Scottish Government upholds freedom of choice in education
Monday, 6th September 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Law & Policy | Media | SchoolhouseScotland’s national home education organisation Schoolhouse has welcomed the Scottish Government’s stated commitment to upholding freedom of choice in education in an unequivocal response to a series of parliamentary questions tabled by Lothians Green MSP Robin Harper. [1] Commenting on written answers from the Scottish education secretary Michael Russell MSP, a Schoolhouse spokesperson said: “Schoolhouse is grateful to Robin Harper for once again raising awareness of some of the issues faced by parents in Scotland who are, or may be contemplating, elective home education for their children. Despite definitive statutory guidance having been in place for well over two years, too many…
Schoolhouse AGM 2010
Tuesday, 31st August 2010 | Events & Activities | Home Ed in the News | SchoolhouseThe Schoolhouse AGM was held on 21 August 2010 at the Deer Centre in Fife, where we were delighted to welcome members from as far away as the Borders and Tobermory as well as more local folk. Families had an opportunity to enjoy the facilities on offer at the centre before the meeting at which the Schoolhouse annual report and accounts were presented and two new members of the committee duly elected. After the formal business was concluded, there was a question and answer session about the latest activities undertaken by Schoolhouse and various developments since the end of the reported year,…
Duncan McNeil MSP continues to distress and disgrace
Sunday, 15th August 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Media | SchoolhouseIt has been brought to the attention of Schoolhouse that Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil MSP is continuing to cause offence to the home educating community in Scotland by reiterating, in the Greenock Telegraph last Wednesday 11 August, insensitive and insulting comments for which he has already been severely criticised. By steadfastly refusing to apologise for his inappropriate, insensitive and politically motivated attack on a minority group in the wake of the Riggi family tragedy, and now seemingly redoubling his efforts to hog headlines over the issue, he is clearly intent on squeezing every last drop of political capital out of a…
Schoolhouse slams “grave robber” MSP over Riggi remarks
Sunday, 8th August 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Media | SchoolhouseScotland’s national home education organisation Schoolhouse has strongly condemned Labour MSP Duncan McNeil’s attack on home education in the wake of the tragic Riggi case, describing his comments in today’s Sunday Post as “insensitive, deplorable and tantamount to grave robbing.” The charity will now consider making a formal complaint about his conduct via the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. A Schoolhouse spokesperson said: “We find it deeply disturbing that Duncan McNeil has seen fit to use the deaths of three innocent children in Edinburgh last week to peddle vile personal prejudice and score cheap political points at the expense of a minority community of…
Schoolhouse AGM, 21st August 2010
Wednesday, 21st July 2010 | Events & Activities | Home Ed in the News | SchoolhouseThis year’s Schoolhouse AGM will be held on Saturday 21st August at 2pm at the Scottish Deer Centre, Cupar, Fife. We are anticipating that whilst the AGM itself will be brief, members will take the opportunity to meet other home educators and make the day a social event. As such we have negotiated discounted rates for entry to the Park itself, so families can arrive from 10am onwards and enjoy the various activities that the Park has to offer. The Scottish Deer Centre has over 140 deer – nine species from around the world. There are regular Bird of Prey Demonstrations in the outdoor theatre and…
‘Did You Know?’ leaflet now available for downloading
Monday, 24th May 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Law & Policy | SchoolhouseThe Schoolhouse Did You Know? A5 leaflet is now available for downloading here.
Please print as many copies as you like and circulate to spread the word about home education.
Schoolhouse welcomes wash up of English home education proposals
Wednesday, 7th April 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Law & Policy | SchoolhouseScotland’s national home education charity Schoolhouse has welcomed news that draconian measures threatening the future of home education in England which had been tabled in the Children Schools and Families Bill will not now pass into legislation. Thanks to vehement opposition by Conservatives and Liberal Democrats before and during the wash up period, which immediately precedes dissolution of the UK Parliament in anticipation of a general election, plans to regulate home education in England out of existence have effectively been defeated. Commenting on the news that Ed Balls’s parent licensing plans have been stymied, Schoolhouse convener Sheila Struthers said: “This is…
Local Authority Links
Wednesday, 17th March 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Law & Policy | Research | SchoolhouseSchoolhouse is in the process of updating its local authority links and has contacted all 32 Scottish Local Authorities seeking updated information on their home education policies, information for parents and contact details for staff members with responsibility for home education. We have sought the following information : Link url to the council’s elective home education policy Link url to the council’s information for parents re elective home education Details of the council’s named home education contact with telephone number and email address Since parents often report difficulty in locating the relevant information on some council websites, we decided to place all the details on our own website for ease of…
Schoolhouse Beecraigs camping weekend, 14-16 May 2010
Wednesday, 10th March 2010 | Events & Activities | Home Ed in the News | SchoolhouseFollowing on from the success of the residential weekend at New Lanark and due to popular demand, Schoolhouse is organising another weekend event for families, this time camping at Beecraigs Country Park. Beecraigs is located 3.2km. (2 miles) south of historic Linlithgow town, midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in the scenic Bathgate Hills. It has a dedicated camping area that we have booked the sole use of for Friday 14th May from 2pm to Sunday 16th May at 11am. The cost for the weekend will be £20 per family and should be paid at time of booking. There will be a limited…
Parents under undue pressure to register under fives
Tuesday, 2nd March 2010 | Home Ed in the News | Media | SchoolhouseFor immediate release, 2 March 2010 Parents under undue pressure to register under fives for schooling Scotland’s national home education charity Schoolhouse is calling on the Scottish Government to remind local authorities of the parameters of “compulsory education age” after receiving numerous reports from parents of three and four year olds who are coming under intense pressure to “register” their children for school or risk losing a nursery place for the year until their child reaches statutory school age. Schoolhouse convener Sheila Struthers said: “A child does not reach compulsory education age in Scotland until the August after the child’s fifth birthday, but parents are…