Following 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 15th May from 2pm to Sunday 17th 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 number of places due to the size of the site.

The camping area is fenced and is therefore traffic free, however the car park is adjoining so not far to carry camping equipment. There are static BBQ pits around the car park area for those who wish to use them. Individual families are responsible for their own meals.

Entry to Beecraigs Country Park itself is free and there are lots of pleasant woodland walks and circular walks around a loch. In 1977 a red deer herd was established and is now maintained as a visitor attraction. It is possible to view the deer from raised platforms and from the walkways through the fields. As the calves can be born from April/May onwards it may be possible for us to see young calves during the weekend.

There is plenty of opportunity for off road cycling and there is an adventure play area and trim course within easy walking distance of the camping area.

Karen,  the Schoolhouse events co-ordinator, has been in touch with Historic Scotland’s Linlithgow Palace and arranged a free education visit for the Friday afternoon at 14.00 hours. A Primary 7 guide from the local Primary School will be available to show us around the site.

The Ranger Service at Beecraigs is arranging a nocturnal walk at about 8.30pm on the Friday night at a cost of £3 per adult and £2 per child and then on the Saturday morning they will be running a further woodland/shelter building activity again at a cost of £3 per adult and £2 per child

There are a number of outdoor activities offered at the Park from Field Archery to Gorge Scrambling to a “Go Ape high wire forest adventure” but if folk are interested in these activities they need to be organised by individual families. Taking part in these activities will not be covered by the Schoolhouse Insurance.  Likewise, any one interested in fishing will also need to organise that for themselves.

If you wish to book a place for your family, please contact Karen with details of who will be coming, with ages ( for the children!) and details of whether you wish to participate in the Linlithgow Place visit, nocturnal walk and/or woodland/shelter building activity. Then please send full payment for both camping and the activities (cheques payable to Schoolhouse HEA) to:

Schoolhouse Home Education Association
PO Box 18044
Glenrothes
Fife KY7 9AD

If anyone is keen to come but would rather come with a caravan then these will need to located in an area a short distance from the tent area and will need to be booked independently with the Country Park. However monies for the activities will still need to be sent to Schoolhouse.

SCHOOLHOUSE HAS MADE THIS SOLE-USE BOOKING IN ORDER TO OFFER FAMILIES THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET OTHER HOME EDUCATORS AND TO ALLOW THEM TO TAKE PART IN SOME SHARED ACTIVITIES. ATTENDEES SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN AT ALL TIMES AND THAT SCHOOLHOUSE MAY NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY OR DAMAGE SUSTAINED WHILST ATTENDING THE CAMP.

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 increasingly being pressurised by schools and councils to send their children to school a full year earlier. Some report being harassed into completing registration forms or deferred placement ‘requests’ for a school place they do not intend to take up.

“Others have been told that nursery places will be withdrawn for children who do not start school the August before they attain compulsory education age. Since many parents feel their children would greatly benefit from an extra year outside formal schooling, they are faced with an unscheduled ‘gap’ year if they do not comply with local council demands and have been looking into home-based education as an alternative.

“We already send children to school two years earlier than other European countries, but the ‘outcomes’ of early formal schooling, as opposed to informal play based education, are far from encouraging. It is of course cheaper in the short term, but parents are not convinced it is always beneficial for their children’s individual learning needs.”

Schoolhouse is concerned that parents are being deliberately misled into believing that they are obliged to send their four year olds  to school and that council officials are  unable to cite any relevant legislation when challenged . Writing on the Schoolhouse website after raising her concerns directly with the government, one parent commented:  “According to the Scottish government I do not have to register my almost four year old to start school in August…or ever!”  Another reported: “I declined to fill in the forms and dislike being harassed.”

Sheila Struthers said: “Although many parents who contact Schoolhouse have no intention of  home educating on a full time  basis during the compulsory education years, Schoolhouse considers all parents to be their children’s primary educators and is committed to supporting them in that role. It is parents who are legally responsible for ensuring the suitable education of their children and who are best placed to decide when and if they will benefit from formal schooling.”

ENDS

 For further information, contact the Schoolhouse press officer on 0772 962 3532 or media@schoolhouse.org.uk.

Glasgow Steiner School , 52 Lumsden Street, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8RH.

Two tours of the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh have been booked for  Wednesday 31 March at 10.40am (places still available) and  11.40am (now full) .

Participants should arrive 15 minutes prior to the starting times to clear security.

The tour is free and hopefully the start times will allow families to make use of the cheap railcard deals.

The one hour tour goes from the Main Hall to the Garden Lobby then the floor of the Chamber to see where the MSPs meet to debate. We will also visit a Committee Room and explore further into the building, to allow views of the MSPs office block and historic Queensberry House.

Please note that this is a walking tour. There is a cafeteria on site.

For more information or to see some digital images of the tour, click here. 

If you are interested in coming along, please contact Karen (via Schoolhouse).

We have also been concerned to hear from parents who have been misinformed about the necessity to obtain council consent to withdraw their children from state provided nursery education when the children have not attained statutory school age, are not attending a primary school and are therefore exempt from any such requirement (which applies only to school age children who are attending a state school) .

For clarification and reference, we have cited the relevant legislation relating to “school age” and would ask parents who have been misinformed  by schools  or local authorities to contact us with the details so that we can gauge the prevalence of the pressure to register under 5s, where appropriate, bring the matter to the attention of the Scottish Government.

Section 32 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provides:

32 Dates for commencement of school attendance

(1) Subject to subsection (7) below, an education authority shall fix a date or dates (any such fixed date being hereinafter referred to as a “school commencement date”) for the commencement of attendance at primary schools in their area; and any such date may be either a calendar date or fixed by reference to the occurrence of a particular annual event.

(2) Subject to subsection (7) below, an education authority may, under subsection (1) above—

(a) fix different school commencement dates for different primary schools in their area;

(b) at any time fix a different school commencement date in substitution for any date previously fixed by them under the said subsection (1).

(3) A child who does not attain the age of five years on a school commencement date shall, for the purposes of section 31 of this Act, be deemed not to have attained that age until the school commencement date next following the fifth anniversary of his birth.

(4) Subject to subsection (7) below, an education authority shall, in respect of each school commencement date fixed by them under subsection (1) above and applicable to a public primary school, fix the latest following date (any such fixed date being hereinafter referred to as an “appropriate latest date”) on or before which a child must attain the age of five years in order to come within the category of children whom the authority consider of sufficient age to commence attendance at a public primary school at that school commencement date.

(5) Subject to subsection (7) below, an education authority may, under subsection (4) above—

(a) where a school commencement date is applicable to more than one public primary school in their area, fix in respect of that school commencement date different appropriate latest dates for those different schools;

(b) at any time fix a different appropriate latest date in substitution for any date previously fixed by them under the said subsection (4).

(6) The education authority shall carry out their duty under section 1 of this Act as if a child who is under school age on a school commencement date, but who will attain the age of five years on or before the next following appropriate latest date fixed in respect of the school commencement date, has attained the age of five years on the school commencement date; but nothing in this subsection or in subsection (4) above shall, in respect of a child under school age,—

(a) impose any duty on his parent; or

(b) require an education authority to take any action under section 36 or 37 of this Act.

(7) The period between an appropriate latest date applicable to a school and the next following school commencement date applicable to that school (whether or not the school commencement date is that in respect of which the appropriate latest date is fixed) shall not, except with the approval of the Secretary of State on an application to him by the education authority, exceed six months by more than seven days:

(8) In relation to any child, “school commencement date”—

(a) in subsection (3) above—

(i) means, where the child is a pupil in attendance at a primary school, a school commencement date of that school;

(ii) in any other case has the same meaning as in subsection (6) above;

(b) in subsection (6) above means a school commencement date of the public primary school to which a child of his religious denomination and from his place of residence would normally be admitted.

(9) In this section, “primary school” does not include a nursery school or a nursery class.

Section 1 of the School Education (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2002 offers further clarification with regard to placing requests for children under school age:

1  Placing requests: children under school age

(1) In section 28A of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (c. 44) (duty of education authority to comply with placing requests)—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) for “child of school age” there shall be substituted “qualifying child”; and

(ii) for “and (3A)” there shall be substituted “, (3A) and (3F)”;

(b) after subsection (3D) there shall be inserted—

“(3F) Where an education authority are carrying out the duty imposed on them by subsection (1) above in respect of a child such as is mentioned in subsection (6)(c) below, they shall place the child in the specified school—

(a) on the date (being the date fixed for that school under section 32(1) and (2) of this Act) next following the making of the placing request; or

(b) where that date has passed, as soon after that date as is reasonably practicable.”; and

(c) after subsection (5) there shall be added—

“(6) In this section—

“primary school” does not include a nursery school or a nursery class; and

“qualifying child” means—

(a) a child of school age;
(b) a child who has commenced attendance at a primary school but is not of school age; or
(c) a child who is not of school age and who, on the date (being the date fixed under subsections (1) and (2) of section 32 of this Act for the purposes of subsection (6) of that section) next following the making of the request under subsection (1) above, will be eligible under this Act to commence attendance at a primary school.”.

If the above legalese is incomprehensible, these Explanatory Notes might help:

Section 1 – Placing requests: children under school age

5.    The statutory placing request regime contained in sections 28A to 28G of the 1980 Act enables a person to make a written request to an education authority to place his or her child in a particular school. Section 31 of the 1980 Act defines “school age” as being 5 years of age and over, but under 16 years of age. Section 32 of the 1980 Act also provides that children who are not 5 years of age by the “school commencement date” (as defined in that section), but whose 5th birthday falls before the next “appropriate latest date” (also as defined in that section), can be treated as if they were 5 years of age and be admitted to school on the commencement date before their 5th birthday. In practice, this means that the annual August intake includes children from 4 years and 6 months to 5 years and 11 months old.

Caitlin has written a short report and posted some pictures of the weekend here.  Meanwhile, the following comments have been received from some of other attendees:

“A big thank you to Karen for organising this. We could only manage over for a few hours but it was lovely to see everyone.”

“What a great venue – YHs never used to have en suites in my young days.”

“What a fantastic weekend we had. Surrounded by so many lovely people and their beautiful children.  It was fantastic to see the children running around laughing and playing while the parents all sat and chatted. It really felt like one big happy community. “

“The youth hostel was a perfect loaction as it allowed us all to sit, eat and chat together. I have made fantastic new friends and here’s to many more meet-ups like this.”

“Brill weekend, thanks so much for organising it.”

“A big thank you to everyone that made this weekend such a great weekend. As one of those chatting Mums it was wonderful to see the children all making new friends and getting on so well. “

“The highlight for me was the upturned chair structure which became different things to different groups and individuals and really seemed to spark the children’s imaginations and provided great entertainment.”

“Thanks to all of you for a fantastic weekend. Hostel was great, hadn’t expected showers + loos in the room, communal rooms were big enough to give us all space and room for different groupings which was fab. The mix of the mills and the walks give us all something to keep us busy. All round great weekend.”

“The 4 of us have really enjoyed our weekend. It has certainly been a struggle for me to return to the day job…”

“We had a great time and were so pleased to get the chance to meet and really talk to other parents. J had an abosoulte blast and can’t wait till the next one. I think the Youth Hostel was a great choice and next time I will bring the husband and the 2 year old because they feel they really missed out.”

“It was soo fun, can’t believe it had to end!!”

Given the obvious enthusiasm for this type of  event,  Schoolhouse plans to organise more of them.  Karen would meanwhile appreciate any feedback from those who went to New Lanark to gauge what worked and what didn’t. It can be left in the comments box below or sent directly.

2010 will be a year of exciting changes and developments for us as we redouble our efforts and refocus our resources to support families in Scotland who wish to retain direct responsibility for the upbringing and education of their children.

As part of the reorganisation we have recently been undertaking in order to streamline our services, Theresia will be assuming responsibility for Schoolhouse memberships and other administrative tasks in the new year. This will take some of the strain from our hard pressed volunteers who will be continuing to deal directly with all the home education and media enquiries.

Visitors to the Schoolhouse website may have noticed some changes afoot, but the site  is still a work in progress and will be relaunching early in 2010 with a design makeover and a host of new features, including a members only area.

He writes:

“We have a number of parents who I have met at our school who have seriously considered home schooling. Our school is quite unique in the West of Scotland and we believe the nearest thing to a home from home for our children as we are a very small, close community in a big city!

“We recently took part in the Glasgow Doors Open Day and held a teacher’s talk called “Curriculum for Excellence: a Shared Language for State and Steiner” by Alistair Pugh. We have had a number of requests from State and Independent School teachers about Steiner Methods.

As a result, our Early Years teachers will be in attendance at our winter Fayre and Market, to answer any questions, show some activities and do puppet shows, and I would appreciate if you could forward this onto members of your community.

“The  Winter Fayre and Market is on 12th December, 11-4pm.  It’s always a fun family day out, with our medieval-style school bedecked with holly.  I hope some of you can join us!”

Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, said: “It is appropriate that a fresh look is taken … to break the impasse for the benefit of parents, teachers and children. I believe that Michael Russell can bring new thinking to this tough task.”

Commenting on the appointment, Schoolhouse Convener Sheila Struthers said: “In his capacity as Shadow Education Minister in the first Scottish Parliament from 1999 to 2003, Michael Russell demonstrated a willingness to listen to those involved in education, both inside and outside the state schooling system, and developed a keen awareness and understanding of home education issues. This is a good day for Scottish education and we look forward to engaging with the new minister on matters of concern to our members.”