Today (27 July) the House of Commons Education Select Committee called for the Government to set up a national register of home schooled children and to establish better data collection to ensure all children out of school get a suitable education. 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “NAHT has been calling for an official register of home educated children for some time. The fact that there is no official source of data is a sign of how unsatisfactory the situation is. Without an officially maintained register, there remains the risk of children becoming lost in the system.

“The Government must find out the reasons behind so many more families choosing home education recently. There is the concern that many appear to have chosen it because they have lost faith in the government’s approach to school safety during the pandemic. The Government urgently needs to reassure all parents so that this trend does not continue next term.”