More than 75,000 children are being educated from home – almost a 40% increase from last year’s figure – with over 20,000 children having fallen off the school roll over the past year due largely to health concerns relating to Covid. MailOnline has the story.
An estimated 75,668 children and young people are being home educated across England, according to figures gathered on the first school census day of the 2020/21 academic year.
This represents an increase of some 38% from the year before – with parents citing “health concerns relating to Covid” as the main reason for keeping their children at home.
But it comes amid fears that vulnerable children are falling through the gaps.
The Chief Inspector of schools in England, Amanda Spielman, said the figures were “concerning”.
According to a report by The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), some 75,668 children and young people are being home educated across all 151 local authorities in England this year.
The ADCS estimates that a staggering 19,510 students were taken off the school roll in September alone.
The largest increase in the number of electively home educated children and young people from 2019 was among children aged 7-11 in Key Stage 2 (6,427) followed by some 4,750 in Key Stage 3 (aged 11-14).
The largest percentage increase since 2019 was in the early years (85%).
Internationally, the picture is even grimmer. A report by UNICEF published earlier this month found that 800 million children across the world are still not fully back in classes as schools remain closed or are only offering a mix of remote and in-person learning in at least 90 countries.
The MailOnline report is worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Fraser Nelson has written about the disappearance of tens of thousands of children from the school roll in his Telegraph column today.
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