local authorities – Home Education Scotland

04Dec 2020 by Home Education Scotland No Comments

LA’s warm clothes scheme extended to HE families

Home educators are often overlooked when it comes to inclusion in local authority projects, and Dumfries and Galloway were no different - until HES challenged this. Poverty can hit at any time, and COVID-19 has exacerbated the issue, with many families juggling ever-tightening budgets. Dumfries and Galloway are running a Warm Winter Clothing scheme which was aimed initially at school children but has now been opened up to home educated children. Poverty doesn’t just affect school children after all. If your home educated child is in need of warm clothes this winter and lives in Dumfries and Galloway, you can use the link below to place a request. https://supportdg.dumgal.gov.uk/article/21523/Warm-Winter-Clothes-and-Free-School-Uniform-Project

LAs’ data protection policies come under the spotlight

We have published new research in collaboration with The Scottish Home Education Forum examining local authorities’ data protection policies and practices in relation to the withdrawal of children from school for elective home education. Taking Local Authorities to Task was undertaken to expand on one of 16 recommendations in a previous report, Home Truths, which we published jointly in March 2020. That report highlighted intrusive and unnecessary data collection and sharing by councils when parents elect to withdraw their children from state schools in order to home educate. You can read the latest full report here: Taking Local Authorities to Task: An investigation and critique of Local Authorities’ data protection policies and practices in relation to the withdrawal of children from school for elective home education in Scotland

HES corrects misleading council info

Our attention was drawn to a newspaper report on July 24 in which the Falkirk Herald newspaper repeated inaccurate and misleading information provided to parents by David Mackay, Head of Education at Falkirk Council. HES Deputy Convenor Mark Nixon wrote to the Herald’s editor, offering a corrective.The report has now been removed from the Falkirk Herald’s website.We would like to encourage HES members and supporters to let us know about any inaccurate reporting on home education matters in Scotland’s press and broadcast media, so that we can submit corrections where necessary in order to help Scottish media outlets improve their coverage of home education and offer clear and accurate advice to their readers.The full text of Mark’s letter: Dear madam/sirIt is a shame that the Herald did not consult with…