What Parents Need to Know About Education Law and Freedom

In this episode of The SY-ED Way, we’re joined by Cheryl from Educational Freedom for a calm, clear conversation about education law, parental rights, and what families genuinely need to know when navigating home education.

With so much noise, misinformation, and fear circulating around legal changes and proposed legislation, this episode is about grounding the conversation in facts, clarity, and reassurance, not panic.

Cheryl brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from working closely with families across the UK, helping parents understand their rights and responsibilities while advocating for educational freedom and child-centred approaches.

Together, we talk about:

• What education law actually says (and what it doesn’t)
• Common myths and misunderstandings around home education
• The Children’s Wellbeing Bill and why context matters
• Why informed parents feel more confident and less fearful
• How families can stay grounded while engaging with change
• The importance of protecting parental voice and autonomy

This conversation is for parents who want to be informed without being overwhelmed, and who value calm, thoughtful discussion over fear-led narratives.

Note: since filming this episode, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act has progressed which has upset a lot of the home education community. Please see this blog post: https://educationalfreedom.org.uk/proposed-changes-to-home-education-law-without-the-legal-jargon/

As always, this episode is not about telling families what to do, but about offering clarity, reassurance, and space to think critically about what is right for their own children.

🔗 Helpful Links & Resources

📘 Download our free home education PDF guide
 👉 https://www.thesyedway.co.uk/acalmstarttohomeeducation 

🧠 Grab the Project Based Learning guide that changed everything in our home.
 👉 https://www.thesyedway.co.uk/projectbasedlearning

📖 Learn more about Educational Freedom and Cheryl’s work
👉 https://educationalfreedom.org.uk/

If this episode resonated with you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who might find reassurance in this conversation.

Transcript

Introduction: Why This Episode Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Before we introduce today's conversation, we want to take a moment to explain why this episode matters. Over the past few years, we've seen more and more parents questioning the education system, often not because they plan to, but because what's in place no longer feels safe, suitable, or supportive for their child. Alongside this, there's been growing confusion and concern around parental rights, legal responsibilities, and more recently, the proposed welfare bill, something many families are hearing about but not always understanding clearly. This episode isn't about creating fear or urgency. It's about clarity, context, and helping parents feel informed rather than overwhelmed. We're Aliyah and Taz, and this is the Sayyid Way, a space for honest conversations about education, learning, and what happens when school doesn't fit. Today's conversation is about understanding what's actually happening, what parents need to know, and how families

Starting the Education Journey

SPEAKER_00 1:01

can feel supported as they navigate this landscape.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

So when we started our education journey about six to seven weeks ago, we were a little bit confused, quite a lot, you know, very clueless as well. And we came across Education Freedom and Cheryl, who were a massive help in getting us sorted when it came to the first couple of weeks. Cheryl was kind enough to help us draft an email as well as the information provided on our website was really, really valuable

Meet Cheryl: The Journey to Educational Freedom

SPEAKER_02 1:28

when it came to deschooling and deregistering our son and everything that goes with it. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce Cheryl. Cheryl, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Um, not too bad. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Apologize if I'm a bit lazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

That's okay, that's okay. Thank you for coming on. Um, so I just want to ask you really, how did you get involved with educational freedom?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Share your own journey about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Okay. Um, okay, so 17 years ago, my eldest was being bullied uh a little bit before that by the head teacher and some children. Didn't think I had any other option, so we tried another school. We had a really good year, and then that teacher left. You know, my son moved up. Uh, by this point, I'd got a baby and then a five-year-old as well. And at the time he was undiagnosed, but it was very much he will conform, end of. There was no, and I know back then autism wasn't quite as well known and you know, as much known about as it is now, but it was shocking really. Um, so I got called into school one day for something so trivial, but they made it into such a massive deal, and I I came away thinking, great, another school that's just not able to cope with a child with quite low-level needs, really. And I accidentally bumped into a lady called Nikki at um a toddler group. I was picking up a boogie from her for a friend, and she had school-age children with her, and I went, oh no school today. And she went, We home educate. And I did the what's that? Yeah, we've been there so you mean your children don't go to school. And three days later, I deregistered my boys, uh, age seven and five, with a one-year-old uh single mum. And yeah, so 17 years later, um eldest is doing a physics degree, middle one's a qualified mechanic, and the youngest is working in a nursery and going off to university in September. I found that there was so little information out there for home educators. I fell into the trap of thinking you had to do school at home, believing what the local authorities said, which again back then was very different to how it is now, but it was still really bad. And I helped run a really big Facebook group, and we got a little bit frustrated saying the same things over again, you know, how do I

The Birth of Educational Freedom

SPEAKER_01 4:06

deregister? This is what you do. Here's an idea of a letter. Um, I said to a few friends, why don't we build a website with all of this information and we can just link people to it? And educational freedom was born, and I think that was 13, 14 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

I thought it was maybe a couple of years that the website's been around, but I didn't realise it was actually that long.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah, and we've reached, I think we're up to seven million people have used the website. That's amazing. And we have we've supported one-to-one, probably half a million people over that time. That's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So essentially, what you've just said there is that there's seven million parents or people out there who are interested or who have gone on the journey of home educating their children.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Not necessarily. I think people find the site when school's not working out, they look and go, oh no, don't want to home educate, and they leave the site quite quickly. But certainly in the realms of people that have used the site extensively, it's a couple of million easily. Um it's quite amazing that something me and a few friends created has turned into something so valuable. Um, and now we've got team members that work with MPs, the Lords, Department of Education, you know. Um, with my colleague has been a massive part of uh the Stop the Children's Wellbeing Bill campaign. She did the petition that reached over 170,000 signatures, I think. Wow. So yeah, we're we we've become quite big.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

We came across your website a couple of months ago, and the fact that you've potentially helped millions of parents look into home education, if not go on the journey of home education, that's amazing. So well done to you and your team for for doing that because it was a massive help for us when we first started. Um, you know, we were, like I said, clueless when it came to it. We just knew we needed to do register. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

We just knew that we wanted to home educate um because of issues with school ongoing issues, and obviously this villa as well, um, which I spoke to you about, but you probably don't remember because you speak to that many parents on a daily basis. Yeah, we do. So, what kinds of families tend to reach out to you for support?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Um, so it's a mixture of people, it's those that have children in school that that they're now at the stage, oh my god, school's not working, we need to think of something else, uh, that really don't know anything about home education, all the way to the people that have been at it for quite a few years and they're having problems with their local authority. Um, and we help them with that, all the way through to accessing GCSEs, providing information for families that are that far into their journey. Um, so yeah, and everybody in between. Um, our social medias are for everybody, you know, old and new. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

I think that's where people get stuck, isn't it, when it comes to GCSEs, because people get really sort of what do we do from here? And I think that's a situation we're going to find ourselves in as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah, so exams are not compulsory. Um, and if you do want to do GCSEs, you can sit them in as many or as few as you want from any age. The there's a sort of quite a common thing that home educators do in that they start them at 13 or 14 with their strongest subject, and quite often they'll only do five. Uh, so you've got your English language, maths, double or triple science, and then one other of their choice. It's all that's needed, even to go to to do sort of three or four A levels. You only need the five GCSEs usually. Uh so what we suggest is, and and of course there are other pathways, you know, other than GCSEs, but what we suggest is working backwards from what do you want to achieve, what do you need to do that, and then look at, you know, doing that, because there's no point studying content for an exam that you're never going to sit, or for an exam board that's got a different syllabus to the one that you can get access to. Um, but yeah, we've got an exam page on the website that talks you through that plus the alternative routes.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Um, what kind of percentage do you get of say uh parents who have kids at primary school and kids who are at secondary school coming onto your website and asking you questions?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

I'd say it's 50-50. That there is uh no discernible obvious split. It's it's yeah, it it's uh it's a mixture of all ages, all the way through from preschool. I don't think I'm gonna try school to even 16-year-olds, they're not 17-year-olds, they're struggling in college, what can I do? You know, we we get everybody in in between that there's no real split, no,

Common Misconceptions About Home Education

SPEAKER_01 9:33

no pattern there other than equal.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Let's go on to talk about the common misconceptions and confusion. So, what are the most common misconceptions parents have about home education and the law?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Um, so quite a few people tend to think that the local authority will provide learning at home, and that stems from incorrect language. So those that call it homeschooling tend to think that there is a curriculum that's going to be given to them, or that they have to subscribe to that. Uh, that they think that there will be somebody checking what the child's learning, or you know, marking work, that level of things. So that's something that we have found just lately uh in the last couple of years. Parents seem to think that that's on offer, and that's down to the misuse of the word homeschooling. Um, so the other thing that parents think is that GCSEs are compulsory, or that their child has to be sat learning nine while half past three five days a week, and that learning is only the bookwork and the websites, and that they struggle to de-school their own brains and see that learning comes from you know, family board games, walks in the park at any age, you know, there's learning in everything. So that that's a common misbelief. Um, and that they have to let the local authority into their home, but

Deschooling: The First Step to Home Education

SPEAKER_01 11:06

that's because local authorities lie and mislead you to believe that you've got to do that.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Just want to also pause there for a second around sort of the deschooling side of things that you mentioned. What would you say to brand new home educators or homeschooling parents? How did how would you de-school? How you know, what's the best way around it, the time frames, things like that?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah. So the best thing is get rid of school from your brain. Get get rid of it from your language, get rid of it from your brain. Education is home education has to be right for that child. And if you've got multiple children, it'll be different for each child. You and they are not going to know what that is because all either of you know is school. So deschooling is about getting that thought out of your head, not sitting them to the table and teaching them on day one, because that's going to go wrong very, very quickly. They're going to refuse to engage with you, they're not going to be learning in the best way. Uh, and we find that those families within four or five months are going homehead failed, it was a disaster. Um, people say a month of de schooling for every year, the child was in school. Some children just need a couple of weeks, others can need a couple of years. It is my my eldest took three, four years to fully de-school, and even 17 years in, my brain still did not fully de-school, and I still had wobbles of sit down, be quiet, we've not done enough learning this week. So, even those of us that were well into it, you know, we still have our wobbles, but yeah, de-school for as long as possible, and you'll you'll often see a comment from me and and my team is when they say, What's the first thing we should do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Go for a walk, buy cake, jump in puddles, climb a tree. Don't matter how old they all are, go out, or stay in if staying in's your preference, but don't think about learning, just take some time to be, and especially if school's been traumatic, they'll need longer to trust themselves and to be able to trust that learning isn't scary. Uh, a friend of mine deregistered quite a few months ago, and one of her sons at the minute, anything that he thinks he's learning, his automatic response is, I can't do that. He can do it. He's a very clever boy, but he equates it to school and learning. So that's going to take him longer to get over that and for learning to be brought in in ways that he doesn't realise he's learning.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

That's the question we got a lot on our profile. What's the best way to de-school? What is de-schooling? You know, is it important? So I'm really glad that you've kind of you know conceptualized it in a way that's fun, climate-free, jump in puddles, eat cake, don't have to do it in the necessarily the same order.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Um preferably so no and fun, you know, that's exactly what we did. We just went for loads of morning walks. Um, and yeah, we took that first four to six weeks just to completely relax. And we were at a point at that time where it was kind of um November, so we were coming into December, and we take a bit of time off for work in December. So it was it was perfectly timed for us.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

It's really important to remember as well, though, not to use that term with local authorities. Unfortunately, a few years ago it was written into guidance that de-schooling wasn't to be respected and acknowledged. They see it as no education. Whereas what we sort of say is if you bring a child out of school and recreate school at home, even informally, you're you know, they're still learning in that that sort of way, that child isn't going to be getting the best education. So that de-schooling period is absolutely necessary for longevity of home education. Um, so when you you sort of talk to your local authorities if they're asking for information immediately, you explain the things that they have learned. So, on those walks, those conversations, you know, the baking, the board games, it's all still learning. But you can talk about how, you know, in school the child was unable to engage at all, for you know, and now they're writing a shopping list and going to the supermarket on their own. In a space of a few weeks, some of these kids change dramatically, and that's what you need to focus on when you're informing the local authority, but don't use the word deschooling.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

It's a shame that you can't actually use the word deschooling when it's such an important part of the whole home education process.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

It's the first step.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

It's vital.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah, no, it's absolutely vital because it if you don't de-school, the vast majority just have so many problems. And that we what we hear is I wish I'd done it sooner. I wish I'd de-schooled at the beginning. They're 18 months in, their child's refusing to engage, they've had six months of awful home environment where everyone's at each other, they then de-school and let go, and all of a sudden, life's so much better, and the child's happier and the child's learning again. You know, it's yeah, it's important to do it straight away. Yeah. And constantly in a way.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Definitely. And for us, that's definitely been the experience where we've taken that time to de-school. And now he'll, even on the weekends where we say there's going to be no weekend learning, he'll get his pad of paper and he'll start drawing things and painting. And that's also learning because he's learning how to draw new things and he's imagining, you know, all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

When in his head, there's probably a story being created, certain, you know, random questions at 10 o'clock at night when he comes into your bedroom and goes, Mom!

SPEAKER_02 17:05

We've beginning that quite a bit.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Yeah, that's it. The other day, um, he asked us, uh, what's a tsunami? And we were like, Oh, where did that come from? So it was it was amazing, and we're really starting to see the difference between school and home education.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Even the way he speaks and his vocab has it's almost like a grown-up now.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah, you know, and our family members have actually said that he sounds more like a grown-up too. But happier to play, I bet. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Oh, yeah. And to that's that's some oh, I loved that. My boys were I'll not embarrass them with how old they were, but they were a lot older than their peers, and they were still crawling around with Hot Wheels cars and still playing. All right, they had a younger sibling, but right up, I mean, my eldest still likes toys sometimes, you know, it's still not Lego and everything. You've not got that peer pressure to stop playing.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

And and I think that's that's an overlooked element of home education is that they can stay children for longer, they they can, you know, play and or be around adults and learn from them as well. There's yeah, so many good things.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Definitely. And I think um another thing is what comes up from especially other people is saying that the child is with us as parents too much, and you know, we're we're over the molecoddling them. And that's just not true because it's the yeah, exactly, it's the exact opposite. So that's like a huge kind of misconception from others to towards home

Challenges and Misconceptions in Home Education

SPEAKER_00 18:39

education parents. Okay, so what yeah, no, absolutely. So, what do parents often think that they have to do that legally they don't have to do?

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Everything. Um They think they've got to create school at home, that they've got to do formal learning, mark the work, have a timetable. Um we're not quite sure what shifted, but in the last few years that has become a common thing, whereas prior to that it wasn't such a big thing. They think they've got to employ a tutor, or keep a diary of absolutely everything that was learned, or that when they come to give in the local authority information, they've got to um explain the learning targets from baking a cake. You know, you you don't need to give that level of information. And when it comes to if your child's progressing, it it's do you know that your child has progressed? And that's as much as is really needed. You know, are they talking with um a better vocabulum like myself? Um, you know, are they doing more complex mathematical things? And you know they're learning, whether you do formal learning or just informal, just from the fact that they're they're learn, you know, they're they're at a higher level of something. Um so yeah, that there's a lot of it it's it's they think school, and that's how they equate learning, and and that's part of the de schooling is getting your own brain out of that and to see learning in everything.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Okay. Interesting. So what do you wish parents knew sooner? School wasn't compulsory.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah, oh yeah, everything was compulsory.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

I I I think one thing we hear a lot, uh an awful lot, is why wasn't I told about home education at school application time? Why wasn't I told school or education is not compulsory until the term after turning five? You know, people are sending these three and four-year-olds into nursery and school when they don't have to be there till year one. Um so yeah, we we hear that a lot is that they wish they'd known about it and they wish they'd started it sooner.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

That's one of the things we felt when we started going down this path, you know, we looked at each other, we thought we to us to a certain extent, I'd say 90% of that was we just wasted two and a bit years of his life. Um, you know, yeah, he made a few friends and he had, you know, a few positives and not entirely taking that away, but for the majority of it, it was it wasn't the best environment for him or for us.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah. Yeah. Um some people think that home education has to be a last resort, that school has to have failed, or that you should give school a try first. That's absolutely not the case. Um I believe actually, if home education's a possibility, try that first. Because recovering from any problems that home education might cause. It's far easier than recovering from the problems that might occur from trying school. You know, the bad habits that they pick up on or being bullied or whatever might occur in school. I I would always say if you're thinking about home ed, do it. And then if it's not working out after a long time, don't just give it a few weeks or months. You have to give it a couple of years to really know whether it's right. Then you could try school if if you think that's that's appropriate.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

I just want to touch on the last thing you said there, where if home education doesn't work out, then obviously you don't try school. Do you get a lot of families contacting you saying, you know, home education is not working out? And what is their kind of main reasons as to why it's not working out, or what you perceive to be the main reasons?

SPEAKER_01 22:47

So the main reasons they didn't do school. Um other than that, it's just mostly the child wants to give school a try, and occasionally a parent finds that they're unable to take the child to groups, um, whether that's the lack of transport or funds. The majority of time, though, it is the child has decided that they'd like to try school rather than home ed failing as such. Uh, we if we get somebody come to us that says home ed's failing, we ask them why do they think it's failing? And they'll go, Oh, well, they're refusing to sit to the table and learn from a book. Right. So, have you thought about learning in other ways? They come back a few weeks later, oh my god, this is amazing, you know. So, what some person some people classes failing isn't necessarily failing, it's just different to what you thought it would be. And that's something that I would always say, don't pre-plan what your home education is going to look like because it isn't.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

It never goes to plan. Well, most of the time it does, but sometimes we just end up doing more than what's on the plan.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

So yeah, yeah, or something completely different. Um, but yeah, we we hear from people that say, Oh, you know, I've bought loads of resources, I've spent hundreds of pounds, I've made a study room, you know, I'm making a timetable, and I then all deregister. And we say, no, don't do any of that. Just just don't deregister, take some time out. And if your child wants a microscope, go and get a microscope, but don't get it because they may never want it. You know, go with the flow a little bit more and you know, um, don't spend loads on workbooks because you might find that they're not the right ones for that child, or they may not like workbooks, you know, that yeah, it's you just go with it a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

So, what you're saying really is that let the child lead the education.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I think so. Yeah, I once they're given the chance to understand that learning isn't being taught, a child for the most part can lead their own education or certainly help you guide them. You know, they're not they're never going to ask about the Romans if you've never shown them anything about the Romans. So you've got to give them those ideas and those resources, and you know, having lots of books around or watching videos together and all those kinds of things brings in those ideas. You've got to open them up to them. But midway through talking about the Romans, they might want to learn about how bricks are made, and it's okay to then go off on a tangent and look at how bricks are made. Um, and I think that's important is not to say, no, we are doing this right now, letting them go off on those tangents, and sometimes projects never get finished, and that is okay, you know, that there's no need to force staying on topic, unless, of course, they've got an end goal of a GCSE, in which case, then yes, they need to persevere with certain topics and you know, because it's a requirement. But by that stage, the the teenager is hopefully

Special Needs and Safeguarding in Home Education

SPEAKER_01 26:07

wanting to do those, so we'll know that the work is necessary to do those.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

So just wanting to go on to SEN families and safeguarding issues, many sen families feel particularly vulnerable right now. What are you noticing in terms of safeguarding concerns and unmet needs?

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Um got to make sure I don't divulge any personal information, but a lady recently came to me and said, my child is not safe at school, they have got out of the building, they've got onto the roof, and school aren't doing anything you know reasonable to stop these things happening, and the council aren't interested. And but she didn't really want to home educate either. So making sure those families know about you know, section 19 alternative provision is important, but if home education is something the family wants, usually because they're fed up of the fight, that they're fed up of the special school or the mainstream school, not providing for the child's needs, not keeping the child safe. Uh, so they come to home education as as a last resort. Uh, but yeah, there is a a large increase, I would say, of special needs kids who weren't safe in school.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Uh, which is quite scary.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

It's really sad and scary. It's yeah, I mean, yeah, when you know, we've hear stories on our TikTok profile, and it's a lot of parents who have special needs children, and they're telling us, you know, in brief versions of what's going on in school and things like that. But what really we find sickening to be honest, is other people are calling parents of send children entitled parents. Yeah, I mean, do you see that a lot as well? Like, you know, from your Facebook groups and various other things.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

The the parents are experiencing it, but they're so focused on getting their child into a safe situation that that becomes priority. But yeah, uh it there is a large number home educating because they had no option. The local authority couldn't keep the child safe or provide a suitable education because putting a special needs child in what's akin to isolation, really, because they're not safe in a classroom with a one-to-one who's not a qualified teacher of any sort. Lovely people, most of them. I do get that that one-to-one support's a hard job, but why be sending the child into that? What are they learning from that? You know, it it's not helping them regulate themselves, it's not helping them learn anything. Uh, so yeah, we we do get a lot that school just wasn't a good fit and there was no alternative, so they've come to home education.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

What about alternative provision? Or there's a package called EOTUS, isn't there? What is that exactly?

SPEAKER_01 29:12

So that's education otherwise than in school, and basically it's where the council admits that they can't provide a suitable school place, so they fund an alternative. It could be online school where they still expect the parent to be off work, you know, to look after the child full-time during the day. Uh, it could be a tutor for a couple of hours a week, it could be funding for forest school. It depends on the local authority and it depends on the child, but it is completely separate to home education. And if you feel that your child would benefit from that and is entitled to that, we would say fight for that before you deregister. Because whilst they're on school roll, it's far easier to get the council to see that they're in school, well, registered at school, and they're unable to meet the needs, therefore the council should find alternative. Whereas if you deregister, you're saying, okay, I'll take responsibility for everything. The council are less likely to put the OTIS in place for you.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

I think that's a really, really important um point that you've raised because I I completely understand how the LA would just not take responsibility after you start the home education, because, like you said, you know, we've said, yep, we're going to home educate, and that's it for them. You know, that's I guess it's an easy way out for them.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Yeah. So schools aren't allowed to actually encourage you to deregister, but many do. And whilst local authorities have not put on paper that they're encouraging schools to encourage families to home educate, we know that that message is coming from somebody. And by encouraging a family to deregister, it wipes school and local authorities', you know, responsibility to the child. Um, so yeah, always bes if your teacher says, Have you thought about deregistering? Good.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

It's uh pretty underhand.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Oh well.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

And and obviously it saves the LA a lot of money as well. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Because there's no funding for home education. Um a couple, um, I've forgotten which ones now. Um, off some of the Welsh ones, you get a few pounds towards books. Um, and I think one or two will help you towards uh exam costs, but uh as a standard rule, there is no no support, no financial help. You are in it on your own, uh, which is why we exist, you know, not the financial part, unfortunately, but for all the information part and the support part, you know, we're we're here.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

It's good.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

And am I right in thinking that it's the same for EHCPs as well, where they will sort of shy away from that responsibility, even though they had, for example,

Navigating EHCPs and Home Education

SPEAKER_00 32:02

a salt or and some other professionals working with that child in school. The moment you say you're going to home educate, they sort of pull away from everything.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

That depends on how the EHCP is worded. Most are not fit for purpose. So always be very, very careful with how your EHCP is worded and fight for it to be clear and specific. You know, if it says up to 10 hours, that can mean one, you know, and we know they're going to give you the bare minimum. So you need to make sure it says things like must be 10 hours every week or whatever it is. So salt, ed psych, all those kind of things, it's down to who's funding it. Uh, you should still be entitled to most external services, but it can be a bit of a fight to get those in place, and you might need to go via sort of the NHS for a salt rather than via the council. Um, but yeah, they will pull what they can. Um, but again, we we've got a specialist on our team that can help with EHCPs and home education. Um, but yeah, making sure it's worded accurately. But when you do deregister, an EHCP review is usually done quite soon after. And it'll still say all the same things that it did for the child being in school, but none of that actually relates to home education, and you're not required to do any of the things that are in the EHCP. Uh, all you're required is to make sure you meet their needs, which is detailed in part B.

Funding Challenges for Home Educators

SPEAKER_01 33:43

All the rest is for if they were to go back into school.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Why is it that schools are funded when, say, for example, an EHCP is in place, so they'll get something like, you know, £12,000. But when a parent home educates, that that same amount is not given to them for the education and to put all the provisions in place for that child.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Because that would come with criteria and tick boxes and hoops to jump and any other random saying I can think of. Um it's aimed at employing another member of staff or you know, specialist equipment in school, whereas a home educator and a parent, you're expected to foot those, you know, bills. Uh, and they'll say that things like DLA is is there to pay for those things in the home. Um, most home educators will tell you they don't want funding anyway, because of the the hoops that it would bring in. You know, who's going to make those decisions on whether that child should get a laptop or not? You know, it it starts to get very messy and it starts to come down to monitoring and assessing, and home educators don't want that. So we we've sort of begrudged begrudgingly say, yeah, let you keep your money, home educators will manage without it. Fair enough because we don't want to lose our rights over a few quid.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Yeah, no, I completely agree because you don't want that control. Um, that's what you're trying to escape is that control that schools have, you know, the whole attendance and targets and everything else, and then to have that same level of control when you're home educating is probably not very nice.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Yeah, yeah. Because home education is about what's suitable for the child, and you can't do that if there's a tick

Reassurance for SEND Parents

SPEAKER_01 35:38

box, you know, a list of criteria.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Definitely. And what reassurance would you offer send parents who feel under pressure or scrutiny?

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Get support and and find the the service that fits with you so that you're not fighting anybody alone and you don't have to do it alone. Um, you know, there's services out there for those that want to keep the kids in school, service like ours that,

The Impact of Home Education on Children

SPEAKER_01 36:09

you know, if you decide to home educate. But what my own experience and the experience of a lot of other people is that when you do deregister, your child will change. And those challenges of getting your child into school, staying in school, keeping safe, going to the bathroom, you know, all those things that your child might have difficulty with in school change when you start home ed and things become a lot easier. Uh, you know, you've not got that battle to get the uniform on and out the door. If they want to stay in the pyjamas all day, there's no harm in them staying in the pyjamas all day or running around naked if that's what they prefer. That there's, you know, it going back to a few years ago, clones were optional in our house many years ago when they were tiny. Um, so yeah, it it's it gets easier as well. Those first few months, I'm not gonna lie, are very difficult with a special needs child. You know, you've changed their routine, you've taken away their familiar faces, and you usually you've done it like that, that there's no real warning to doing it because giving notice to school is a bad idea. So it can be really, really hard work, but then it just becomes so rewarding, and your child changes so much, and you know, you then get to see those small changes, and you know, just fastening their own button for the first time, you know, all those little things, or the first time that they pick up a book through choice, you're there for. Um, and you can make the big deal out of something that you know a teacher might not have. Yeah, you can celebrate those wins.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

I mean, that's really insightful. I mean, you know, it's little things like, like you said, you know, holding a book for the first time, you know, putting on your clothes for the first time. You know, we've kind of experienced that with our son, and you know, you're absolutely right. It's very rewarding, sort of seeing that, and it's all part of the development, it's all you know, part of the learning process.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

It's it's that confidence that builds through your child. And when you see that confidence, there's something in you that just wants to keep going harder and harder, and just it's so important to get them kind of signals from your child as well, um, for us to keep going because it can get difficult for parents, and it is a very, very difficult job home educating. But that is exactly what keeps us going, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 38:37

My son left school mentally unable to write. He was seven. He could write physically, but mentally, because school had made such a big deal out of it, kept him in at break time and all these horrible things, just he was slower at putting pen to paper. His brain was going faster than his hand could write. So he didn't then put pen to paper, I think, till he was maybe 12. So five years of home ed, where I wrote for him, or he typed, or he just didn't write things down because he could remember anyway. And we did lots of fun craft, you know, painting, funny writing, you know, no pressure. And the day he picked up a pen and a notebook and took it out with him, and instead of freaking out in the shop because he couldn't cope with the lights and sounds, he sat in a corner and wrote in this little book. And that notepad turned into a second notepad and a third notepad, and then a pile of notepad that he just wrote, and then two years later he started his GCSEs, you know.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Good on him.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Well, good on both of you. Like, well done to you and well done to him as well. Like, south. I take no credit, Mike Waldman. I take no credit, it was all their own hard work. They all achieved what they were achieved because I gave them space to do it.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

That's that's that is.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

That is credit

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

SPEAKER_01 40:07

to you as well.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

So, one of the reasons we decided to um withdraw our son from set uh primary education from the school was the proposed uh children's well-being and schools bill. Um, so we know a little bit about it, uh, not a lot. Uh, we're not legal experts or anything by any means. So, you know, mainly mainly know that information through your website. So just want to kind of understand in your own kind of words, um, you know, what it is, what it involves, and is it detrimental, you know, to parents and children?

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Okay, so the bill itself is really long and it includes school breakfasts and all sorts of you know, school improvements, and it will harm schools a lot. I'll not get too much into those things, but it things like academies not being allowed to choose their own curriculum focus, you know, that they've got to follow national curriculum end of, that will ruin many schools' approach to learning. Um, but there's a whole section about children not in school. And instead of focusing on children not in education, it's focusing on home educated children. And it's coming down hard on home educators, and it will make

Proposed Amendments and Their Implications

SPEAKER_01 41:31

home education very, very difficult. There are some proposed amendments being put in by lords that make the bill more palatable, like a really foul dinner. Um it's so there's a register, and it basically, if you're known to the local authority, you will be put on this register. If you are not known to the local authority, under the risk of a fine um and possible um criminal um conviction later, if you still refuse, you've got to make yourself known. The register itself asks for a ridiculous amount of information, which includes every adult involved in your child's learning. So that's your neighbour, your nan, your postman, your librarian, everybody. One of the proposed amendments is only adults that are involved in the education over a set number of hours, which makes more sense, but still quite intrusive. There's an expectation of every adult who deals with clubs or activities to inform the local authority if any of those children are home educated. So this could be dance classes, scout leaders, having to then ask for details of every child there, and if they're home educated, notifying the local authority. So, and again, they can be fined if they don't provide that detail. There are changes to deregistration if there are social workers involved and there is an amendment for past involvement where you've got to seek consent to be able to deregister, and that's regardless of why social worker involved. So if your child was attacked in school and you, you know, you've got social workers involved to help navigate that situation, you would be stopped from deregistering your child from that dangerous environment until somebody with no experience of home education says whether you can do it or not.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Well, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Um there's just so many sections in it that does real harm. And and the whole point of it was to protect children missing education, but nowhere in it does it help find children missing education. There's nothing to help find those children. The other guise it was written in was for support. That much in all the pages is about support, and it very clearly says the local authority can bring in as much support as it deems appropriate.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

What are they gonna do with that? Nothing!

Fighting the Bill: Community Efforts

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Um so the bill is dangerous. Uh we have, and by we I mean not just educational freedom, the home ed action group, you know, the Stop the Children's Wellbeing and Bill page. I'm not sure what they're calling themselves. Um other groups, other action groups, you know, everybody is coming together to fight this. Local authorities don't want it because the the massive amount of extra work it will bring in. Um so yeah, there's been campaigns. There was a really big protest on Saturday for it. There's been the petitions, but we we expect towards the back end of this year it will be brought in. What the final wording will be, we don't know. The Lords have put their amendments, you know, their suggestions in, and it's down to government of which amendments they bring in or whether they scrap sections of it, which is what ideally we would like is for the home ed section to be scrapped, and somebody with home education experience to actually write it.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

I mean, that would be a decent compromise at the very least. You know, if someone who's got experience in the home education, you know, consults on you at the very least, rather than someone who doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

Yeah, I mean, it's clear the person that wrote it had never met a home educated person in their life.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

So um yeah, I mean it's really, really worrying, even just listening to what you've got to say now. It's really worrying for me as a parent. What kind of reassurance can we give parents who are home educating?

SPEAKER_01 46:07

Yes, be scared, yes, be worried, but then do something with that and write to your MP, write to the lords, even write to your local authority and ask them to not support it. And just keep abreast of everything, you know, signing up to our newsletter will get you regular updates. And it's just to to not let it be overwhelming you, don't let it affect your choices right now. If your child wants to try school, let them try school. Yes, the rules might change, but don't let it affect what's right for your child right now. Just carry on as normal, keep being part of the fight if you can. Um and just keep your fingers crossed. That's horrible Hutz advice as that is. There's not much else you can do other than just be part of the fight if you're able and just hope that common sense prevails. Um, the bit that isn't being talked about much is that the bill will make EHE guidance statutory, which isn't at the moment, and there will be new EHE guidance, and we envisage compulsory visits will be part of that guidance. And again, we will fight it, you know, we will keep fighting it. One of the amendments for the bill is suggesting a um a trial of 30% of local authorities to have a compulsory meeting with the parent and child before deregistration is activated. And allegedly, this is to ensure that the parent fully understands their duty and that the local authority explains their duty, which we all know the bad local authorities won't be honest in that and will scare the family who will keep their child in school. Um so yeah, we it's it's only a you know an amendment suggestion, so that could get squashed, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Is that what the general aim is then is to try and keep a child in school?

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Yeah, I mean, some local authorities actively say, you know, that they want to bring the home ed numbers down. Uh the government they've not outright said they want to ban home education, but then they'll link towards other countries that have banned it. Um the bill will make child-led learning very difficult to be legally right, legally acceptable. Um, but we've beat things in the past, so there's a chance we can do that again with this, and we've just got to wait and see. But yeah, the the unfortunate death of Sarah Sharif has played a massive part in their reasoning. Except, yes, she was deregistered from school, but she was already known to social services. The school knew she was at risk. So the second that deregistration landed, the school should have been on the phone to social services, the EHE team should have been on the phone to them, and multi-agencies should have been there within hours because of the risk of harm. They failed that poor little girl. Home education had nothing to do with it because the mechanisms are there, they just weren't used. Um, so when they reel off the safeguarding reasons, those safeguarding reasons aren't real. The the mechanisms are there to protect the the few children that are home educated and harmed, they're just not used.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

That's it. The whole Sarah Sharif um story is just so, so sad. But I completely agree with you where the actual, you know, the system, the local authority actually failed that girl, not the fact that she was home educated or anything. I mean, they were from what I believe, they were already involved before she even got home educated, before they even deregistered. Well, she was born. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. Yeah. I didn't know that part.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

I didn't know that either.

SPEAKER_00 50:24

Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, they they were she was at risk before she was born. So why don't they take responsibility for that rather than put this bill on us?

SPEAKER_01 50:36

It it happens every time, you know, there's been previous deaths and and serious harm where the child was missing from education, not deregistered, but they'll say that they were home educated. A child who is being harmed is clearly not being educated. They are not home ed. They are a child missing education, and there is more than ample legislation and policy and process and people to protect that child, they just fail. I mean, I I can't remember which case it was, but the the poor child was was, I think, killed, and the social workers had turned up to the house but weren't allowed in, so they went, okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

Why aren't they going away and coming back with police? You know, uh that clearly is the system failing, that child, then isn't it? Because where they could have used force to go in, they they didn't.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

But if I didn't pay my TV license, they'd be kicking my door down.

SPEAKER_00 51:41

It would, but you could actually tell them to go away, but we'll not get into the TV license

Potential Impact on Extracurricular Activities

SPEAKER_00 51:45

later. You're very much on the same level as us with certain things.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Just yeah, I want to kind of go back to a point you raised earlier, and it really kind of just stuck in my head. So I take my son kickboxing once a week and is in a group of kids. If this bill comes into play in by the end of this year or next year, whenever it may be, am I required then to provide the local authority the details of every single child that attends my son's kickboxing class?

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Not the children, no, but the kickboxing in its original wording of the bill, yes, you would have to give the kickboxers, you know, the person in charge as details. Um and but he would also or she would also have to inform the local authority he has home educated children at his thing.

SPEAKER_00 52:37

Okay, but what kind of barriers does that bring in then? Is there any barriers that that would bring in, or is it just that we need to inform them, they need to inform them?

SPEAKER_01 52:45

No, services will pull their offerings, you know. They're not being paid enough to take all that extra time to fill all this paperwork out, or to find out how each child is educated. Um, you'll find tutors back out of teaching homed kids. Um, homed mums are not going to want to organise those museum meetups just on the off chance that one child's parent isn't able to stay. So you've got you're gonna look after your kid for a day, you've known them a few years. There's, you know, you're now in charge of that child, you've then got to report that to local authority. Um the amendment makes more sense than it would only be sort of a tutor that's there daily or a few times a week, or you know, that kind of thing. And we think the idea was to clamp down on illegal schools, you know, where people are dropping their kids off in these buildings that are not safe, or all these other allegations that I'm yet to see proof of. We think it's to clamp down on those, and there's obviously a racist element to it because there's only a certain element of you know, home ed that are using these kind of illegal schools, allegedly. So that the there's that side of it, but we can't see why else they would be wanting this level of information. It's the parents' responsibility to ensure who your child is with is safe. You know, if you're hiring a tutor that you're gonna leave your child with, you check that they've got a DBS, you know, or you scout, you know to be a scout leader, they're DBS checked. You that's your responsibility as the parent, not the local authorities. So yeah, it's services will pull their offerings.

SPEAKER_00 54:42

That's such a shame because the child then will suffer at the end of that because they're not going to these groups and they're not going to these places where they're happy, is their happy place, their learning place. And it's just so sad. It's very frustrating, and it's also it makes you very angry that they're even proposing these things.

SPEAKER_01 55:03

Anything other than school at home is going to be very difficult to do in the bills' current wording. Um, but like I said, we're fighting it, and I expect we will win elements of it. It'd be lovely if we got the whole thing scrapped.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

But we will see. I really hope so.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

So when you say fighting it, is this like a kind of daily struggle for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 55:31

Yes. Luckily, we've got a big enough team that you know we've we've got different elements of it each. But my my co-worker Michelle has been the lead on this. She works with the Home Ed Action Group and the Home Education Alliance. Um and I mean she she organized the protest this weekend, started the petition. You know, we're we're writing to MPs, we're posting about it on social media. Our TikTok's been a little bit quiet just because we've been so focused on other things. Um, but yeah, I mean, we're talking about it daily, you know, we're doing something. Michelle's on the phone to somebody pretty much daily. Um, you know, with DFE or whoever. Um, but yeah, it's it's been very time consuming for quite a long time. We'll be glad when it's over. When is it being finalised? We don't know. Um it's got some this is not my speciality. Um it's got some processes to go through first and then royal assent and then to be put into action. We don't imagine any sooner than September. So long time, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:43

Well, nine months give or take.

SPEAKER_01 56:46

So well, they had they did try rushing it through for last September, but because um when it was in House of Parliament um discussion stage, they ran out of time because there were too many questions raised from it. So at the end of that, they actually wrote in it something, again, not my speciality, that there wasn't adequate time to discuss all the elements of the bill. So things were rushed through. So things the lords have gone a bit deeper into it, and um, so yeah, timescale's a bit iffy, um, but we don't think before September.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

Yeah, it's a very long process, isn't it? And obviously, you guys are working so hard to you know fight against it. And I never knew that the protest was actually organised by educational freedom and one of your co-workers.

SPEAKER_01 57:44

Yeah, it it it we Michelle has sort of separated herself as stop the children as well-being as girls bill as a sort of separate entity to educational freedom, um, just because we didn't want it just to be about home education, because the bill has so much more in it, you know, that there's special needs provision and all sorts in it. Um, and you know, down to school uniforms. So there's other organizations being pulled in. But yeah, our co-worker, my co-owner, Michelle, has been heading most of those things.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

Yeah. Good luck with that. And yeah, thank you for the fight.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

That's what we do as as parents, we should try and do everything that we can. So writing letters to the MPs, you know, um, making sure that anybody sh any anybody that can help, we should kind of raise our voices and definitely try and you know get this, I guess, closed off, isn't it? Like just shut down. Well, it's not going to be shut down or closed off, but to try and fight it as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Yeah, so if somebody does want to get involved, if they have a look at the blog part of the educational freedom website, scroll back a little bit, but we've got posts with template letters for your MP and the Lords. And most not most, quite a lot of MPs won't respond, which is a shame. Others will be, I support the bill. But what you can do is sort of say to the MP, well, come and meet me, come and meet my home ed kids, hear what home education actually is like day to day, then tell me that the bill is fit for purpose. It's okay to support wanting to find missing children, but show me in the bill where it actually finds those missing children because it doesn't, and see the impact it would have on home educators. Let your MP see that real side of it. Um, many we've changed their minds, others have been worked on, but the Lords um have been more open to information and they've learnt a lot from us and other home educators and more willing to engage. So

Final Thoughts and Advice for Parents

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

that's been good.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

That's positive, at least, somewhat.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:04

Yeah. So sort of wrapping up, what would you want parents listening to take away from this whole conversation? Not just about the bill, but everything we've spoken about today.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

Um remember that education must be suitable to your child, and that doesn't necessarily mean school. So and and home a school doesn't have to have failed either to choose home education. And it would be to trust yourself, trust the process, and make sure you get plenty of support. Reach out to us, re make sure you've joined the groups, uh, but also don't just blanket believe everything you see online. Uh, unfortunately, there are some uh accounts out there giving false information about home education. So always do check with a reputable source that the information you're getting is correct. Uh, and don't trust your local authority to tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

Oh, yes. We experienced that first time, but thank you for clearing that up for us.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

Yeah, no, that's that's really great advice to be fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

One last question for me is if there was one myth around everything we've discussed, like home education, the bill, whatever it may be, that you want to sort of debunk and get rid of today for any new parents, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:24

So the myth that homemade kids are not going to succeed, or that they're weird, or that they're not going to have friends, and yes, they're weird, but in a good way, because they're different to other kids, that they they are such unique little people and big people. Um there's plenty of social opportunities, and no door is closed if you you can find a way to do everything. Um, so it can open more doors than you know, than a schooled child would experience. Uh, so yeah, yes, they might be weird, but in a good way.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:05

And that's that's really that's really inspiring to hear.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

Yeah, no, definitely. Yeah, and that's something that we've experienced so far as well, is that we're opening up so many doors and so many opportunities. And I just thought, think to myself that if he was still in school, we wouldn't be able to open up these doors because he's coming home tired. The weekend is just I'm tired, I'm tired, and this constant sort of battle with him to get him to do anything, but it's completely turned around now. So it's really important for parents to be reassured that you know your child is going to probably get a lot more from home education than they would be at school, and just to keep going with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Yeah, yeah. Definitely, and uh to sort of remember that what they're learning in school isn't necessarily suitable to them. So, you know, don't try comparing, just do what's right for your child,

Conclusion and Contact Information

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

and there's a lot of trust the process, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:04

So, Cheryl, just want to say thank you for joining us on the sideway um today and for sharing knowledge clearly and calmly. I think that's sort of the main thing that we want to really get across, is there's so much to process around this whole thing. Um, and I really wanted to say thank you to you for you know just breaking it down in a very simplified format for us. And we hope this conversation has offered our listeners some clarity and reassurance and it's helped them feel less alone because home education can be quite alone in the beginning, but it's not when you actually get out there and get going with it, it's quite you know, it's the opposite of you know being alone.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

Um linking Cheryl's website, um educational freedom, in the show notes for anybody who wants to explore her work or access support. Um, Cheryl, how do they contact you if they want to contact you?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:52

Um by any one of a million means. We've we've got the website with contact form, we're on every social media, um, and one of the team will respond, whether it's it's a comment in the group or the page or a message. Um yeah, so you can contact us by any means.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

Fantastic. And when I contacted you, Cheryl, you replied to me, I think, within a couple of hours each time. So thank you so much for that. And that is the kind of level of support you will get from Cheryl and her team. Um, we're also going to include our free home education guide, which shares practical information and some of the resources that have supported our own journey. And we're also working hard behind the scenes on creating um a community space, a place for families to connect, share home education ideas, access webinars, and feel supported together.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:42

So this podcast is about opening up more conversations around education, especially when the traditional system does not fit. We're bringing more voices and experiences into this space very soon. So, thank you all for listening, and we'll see you on the next episode.