I suggests other home educators and home educated children let her know of their doubts
Dear Maire, Bruce and Beth,
Thank you for your email regarding home education. I have spoken with the Deputy Children’s Commissioner, who was actually a member of the review group. She is supportive of the recommendations that the report proposes. She appreciates your concerns and is sure that any visits undertaken by the local authority will be done in accordance with the child’s wishes and her best interests.
If Beth wishes, she can give us her views via the website, where she can also view other children and young peoples’ opinions on a range of issues. http://www.11million.org.uk/
Yours Sincerely,
Kirsty Anderson
Enquiries Officer
11 MILLION
1 London Bridge
London
SE1 9BG
DD: 0551 143 7826
Tel: 0844 800 9113
Fax: 0207 357 8329
Email: info.request@11MILLION.org.uk
Web: http://www.11million.org.uk/
"The 11 MILLION children and young people in England have a voice"
Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green
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From: Maire Stafford [mailto:maireandbruce@ntlworld.com] Sent: 16 June 2009 21:40To: REQUEST, InfoSubject: For the attn. of the Children's Commissioner
On behalf of our daughter we wish to alert you to the proposed invasion of her privacy and family home suggested by the Report on Elective Home Education by Graham Badman, and welcomed and agreed to by Secretary of State, Ed Balls.
The element she is most upset by is the suggestion that she should be interviewed by a stranger from the LA without her parents present, and that she should have exhibit what she has learned.
We follow an autonomous educational path with Beth, she was too traumatised by school to undergo any instruction and we have now found this path to be more effective than structured education. However Graham Badman has shown a distinct hostility and lack of understanding of this form of education and his recommendations threaten to make it impossible.
There are many other problems with his report and we have attached a copy of a letter recently sent to Ed Balls which spells them out.
Thank you for giving this your consideration.
Maire, Bruce and Beth Stafford
8 comments:
and i wonder why i wouldn't trust them one inch. ... we need some stomach for this, don't we?!
That DCC must be totally crazy! Not to be trusted with our children, for sure.
"she (the Deputy Children's Commissioner)... is sure that any visits undertaken by the local authority will be done in accordance with the child’s wishes and her best interests."
Cough, splutter, er WHAT?
That's interesting in that it defies reality rather more than anything else I have read in relation to this review, which really is saying something.
In a recent poll here:
http://daretoknowblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/results-of-poll.html
some 77% of HE children said they didn't want to see an LA official at all. How then can a visit of any sort be in accordance with the child's wishes.
The Deputy Children's Commissioner needs to know this directly, so that we know that she is disabused of the notion that in insisting upon the state having sight of the child, she is NOT protecting children's rights, as she would be condoning the infringement of children's rights to privacy, freedom of association, the right to silence and ownership of intellectual property.
Hi Maire,
Which email addy did you use? The have your say section on the Children's Commissioner's website seems to be aimed at children, and am not sure that I have sent my missive to the right one for adults. I used:
info.request@11million.org.uk
Carlotta we used that one but sent it on behalf of Beth.
I am considering asking Beth to write something but she is still very angry about her time in school so might go on about teachers and is not easy to guide. lol
I'm terrified by their ignorance! It seems to be a prevalent ignorance and until lots of non home educated people join the outcry I think we will just be patted like this.
I wonder whether to DCC has been made aware that actually there is absolutely nothing in that report that indicates that one iota of children's wishes will be taken into account
@Grit, we certainly do. @lotusbirther Bruce wonders if she has ambitions to drop a d from her title.
@Carlota has she been sent the poll.
@Sally there is a lot of ignorance and to be honest some malice amongst the general public towards heers, I don't know if it is jealousy that our children should have this opportunity or fear of the unknown.
@Anonymous, I am afraid she has coluded with the report and so whatever her title she does not have the wellbeing of children at heart. She ignored all the issues in our letter to Ed Balls, if she even read it.
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