Stroking snakes, fraternising with ferrets..
No, I'm not just talking about the government's latest nonsense (though it might come in for a mention..) but, first of all, our home ed group outing yesterday to the new local animal sanctuary.
The yellow snake is a python, and the children all got to stroke it and to ask its handler endless questions, which he was more than happy to endlessly answer!
Before the animal sanctuary, we had our weekly home ed meeting, and some of us were chatting about the home education review. Everyone I spoke to about it feels deeply offended and insulted by the line the government is taking, that because we home educate, we could be child abusers.
We already face prejudice from some of the general public thinking we’re a bit weird for not putting our children into school, and now vast numbers will be wondering whether we’re also perhaps abusing our children in some way.
It’s absolutely outrageous. To requote the AHEd statistics, which can’t be requoted often enough IMO,
Those figures constitute cold hard fact, and yet regarding the supposed case to quote Vijay Patel, the NSPCC’s Child Protection Policy Advisor: “We don’t have the evidence there statistically, no.”
There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that home educators might be child abusers.
The only case Mr Patel could cite was that of Eunice Spry, who in the long period of her foster children’s abuse, was checked, monitored, visited and known by several local authority departments.
There is, therefore, no excuse for the implementation of statutory monitoring of home education.
If anyone needs motivating to help counter this attack, I recommend joining the Facebook Group. We get a daily call to action by email. They're scarily well-organised!
The yellow snake is a python, and the children all got to stroke it and to ask its handler endless questions, which he was more than happy to endlessly answer!
Before the animal sanctuary, we had our weekly home ed meeting, and some of us were chatting about the home education review. Everyone I spoke to about it feels deeply offended and insulted by the line the government is taking, that because we home educate, we could be child abusers.
We already face prejudice from some of the general public thinking we’re a bit weird for not putting our children into school, and now vast numbers will be wondering whether we’re also perhaps abusing our children in some way.
It’s absolutely outrageous. To requote the AHEd statistics, which can’t be requoted often enough IMO,
Those figures constitute cold hard fact, and yet regarding the supposed case to quote Vijay Patel, the NSPCC’s Child Protection Policy Advisor: “We don’t have the evidence there statistically, no.”
There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that home educators might be child abusers.
The only case Mr Patel could cite was that of Eunice Spry, who in the long period of her foster children’s abuse, was checked, monitored, visited and known by several local authority departments.
There is, therefore, no excuse for the implementation of statutory monitoring of home education.
If anyone needs motivating to help counter this attack, I recommend joining the Facebook Group. We get a daily call to action by email. They're scarily well-organised!
posted by Gill at 9:07 am
1 Comments:
gulp apart from last night when a day in the city just proved too much ;-) Will be sending one out again today though :)
Post a Comment
<< Home