreted this as Child Protection rather than ‘in care’ as Children in Care would not be Home educated.
– Children under services such as; CAMHS
Information not held. CAMHS is not a function provided by Devon County Council, so there is no correlation with this information and data regarding children who are home schooled.