Huge rise in home education for kids

11:25am Monday 14th July 2008

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THERE has been a “huge” increase in the number of parents shunning Lancashire’s schools and educating their children at home.

New figures reveal the number of youngsters on the county’s home education register has more than doubled since 2000 — with bullying increasingly cited as the reason.

And hundreds more children may not be on the council’s radar — bosses admit the register, which contains 467 names, might not be “a full and accurate picture” because it only includes children who had previously enrolled with a school.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: “It is a phenomenal increase, and it’s incredibly worrying.

“I had someone in my surgery only yesterday who had taken their daughter out of school simply because of bullying. This is an issue that the county council desperately needs to look at as a matter of urgency. There should be a full inquiry, and we need to know what these people’s worries are.”

A report to County Hall’s scrutiny committee for children and young people says the increase is “an increasing strain on limited resources”.

It says there has been a “substantial increase” in pupils concerned about bullying, and in the number who refuse to go to school.

The largest group on the register is made up of children from traveller families.

In East Lancashire there were 169 children on the home education register in Spring 2008, compared to 84 in 2000.