Educational Freedom .... who we are....what we do....

Just over a year ago I was chatting away on the Facebook 'UK Home Education Group' and I had a lightbulb moment. We were hearing similar questions time and time again, we were helping write similar letters over and over again, and the files we had created were simple and hard to navigate (due to the limitations of FB groups). My lightbulb moment was that we could do with a website that had all this info and more, all in one place, yes there already were some websites out there, but they were either too wordy and hard to navigate, or the content was limited and out of date, plus none had the wide array of info people were looking for.  So I came up with the idea to create a site where everything a Home Educator could ever want to know could be found, for free, in one place.

I asked for people willing to help get this going and a small team of people set to designing it.  We had no web design experience really, we didn't really envisage how much content we would end up with, but we all had the same vision, free info for all. We threw around ideas about names, whether we'd have a membership fee, would we be a charity, how we'd be funded.... there was a lot to think about so the best thing was to make it simple, the team members donated a few pounds each so we had enough to buy the domain names.... we'd finally decided to call ourselves Educational Freedom and we started building the site.



It was soon very clear that the world of Home Ed covers so many different areas of life, we had to at times say no to including something because we just couldn't find the time or space to fit it in.  Our team expanded a little and each member wrote different parts, I did write the majority of the LA/law related stuff, with others adding to the styles, map, articles, Scottish stuff, groups etc.

Due to my mum being ill and then dying, I was really grateful for the distraction, not being able to sleep meant I was putting hours into playing around with layouts and wordings. Things were coming together fast so we made it public that we had a name, that this really was happening and that we needed donations to get us live, these came in fast, soon giving us enough money to pay for the hosting for the year (which it turns out if we'd known more about hosting and webdesign we could have saved a few quid).

Within about 3 months of coming up with the idea we were ready to go live and did so at the end of August 2013. We had thousands of hits in the first week, the feedback was brilliant too.  We did have a few teething problems, unfortunately one of the team had submitted plagiarised information that wasn't picked up on by the rest of the team, this was soon brought to our attention and two of us sat up through most of the night removing and amending the information, as well as sending an apology to the organisation, the situation was rectified within 12 hours of going live.  Luckily this was the only major blip, everything else was minor, such as the odd link that didn't work.

The website started out with information and a map showing local groups/meet ups and it was soon apparent that there were other areas that we could expand on.  We'd made a small section about discounts available to Home Educators, the team thought that it would be a great resource if we had a comprehensive section that explained what discounts were available and any restrictions on their use.  We were aware that some venues would agree a discount with one family, but not another, or families were offered different prices. We set about contacting lots of venues, explaining how important these kind of venues are to Home Edders, how a discount is greatly appreciated for family entry rather than group entry.  Many venues were more than happy to offer a permanent discount, the same for all Home Edders. This now meant families were not having to ring and negotiate prices at many venues.

One thing we noted was that some of the venues were asking for proof of Home Ed, we asked how could we prove our status when there is no register, no one organisation, no proof? Some of the organisations listened and chatted at length, and decided that they agreed that asking for proof was not necessary, that a child and parent being there in the daytime during the term were more likely to be Home Ed than truant.  However some venues insisted some form of proof was required. We'd heard people chatting about an existing organisation that had failed to send out membership cards when they'd been paid for and we decided after much deliberation that we didn't want to charge a membership fee, but that users of the site may wish to have a membership style card, so the Ed Free card was born.

We opted for a credit card quality, full colour print, the team agreed that we'd only charge enough to cover the cost of the card and the postage, plus a couple of pence to help towards next years costs. We know there is some contention about cards and how they could bring on compulsory carrying of a card or even monitoring of home ed. We do not envisage this happening, membership cards and similar have been around for years, LAs have tried their own ID cards and in most LA areas they have failed to catch on.  Carrying a card that shows you are part of an organisation, that quotes the Home Ed guidance and offers young people the back up in case they're stopped by truancy sweeps can not and will not lead to anything bad.  If anything they have led to more awareness of Home Ed, more people asking about discounts, more people saving money.  None of our advertised discounts are exclusive to us, none of the venues expect to see our card on entry, the venues listed are clear on whether 'proof' is required, and any form of proof is accepted, LA letter, membership card, Ed Free card etc.  If you don't want to 'prove' you Home Ed to get a fantastic saving at a few of the venues, then don't carry any, it's your choice.

Earlier in the year we were given the opportunity to upgrade the site, the existing host site was slow and causing a few people problems with access, so we asked Nathan Langer to redo the site, keeping the basic style and the content the same, just a little more professional looking and more reliable, we're really pleased with the results. Thanks Nathan.

In the 9 months we've been live we've added and updated information, we're building the LA feedback section, we've conducted research into the numbers of known Home Educators and details on School Attendance Orders served,  we have paired up with PinkGiraffe to sell her Home Ed clothing and much much more.

We've had approximately 110,00 hits since we went live just less than 9 months ago, our inbox is full daily with questions, support and feedback, we're always on the look out for new volunteers to support us, we have so many new ideas to expand and not enough hours in the day to do it all, our priority is always being on hand to support those that should need it.

We have a team of Local Support Volunteers, who we can put you in touch with, they have a wealth of local knowledge about groups, activities and the LA.  We offer advice and support on how to work with your LA, how to deal with the rogue LAs and we are on hand should a school refuse to deregister or an over zealous ewo comes knocking.

We considered having a chat forum, but decided that there were already enough options for chat within the multitude of groups already out there. Whilst we do link to the UK Home Education Group, we are a separate entity, our only common factor being me, Cheryl, as an admin on the fb group as well as part of the Ed Free team. It would be impossible to link to every Home Ed group available, but we do ensure that people who email us know that there are lots of groups all with their own style.

We already have a FB page  that has thousands of views when it's the first day back to school, or the day school places are allocated, we're going to build on this, our aim? to ensure that as many people know the benefits of Home Ed and that it is an option for everyone.

We've also been responding to consultations to LAs that are rewriting their policies, we've been approached by some LAs that have asked us to be involved in the rewrite along with the public consultation with local families.  Our aim here is to ensure LAs act within the law, that families that wish to remain anonymous can pass on their feedback through us should they wish to, and that the LA can also get information to the unknown families without needing to know their identity.  We never speak on behalf of anyone unless explicitly asked to, we do not represent Home Educators as a whole (it's too diverse a community for anyone to do that), what we do do is represent ourselves, we represent our ethos of ensuring LAs act within the law. If an LA wishes to work with us, we ensure that they consult with their known families, that we are not their only source of input.


The Ed Free team come from all walks of life, all Home Ed styles and all over the UK. We have a core group of 'trustees' who make the business decisions, the Ed Free Team who help create new pages, research, input into non business decisions and then there's the Local Support Volunteers who support local families.

The current status of the organisation is that we are a not for profit organisation, the team take no money from the organisation. We all have busy lives so the official paperwork took a little longer to finalise but it's nearly there, we have a constitution finalised and the paperwork is done to apply for a bank account, which means we can send off the paperwork to become a small charity.  The other option was to become a registered charity but there was a minimum income required and none of us felt we had the time to commit to fundraising or applying for grants, just yet anyway.

I for one am astounded at the success of Educational Freedom, I plan big, but never expect big results, and this has far exceeded even my dreams.  Free information and support for all (even those that don't like me).

So what does the future hold?  We have plans (the team groan I am sure when I come up with another idea lol), we've just held a slogan competition for car stickers, we're sourcing suppliers and these will be available to buy soon, we're looking into selling merchandise such as bags and drinks bottles too.  The idea behind merchandise is not just about getting the word out about Ed Free it's about making people aware of Home Ed, letting people know it's a legal option because so many people don't know about Home Ed.  We have plans to create a press team, this will mean we'll have people responding to relevant news articles, tweets, and FB pages, with short comments about the bonuses of Home Ed, we hope this will start to open more people's eyes to the options available to them.

So.... we hope you enjoy the site, please do email us to let us know what you think..... if you would like to become part of the team.... if you see a section that could do with improving..... if you would like some support..... if you'd like some more info..... or if you've heard a rumour (there's plenty) and would like to hear our side.... do drop us a line. Educationalfreedom@outlook.com