Education Access Update

1. Education AccessUpdate Julie Keating Education Access Manager

2. What is Education Access • Part of the centrally based specialist education services work stream headed up by Michael O’Brien. • Education Access brings together • Alternative Education Commissioning Service • CME / EHE from MECES • ACT; Legal work: previously undertaken by MECES (from 3rd June)

3. Core functions • Education Access is pivotal in making sure that all children in Essex have access to and are receiving an appropriate education • Our statutory duties include • Children permanently excluded from school • Education for children unable to attend school due to medical needs • Children missing education – tracking, identifying and securing appropriate education • Legal work for irregular school attendance • Our wider role includes • Reduced timetables • Other young people struggling to access education

4. Key points for today • Updated EHE guidance • CME / EHE protocol • Flexi schooling • Reduced timetables

5. Elective Home Education • 2 April 2019 DfE published two new guidance documents to replace 'Home education guidelines for local authorities’. • 'Elective home education: guidance for local authorities’ • 'Elective home education: guidance for parents’ • It is non-statutory, and has been produced to help local authorities understand their role in relation to elective home education.

6. Key points • Clarity around section 7 duty . • Clarifies the LA powers around EHE • Reminder for schools that they should not exert pressure on families to home educate • Ofsted has a focus around “off rolling” and is likely to ask local authorities about withdrawal rates at schools and whether action has been taken to identify patterns and a suitable strategic response.

7. LAs’ responsibilities for children who are, or appear to be, educated at homeShould provide parents with a named contact ehe@essex.gov.ukOrdinarily makes contact with home educated parents on at least an annual basis Have a named senior officer with responsibility for elective home education policy and procedures – Anita Patel-Lingam Organise training on the law and the diversity of home education methods for all officers Ensure LA staff who may be the first point of contact for a potential home-educating parent understand the right of the parent to choose home education.

8. Section 7 Education Act 1996 The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable— • (a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and • (b)to any special educational needs he may have, • either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. • The guidance covers what is meant by • Suitable (to participate fully in life in the UK) • Efficient ( does it achieve what it intended to achieve) • Full time (No legal definition)

9. Full time education • No legal definition of what constitutes ‘fulltime’ education, either at school or in the home. • No need for home education to replicate school timetables, • Local authorities should consider the overall time devoted to home education of a child on the basis of the number of hours per week, and weeks per year • Education which is not occupying a significant proportion of a child’s life (making due allowance for holiday periods) will probably not meet the s.7 requirement.

10. Children missing education • A child will be deemed as missing from education and will become an open case to the Essex CME and EHE Team if they reside within Essex and: • are not on the roll of a school or academy and parents are not actively taking steps to ensure that such enrolment is secured on behalf of their child or • it appears that a child, whose parents have elected to home educate, is not in receipt of an efficient home education which is suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, taking into account any special educational needs that the child may have.

11. The CME and EHE Team will make informal enquiries to establish what educational arrangements are in place for children who are referred as ‘missing from education’ or where concerns are raised as to the quality of home education or the capacity of parents to put in place an efficient home education. • Where, during the informal enquiry stage, a parent/carer fails to satisfy the local authority that a suitable education is in place for their child, the local authority will serve a notice on parents requiring them to satisfy the local authority that the child is receiving a suitable education – section 437(1) Education Act 1996.

12. The CME and EHE Team will issue a School Attendance Order to parent(s) who fail to satisfy the local authority that their child is receiving suitable education, if the local authority deems it is appropriate that the child should attend school – using the powers available to local authorities via section 437(3) Education Act 1996. • Where a parent fails to comply with a School Attendance Order, steps will be taken to prosecute parents due to their breach of the School Attendance Order - section 443 Education Act 1996.

13. SAO process for CME • The CME and EHE Team will seek to name the school nearest to the home address that they believe is in a position to accommodate the child, should parent choose to comply with the SAO. • Only where we believe that there are compelling reasons not to name the nearest school OR infant class size legislation applies OR where a parent has made applications to the nearest school but, due to a lack of spaces, has had their application formally declined, will the CME and EHE Team seek to name the next nearest available school within any pending SAO.

14. The EHE SAO protocol • Where a child has been removed from a school roll in favour of elective home education and investigations have resulted in the home education arrangements being deemed unsuitable, the local authority will always seek to name the last school at which the child was on roll within any SAO subsequently issued in respect of that child.

15. Flexi-schooling • Flexi schooling allows children who are educated at home most of the time to also be registered at school and attend school for part of the week – perhaps as little as one one day a week. • The purpose of this is usually to ensure the provision in specific subjects is satisfactory, although it can also help in other ways such as socialisation.

16. Key points • Parents / carers must make the request for flexi schooling • The decision on whether to approve a request must be made by the Headteacher of the school who has received the request. • Any sessions where the pupil is receiving education at home will be recorded as 'authorised absences' within the school's register • C code is the appropriate code and this will impact on the schools attendance figures . • Further guidance on ESI and the new EHE guidance https://schools.essex.gov.uk/pupils/Education_Access/Pages/Flexi-Schooling.aspx • https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791527/Elective_home_education_gudiance_for_LAv2.0.pdf

17. Reduced timetables • Children are entitled to a full time education so a decision to place on reduced hours must be an exception. • Parents / carers must agree to the reduced timetable. If they don’t it can’t be put in place. • The school should complete a risk assessment covering the hours the child is not in school • There must be a clear action plan to ensure the pupil is moved towards a full timetable as quickly as possible. • Regular reviews must take place • The time the child is not in school should be coded as an authorised absence

18. Key points • The school should inform Education Access at provision@essex.gov.uk • There is a dedicated officer, Megan Crombie, who will liaise with the school around reduced provision and, if necessary, will ask other colleagues /  teams to support • Reduced timetables guidance is on Infolink and will be updated over the summerhttps://schools.essex.gov.uk/pupils/Education_Access/Pages/Provision.aspx

19. Further information • cme@essex.gov.uk • provision@essex.gov.uk • Julie.keating@essex.gov.uk • Megan.Crombie@essex.gov.uk