Mike Evans
Overview
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 (Average rating based on 0 votes) Helpful:  Honest: Nice: |
Details
| Local Authority | Carmarthenshire |
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| Still active | Yes |
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| Experience of HE | No known experience of personally home educating a child. |
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| General Information |
Reviews
| Date submitted: | Thu 4th March 2010 |
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In November last year I had contact with Carmarthenshire Education and Children's Services Department - Anwen Davies, Education Welfare Officer, and Mike Evans (not sure his title). Though Anwen's 1st contact by phone was full of misinformation and a tone of undeserved authority, I am confident of my rights as a home educator, and asked her to put everything in writing, and aggreed to meet with her and her colleague in a neutral venue, such as the library. The phonecall was full of stressed urgency, but it took some weeks before a letter arrived asking for such a meeting - with 2 days notice and asking me to bring examples of my daughter's work. I resheduled the meeting to give a longer period for collection of examples.
The meeting took place amiably in the local library and my daughter made me proud. The discussion mainly took the form of me giving them ideas how to improve relations with home educators - such as subsidised off-peak leisure centre passes and information on travelling projects booked by local schools, for local home ed groups to consider employing. What pleased them most is that my daughter wants to return to school for her secondary education. In order to support this desire, I asked for some support from the Educational and behavioural specialists. All in all the meeting was fine and they were very amenable. It took 6 weeks and a few chasing phonecalls to get a copy of a letter documenting our meeting. This listed some items they would offer assistance with. The only thing Anwen has facilitated is visits to the local schools, and my daughter has found one she likes and we are awaiting a decision on admittance. None of the other offers of assistance has been forthcoming, and in fact, I have heard nothing from either of them. I assume since I tick the box on getting her back into school, they no longer feel the need to check up on me. Anwen Davies' knowledge of the rights of home educators seemed very vague, and she wasted some time trying to convince me of her authority over me - I made it very clear I was co-operating because I wanted to, to exchange information and ask for assistance. I imagine this technique would be very scarey to a mum newer to home-education. Mike Evans seemed to have more experience with the idea of home education, but was tainted with some very silly stories of parents using their children as child labour. They were both pleasant and friendly with my daughter and she liked showing off her "work" to them. All in all I would vote a positive, but be sure to know your rights. |
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