Clare Stoney

The government recently refused to help home ed families get better local access to sit exams. With extra cost and bureaucracy in the CSW Bill linked to home ed & Budget cuts, will more schools/centres be forced to deny families/children this basic right? schoolsweek.co.uk/home-education…

@ClaireforTAY This was spot on! I hope you have some success getting through to them. The conservatives "stick stick stick" approach to attendance has exacerbated things terribly. It's the exact opposite of what these children need.

It's outrageous that parents of children with SEND can face fines, prosecution, and even prison time when their children don't get the support they need to be in school. Today I challenged the Prime Minister on this and urged him to take action to stop this scandal.

This Q was spot on! The Tory's authoritarian "stick, stick & more stick" approach lacks compassion and has only made things much worse. How do I know? I admin a home ed group and I see the fall out. @bphillipsonMP please listen to this MP, she's got the measure of it.

@nourishworkplce Apologies if I've misunderstood, but that doesn't seem to be what I'm encountering. Thanks for talking about this. 7/7

@nourishworkplce So I'm curious if anyone can explain to me what is going on here? Meanwhile, 10% have dyslexia. That's multiple dyslexic children in every class. I think the parents want/hope/imagine all primary teachers, at least, would be highly informed about it. 6/

Everyone getting their knickers in a twist about Jamie Oliver today ... - Have you actually watched the program? - What is wrong with wanting better training for recognising/teaching pupils with dyslexia?

@BDAdyslexia @bbceducation @TimesEducation And dyslexia is so common! At ~10% we'd expect multiple dyslexic children in every class. The system doesn't seem to be up to that.

Did you know? 
 Only 21.6% of students with dyslexia passed both English & maths GCSEs at a grade 5.  
Compared to 51.9% of their peers. 😔  The system is failing dyslexic learners.  We’re calling for urgent reform.  📘 New report out today. bit.ly/3SCAxgP #SEND #Dyslexia #inclusiveeducation #fixthesystemnotthekids

@bphillipsonMP @LabourList So very mixed feelings that you can have so much wonderful compassion for some children, but completely fail to understand what another group of children badly need. Please try to listen and understand the impacts of what you're doing. It is risking so much.

@bphillipsonMP @LabourList Glad to see this move on FSM and poverty. It's vital work! Yet upset that you're shaking the stability and security of home educated children, who will be surveilled to the extreme, their data security questionable, treated with suspicion at every club & activity... it's wrong.

I grew up on free school meals, I know the difference they can make. So I’m deeply proud that our Labour Government is taking this decisive step to turn the tide on child poverty — it is our moral mission. Me for @LabourList ✍️ labourlist.org/2025/06/free-s…

@stopthecwsbill @educationgovuk @bphillipsonMP @Keir_Starmer I hope Labour MPs are imagining how they would feel about giving so much data on their children if their LA were run by Reform. Would they trust the LA as implicitly as a Labour led one?

The issues with Childrens Wellbeing and Schools bill are many. The @educationgovuk, @bphillipsonMP, and @Keir_Starmer choose to ignore the genuine concerns of children, parents, educators, and experts and refuse to have an open and transparent conversation. Instead, they seem focused on pushing through legislation that they already know will remove children's rights, lower educational opportunities for children, and erode parental responsibility and school leaders' autonomy. They have evidence of LA's failing vulnerable children look at SEND Tribunal statistics, look at DFE own statistics, look at LGO outcomes but rather than address the arm of the state that repeatedly fails children they think the correct action is to give them the power (without any meaningful checks and balances or an appeal process) to override parents choices on what is the correct educational option for their child. If you do not know much about the concerns with this bill, some initial resources to get yourself started: rightsforchildren.uk/open-letter-on… vcf-uk.org/vcf-briefing-o… newschoolsnetwork.org/.../the-childr… defenddigitalme.org/.../childrens-… scraptheschoolsbill.com/schools-bill-2… he-byte.uk/.../cws-bill-r… This is just a taster, as this bill is alarming and fundamentally at odds with core British Values. I compared it to Bingham's principles of the Rule of Law, it failed miserably. I have been reassured by the members of the @UKHouseofLords who appear to actually listen to the residents of the UK, and to listen to the experts in the fields that will be affected should this bill become law. A recent written question inferred the DPIA has not been completed for this bill YET, even though it is significantly through its legislative journey. Many are actively speaking out against this bill, all for different reasons. I have struggled to find anyone who has read the bill and is not an MP in the @UKLabour who supports the full bill. @jennhodgeuk @ParentPowerUK @britishparentz @the_he_byte @Miss_Snuffy @home_ed_daily @home_ed_equal @PEACE_ALSALAM @TheValuesFoundn @learnfreeuk @hidvoicesspeak @NatWei @DavidGHFrost @robprogressive @_RobbieMoore @expertlegal @simonsquibb @edfreeuk @EducationNotTax

@RichardBentall Did they perhaps hope the rest of us would adopt their views? They won therefore they were "right". So the rest of us should stop being open-minded?

This makes me wonder: what did Brexiters expect to FEEL after Brexit? Presumably, they must have expected Brexit to do something for them that would make them feel better about themselves and the country, but what was it? Can any Brexiter enlighten me?

@NatWei Unfortunately there are no consequences for LAs when they misapply the rules & treat a home educator badly. It's been happening for years. Def not everywhere, but in some places. This bill does nothing to address the problem & gives LAs even more powers with no accountability.

Really important article highlighting the danger of Local Authority overreach and the impact it has on families providing suitable education at home, and their rights to privacy. We must take heed of this in opposing and amending the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Something useful we can do