Home education helps daughter flourish, mum says

A Telford mum has said home education has allowed her eight-year-old daughter's spirit to flourish.

Sandra took her daughter Beatrice out of school in 2020, after teaching her at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, almost 400 children in the Shropshire Council area were taken out of mainstream education, compared to 100 five years ago.

In Telford and Wrekin, 237 children were taken out of mainstream education last year, up from 135 five years ago.

A BBC investigation found the number of children moving to home education in the UK was at its highest level since the pandemic.

Councils received almost 50,000 notifications in the last academic year from families wanting to take their children out of school.

The Department for Education said it supported families choosing to home educate and most did an excellent job, but it was important that it did not risk children falling off the radar, poor education or children's wellbeing.

After home schooling Beatrice during the coronavirus pandemic, the decision was made to keep her at home.

"Home schooling was replicating school at home, so sitting with your children and doing lessons at a table with books," said Sandra.

"Home education is providing education outside of school for your child, which might sound similar, but there’s huge differences."

Beatrice leads her own learning, which Sandra said allowed her daughter to blossom.

She learned to read from acting and singing, has a passion for aerial hoop and dance, and learns about history and the outdoors by going to museums and workshops.

Sandra said she believed mainstream education was becoming less personalised, and was not prioritising children’s needs as individuals.

"It’s all about performance of the school as a whole," she told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"From the experience of her [Beatrice] going just to pre-school, and how robotic and mandated it is, we felt that her spirit needed to flourish a little bit more."

"I feel that my middle son in particular had a lot of his spirit crushed within mainstream school," she added.

As for returning to school, Sandra said it was Beatrice's decision.

Whenever her daughter expresses curiosity in going back, they discuss it, and have visited schools in the past.

"She always chooses home education. If she was adamant she wanted to go back, I would find her a place," she said.

"It's hard work. You're with your child 24/7, and you're her educator, her parent, her friend, everything else."

"We’ve had to change jobs, it’s been a juggling act, and it’s hard work, and it’s exhausting. But watching her flourish and grow into who she’s meant to be is just all the reward we need really," she added.

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