Vulnerable children in England ‘safer at school’ than being educated at home

Review of serious safeguarding failures finds young people from abusive environments ‘less visible’ to agencies

Children who grow up in neglectful or abusive environments are safer attending school than being educated at home, according to a review of serious safeguarding failures in England in which six children died and 35 were harmed in one year.

The report, by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, emphasised that while home education was not a safeguarding risk, it found that vulnerable children were “less visible” to safeguarding agencies than those regularly in school.