Record number of home-schooled children in Devon

A record number of children are being home-schooled in the Devon County Council area after a rise of nearly a fifth in one year.

Fresh numbers show that 2,951 children are ‘electively home educated'—meaning p parents of those children have decided to take them out of school.

A new report by the county council said this figure, which doesn’t include children in Plymouth or Torbay, is the highest on record.

The number, which covers the 2022/2023 academic year, rose by 18 per cent compared to the prior year.

The data backs up recent research by the BBC, which showed that councils across England had received almost 50,000 notifications of home-schooling in the same academic year.

There has been a steep increase in the desire for home-schooling since the pandemic.

The number of children who are enrolled in school but are missing also remains higher than before COVID lockdowns.

Devon’s Youth Justice Service report said 106 children were missing secondary school, equating to nearly three-quarters of all children missing from all forms of education.

Boys account for around 60 per cent of absences.

Children who have an education, health, and care plan, or EHCP, but are missing school has fallen in Devon from 29 per cent in autumn 2022 to 23 per cent last summer, but the council said this is “significantly higher than nationally.”

It is estimated that 92,000 children were in home education in England in autumn last year, according to census data.