More pupils being educated at home

THE number of children being home-educated in Carmarthenshire is increasing, a meeting heard.

- RICHARD YOULE

Vicky Jeremy, the council's children and education integrated services senior manager, said the number was 736 as of May 12 - more than double what it was five years ago.

She said: "We potentially could reach 800 by the end of the academic year, which is significant and huge - bigger than some of our secondaries."

The rise in home-educated children in the county mirrors the growth seen across Wales. Carmarthenshire has the second-highest number in Wales's 22 council areas on a per population basis.

Members of the council's education, young people and Welsh language scrutiny committee were keen to know more about why parents chose to home-school and what monitoring the council could do.

Deborah Elias, a parent governor member of the committee, said she was home-educating one of her six children with a view to her returning to school at some point.