THOUSANDS of children from across the county are enjoying their break from the classroom for the Christmas holidays.

But for a small group of youngsters little has changed as they spend all their time based at home – inside and outside of school terms.

Home education, or Elective Home Education (EHE) to give its full title, is growing at a steady rate, with 82 children currently registered in Hereford-shire.

Some parents choose to do it because their child is being bullied or because they do not agree with the school’s ethos.

And they are allowed to because, even though it is a legal requirement for every child to be educated, it does not have to be provided in a school.

They also do not have to follow the National Curriculum or have any set hours of learning.

Bev Powell, from Lea, near Ross-on-Wye, decided to take her daughter Tiah out of her school five years ago after she was repeatedly bullied.

“She was being picked on by two girls and was really depressed,” said Bev.

“We had a meeting with the school, but it continued, so the only option was to take her out of school.

“It has been the best thing for her and she is now much happier and confident.”

Tiah’s experiences at school led to Bev setting up a website, cruelatschool.co.uk, to offer advice and guidance to other parents whose children are being bullied.

Tiah added that she did not know what to expect at first and was worried that she would not do well.

“I hadn’t heard much about home education before and I thought that you would get into trouble,” she said.

“But it has been better than I expected and my grades are now much better.”

Tiah is now studying for her GCSEs via Interhigh, a website that offers the complete secondary school experience, with lessons being taught in virtual classrooms.

“I took to it really well and have made loads of friends,”

said Tiah.

“The only difference is that you are learning over the internet.”

Julie Garrett, from Eardisley, has been home educating her 12-year-old son Martyn for 18 months and says that there have been a significant improvement in his learning because he is being taught things he likes.

“He was delayed in so many things at school because he has varying developmental conditions and was bullied,”

she said.

“But since he has been taught at home he has been much better.

“We do things that he enjoys, which I think is important as he can learn quicker. We have done things such as studying earthquakes and have built a volcano.”

Mrs Garrett added that Martyn is looking to do between six and eight GCSEs at the end of the year.

Taking GCSE exams, though, is not compulsory for home educated families and some choose to do the harder international GCSEs instead or enrol onto an open study course.

There is also no direct funding provided by central government, but local education authorities do offer advice and guidance to families and there are clubs across the county they can go to.

However, many families are sceptical about the latest report into home education, conducted by Graham Badman, the former director of children’s services at Kent County Council.

Mr Badman recommends that local authority officers should have the right to enter the home and speak to each child alone, especially if they are deemed as being vulnerable.

“We don’t mind people coming in and seeing how the children are doing, but this is interrogation of the highest order,” said Mrs Garrett.

“People just assume that home educated children are being abused or not socialising properly. It’s discrimination.”

Joy Burnet, EHE officer for Herefordshire Council, said: “The majority of HE families are genuine and caring, providing a safe and secure environment in which to learn.

“However, there are families who may well use HE as a loophole so that their children do not go to school but similarily do not receive any education.

“I think the Government is trying to seal this loophole