Parents face asking councils for permission to homeschool at-risk children
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New rules for homeschooling children could have helped bolster the safety of murdered 10-year-old Sara Sharif, an MP has suggested. Munira Wilson described schools as “a key safeguarding partner” where teachers can look out for signs of abuse. Parents who want to homeschool their children face having to get permission from their local council, if their child is at risk of harm, according to plans in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The move would help the Government put young people’s safety “first”, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the Commons on Wednesday. Ms Phillipson also said town halls will also have to set up a register of homeschooled children, whether they are at risk of harm or not, “because if children aren’t in school, we need to know where they are”.
Sara, whose battered body was discovered at her family home in Woking, Surrey, in August last year, was removed from school by her family, despite teachers having noticed marks on her face and referred her to social services. Homeschooling her allowed the abuse at the hands of her father Urfan Sharif, 43, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, to carry on “beyond the gaze of the authorities”, sentencing judge Mr Justice Cavanagh said last month.
At the Bill’s second reading, Ms Wilson told the Commons: “All the evidence points towards the fact that education and schools – and that’s why it’s in the Bill – have to be a key safeguarding partner, so where a child is at risk and has been identified as being at risk, ensuring that that child is in school, as this Bill seeks to do, will help to safeguard them.
