Written question WQ85628

As part of our approach to work with and support families who have elected to home educate their children, we require local authorities to submit an annual data return. We have just received the latest data analysis from ‘Data Cymru’ which indicate the number of learners ‘Educated at Home’ as of January 18th, 2022, is 4340. The following figures have been collated from the ‘Data Cymru’ annual data collections.

There has been an increase since the previous data collection with 388 more learners being educated at home in the past year.

Jan18

Jan 19

Jan 20

Jan 21

Jan 22

2292

2651

2899

3952

4340

We are aware that some parents have made the decision to remove their children from school due to Covid related fears. Of the learners who have been withdrawn from school in the past year, 24% of the families indicated Anxiety/Concern due to Covid-19 as the significant reason in their decision to home educate. We are continuing to encourage local authorities and schools to work together with families through a supportive approach to enable a return to school at the earliest opportunity.

Welsh Government has responded to this increase in the number of children and young people being home educated in Wales and is providing local authorities with £1.7m in the current financial year to support elective home education.

This funding comprises two elements: -

• A fixed sum of funding (£50,000) per local authority which has enabled local authorities to enhance their capacity and ensure that Local Authorities fulfil their statutory duties which is to ensure that all children receive a suitable and efficient education and

• A variable amount of funding in relation to the number of learners home educated in each local authority which allows each local authority to develop a wider package of support.

As part of the development of new proposals for EHE, Welsh Government have established two working groups focussing on the EHE/ALN interface and the wider package of support provided by local authorities.

The groups will look to identify best practice in working with EHE families, addressing the potential de-registration of a child from school, and supporting re-integration of learners into school.