Following the high profile case of two policewomen in England who were said by Ofsted to be acting outwith the law by entering into a reciprocal childcare arrangement, Schoolhouse contacted the  Care Commission to request clarification of the relevant regulations  in Scotland.

They have now responded to our query as  follows:

“The Care Commission takes the view that it would only be in circumstances where a person was being paid for looking after a child that we would require them to register as a childminder.”

The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee of the UK Parliament has now published the memoranda submitted for consideration in its recent inquiry into the Badman review of elective home education in England. Although Scotland is not affected by the Badman proposals as education is a devolved issue,  Schoolhouse has been inundated with enquiries from English home educators planning to relocate north of the border.  Since Graham Badman failed  to take the  Scottish statutory guidance into consideration when reviewing the framework  in England,  Schoolhouse  submitted a memorandum to the Select Committe in which it drew attention to this omission and objected…

A Schoolhouse member has received, via his MP, the following response from Keith Brown MSP, Minister for Schools and Skills, to his query about the Scottish Government’s plans (or otherwise) for a ‘review’ of elective home education. Thank you for your letter dated 20 February to Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, on behalf of your constituent, Mr S, regarding home education. Mr S asks whether a review into Home Education will be conducted in the near future. Following extensive consultation, the Scottish Government issued new Home Education Guidance in January 2008. The guidance sets out the rights…