The number of children in home education has soared by 60 per cent since before the Covid-19 pandemic, a Schools Week investigation has revealed, with thousands more pupils removed from school in the past year alone.
Freddie Whittaker, Donna Ferguson and Samantha Booth report…
Headteachers warned this week that children are missing out on education and even being taken out of school to work, while some risk becoming involved in criminal activity.
MPs have demanded ministers take the issue “more seriously” and prioritise their long-awaited register to pin-point where all children are.
But parents who home-school say they have been forced to take their children out of school because of health concerns, unmet special education needs or in response to pressure from government attendance targets.
