‘Exceptional’ rise in number of children being taken out of local schools

Hundreds more children across Torbay are being home-schooled since the pandemic, new figures reveal.

Alleged bullying is one of the main reasons given parents give for pulling children out of mainstream schools.
Before the disruption caused by covid, fewer than one in 100 of the bay’s children were educated at home. Now the figure has risen from the pre-pandemic level of 164 children to 500, or 2.5 per cent.
A report for Torbay Council describes the level as ‘exceptional’.
The figures show around eight children every week are taken out of mainstream schools to be educated at home, with no sign of the rate slowing.
They are contained in a report on absence from schools compiled for Torbay Council’s children and young people’s overview and scrutiny board. The largest numbers are in years nine and 10, although there are significant increases in years seven, eight and nine.
The report says: “This suggests that there is a group of parents who start at secondary phase and, over time, come to believe that remaining in school does not benefit their child.
“The most common reasons given for moving to elective home education are dissatisfaction with the school due to alleged bullying, failure to meet special educational needs or failure to support or prevent mental health deteriorating.”
The bay has a slightly improving number of exclusions from secondary schools, the report says, but a worsening number at primaries. Children who have been excluded struggle to find a new mainstream school, and services for them are ‘beyond capacity’.
Children with special educational needs or low family incomes are more likely to be suspended and excluded, and are less likely to attend school.
Councillors will also hear that Torbay has ‘exceptional’ levels of authorised absence through illness and suspension. It has the highest percentage of primary school absence through illness in the country while in secondary schools, only South Tyneside has greater absence through illness.
The committee will also hear about steps the council is taking to address problems with school attendance.