The Role of Third Sector Innovation:
Personalisation of Education and Learning
January 2010 - HEC made a submission to the Cabinet Office call for evidense which is currently considering the role of the third sector in the personalisation of education and learning services. Recommendations are due to be published in March 2010.
EHE Independent Review by Graham Badman 2009:November 2009 - HEC members have joined the many families from across the south west region (and nationally) in gathering signed petitions to take to their MPs in protest to the draft legislation as recommended by the Badman review. This petition is part of the national campaign: Freedom for Family Education - because families raise children. Petitions are being presented to MPs all across the UK to raise awareness of the issues of state intervention in family life and force a debate about it in the House of Commons.
October 20th 2009 - HEC attended the EO Parliamentary event at the House of Commons; "the EO event gave MPs a chance to meet home educators, to learn more about home education and to hear what children had to say."
The HEC committee prepared a handout as part of the information pack given to MPs. HEC handout for MPs
October 14th 2009 - HEC appeared as a witness before the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee looking into the EHE review. An uncorrected transcript of this meeting can be seen here.
Summer 2009 - HEC committee and members visited their local MPs.
June 2009
The Independent Review of home education, conducted by Graham Badman was published in June 2009. The HEC management committee responded by contacting David Laws MP (Lib Dem) Yeovil, along with the various other MPs for which our members are constituents. The following documents were sent:
HEC_response to EHE Review_GBadmanMark Field MP_transcript on EHE reviewNSPCC_Apology_to_EOEHE LA GuidelinesNew EHE exam centre:
GCSE/IGCSE Exam Centre for home educated external candidates available now to take exams from May 2010.Richard Huish College,
South Road, Taunton, Somerset, UK,
TA1 3DZ
www.richuish.ac.uk/
Tel: 01823 320800
email: enquiries@richuish.ac.uk
Students may take any GCSE subject with any board, please liaise in advance with the college about this.
IGCSE exams are more straightforward for home educated students to sit as they do not require coursework. Again, where possible any subject/examboard, please contact the college.
Richard Huish College is happy to show families around prior to application for the A-level programme or for the one year Level 2 course (5 GCSEs including maths and english) leading to entry into the 2 year A-Level programme.
Somerset LA will cover the cost of GCSE exams for registered Somerset Families.
For an idea of the subjects available for the full-time level 2 and AS level courses, see here:
Richard Huish 2009HEC, Somerset LA and the college:
The HEC Committee along with support from the Somerset EHE team has been working hard to establish links with local colleges on behalf of home educators in the Southwest. We are delighted to report that Richard Huish College, Taunton have been very open to the idea of accepting home educated students with a variety of options being offered.
If your child is interested in sitting GCSEs as an external candidate, can you please contact the college to let them know which GCSE subjects your child is wishing to take, which exam boards and in which year, ie: 2010, 2011, 2012 etc. At this stage coursework will need to be verified elsewhere (if applicable), that will be your responsibility to organise for now. As far as we are aware at the moment (2009), at Richard Huish, the minimum age for taking GCSEs is 14 years old.
If you would prefer to take IGCSEs instead (there is no worry about coursework with these), again please contact the college to let them know how many your child is wishing to take, which subjects and in which year.
If your child is interested in attending college full time, there is a 3 year fast-track diploma; 1 year studying 5 GCSEs (NOT a retake course), then straight onto their A-Level programme. This will be offered to children from 16 years old. Again if you are interested, please contact the college and let them know which year your child wants to start.
The college may accept home educated students by non-standard entry (i.e. entry to level 3 courses or A level equivalent courses without GCSEs), this will be assessed on a case by case basis. Students will usually have to provide a portfolio, attend an interview and/or have an individual assessment for English, math and where appropriate science.