Author: Ian Hopkinson
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Educational Freedom Report
It may surprise people to learn that even if you use a Department for Education (DfE) accredited online school you are usually considered to be in “elective home education”. Department for Education statistics indicate there were 111,700 children in elective home education by Autumn 2025 and that the number has grown substantially in the past…
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Freedom of information requests on accredited online schools
We have made Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Department for Education (DfE) and Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) in order to find out more about pupils at DfE accredited online schools. These requests cover the number of pupils at accredited online schools and data on the exam results for pupils at…
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Education Committee’s inquiry, Solving the SEND Crisis – our evidence published
Our evidence to the Education Committee’s inquiry entitled “Solving the SEND Crisis” has been published. In it we outlined the case for using DfE accredited online schools as a suitable pathway for some children with Special Educational Needs. The Committee’s written evidence publications can all be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8684/solving-the-send-crisis/publications/written-evidence Our evidence is currently on the…
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Opinion: Head of Ofsted Interview
Sir Martyn Oliver, head of Ofsted is interviewed in The Sunday Times today in an article entitled “WFH parents ‘make children think school is optional’”. To use the modern parlance this could well be described as “ragebait” for the Voice For Learners parents. His core thesis is that the rise of work from home has…
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Public Accounts Committee Inquiry Report
The Public Accounts Committee published its report on their inquiry Support for children and young people with special educational needs today (15th January 2025). They announced their report here, you can find their report here. We submitted evidence to the inquiry (see here). We will post a full response in due course but our first…
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Hard cases make bad laws
Christine Odone wrote an opinion piece in the Spectator before Christmas in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder verdict. Entitled “Sara Sharif’s murder shouldn’t lead to a home-school crackdown”, it is a call not to use this case to target home-schooling families. In excess of 150,000 children are home-schooled, for many it is a…
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West England Bylines Article on Virtual Schools
The West England Bylines (part of the Bylines Network of online newspapers) has published an article “Could virtual schools hold the key to school attendance?” by Dorothy Lepkowska. The article discusses the growth of online schools since the pandemic and how they are helping children who struggle to access mainstream education to learn and thrive.…
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Solving the SEND crisis – Education Committee launches major inquiry
The parliamentary Education Committee announced yesterday its own inquiry into SEND provision. They have made a call for evidence which states a desire to listen to the voices of parents and children. The scope of the inquiry is to look at short term mitigation measures as well as longer term stability in the system. The…
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Public Accounts Committee Inquiry – our submission
The Public Accounts Committee has started an inquiry entitled Support for children and young people with special educational needs, it follows their earlier inquiry in 2020 which found that many children with special educational needs (SEN) were being failed by the system of support. In addition the National Audit Office published a report earlier in…
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National Audit Office Report on Special Educational Needs provision
The National Audit Office report on “Support for children and young people with special educational needs”, published today, shows a system in crisis – failing financial and failing to deliver education. Something like 1.7 million children are recognised as having special educational needs. Spending on special educational needs has increased 58% to £10.7bn in the…