Children at risk of abuse should not be allowed to be home-schooled, the children’s commissioner for England has said.
Dame Rachel de Souza said it was “madness” that parents are currently allowed to take their child out of school even if safeguarding concerns have been raised.
Her comments come after the father and stepmother of Sara Sharif were convicted of her murder. Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, removed the 10-year-old girl from school when they learnt that teachers had contacted social services.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Dame Rachel said Sara’s removal should never have been allowed to happen.
“If a child is [the] suspected [victim] of abuse, they cannot be educated at home,” she said.
“Being in school is a safeguard. They are safer under the eyes of teachers.
“We cannot let a child who is at risk… at home go and be educated at home. It’s madness.”
Sara’s body was discovered with 70 injuries, including 25 fractures along with burns and bite marks, at her home in Woking, Surrey, on Aug 10 2023.
An eight-week trial at the Old Bailey heard that Sharif had a lengthy history of domestic violence allegations.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty of Sara’s murder at the Old Bailey on Wednesday
He admitted responsibility for his daughter’s death after beating her with a cricket bat and metal pole on Aug 6. She died two days later while the rest of her family fled to Pakistan.
In the months before her death, Sara began to wear a hijab at school to cover up bruises. Teachers noticed marks on her face and referred Sara to social services in March 2023 but the case was dropped within days, allowing her father and stepmother to remove her from school altogether when they became aware of the referral.
Dame Rachel told The Telegraph: “We cannot allow the existing legal defence to act as a protection to any other parent. If, by changing the law we can prevent any other child from enduring the horrors she did, then it is absolutely the right thing to do.
“We all have a collective responsibility to protect vulnerable children – from politicians to people on the street, to teachers and the professionals in all relevant agencies.
“A child’s safety has to be the paramount consideration. We need everyone working with children to be professionally curious – if something feels off, question it.
“We cannot be afraid of asking challenging questions where a child’s welfare is concerned.”
Sara’s body was found with 70 injuries at her home in Woking, Surrey, on Aug 10 2023 – Surrey Police
The latest annual report by The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel revealed that 485 children were affected by serious safeguarding incidents between April 1 2023 and March 2024 of this year.
This is when a child dies or is seriously harmed and abuse or neglect was known or suspected beforehand.
As a result, the panel has called on the Government to ensure that children at risk of being harmed within and outside of their families are “at the heart” of its strategies.
Dame Rachel proposed that local authorities be required to approve home education requests for any child who has ever been known to social care in their lifetime for reasons of abuse or neglect.
“Sara was known to social services even before she was born – and yet her abuse and neglect continued throughout her life, hidden in plain sight long after the professionals turned their back on her,” she said.
Will Forster, the MP for Woking, said on Wednesday that Sara’s inquest should look into whether concerns over cultural sensitivities meant that teachers were afraid to question why she began wearing a hijab after being seen with bruises.
‘Tighter rules and proper oversight’
Although she “fully supports” a parent’s right to home-school their child, Dame Rachel added that there should be “tighter rules and proper oversight” of children not at school.
“No child who has a social worker can be allowed to be removed from school,” she said.
Now that the trial has concluded, Surrey county council has said that an independent safeguarding review of the case will take place.
Matthew Pennycook, the Government minister, said that there are “wider lessons that need to be learnt” from Sara’s death.
On Thursday, he told Sky News: “There are wider lessons that need to be learnt. I understand there’s a local children’s safeguarding review that will get under way soon. I won’t speculate on any wider reviews or inquiries at this time but the Government are taking steps to ensure already that no children fall through the cracks.
“We’re introducing landmark reforms to overhaul children’s services, including mandating multi-agency teams at a local level, and looking at how we can increase protections on home-schooling so that can be never used to conceal abuse.”