A mum-of-two who took her home education company from her dining room table to screens around the world believes more families should consider taking youngsters out of school.
But what does this alternative take on schooling look like on a day-to-day basis, and are there any pitfalls to removing children from mainstream providers?
Victoria Rothwell, more commonly known as Pip, went from teaching five children around her dining room table to helping 600 families across the UK and abroad.
The 41-year-old, who lives in Eastchurch, Sheppey, has been running her online business Technology Triumphs since 2019.
She believes some parents don’t realise they have the choice to pull their child out of school simply by exercising their rights to an elective home education (EHE).
One of the “common misconceptions”, she explains, is that children are being denied vital life skills and socialisation if they are taken out of traditional education. But Victoria doesn’t believe that’s the case. When her eldest son, Michael Rothwell-Briggs, was eight, she decided to withdraw him from Year 3 during Covid. Due to social distancing, Pip was teaching him at home already and made the choice during this time to remove the youngster officially.
“The change I saw, not just academically but socially, was very positive,” she explained.
“There are social interactions and opportunities everywhere in life, even just going shopping at the supermarket and talking to the lady that’s serving you.
“It gives you a much more diverse range of social interactions, rather than sitting in a class with 30 children, all born within the same 12 months, living within the same mile radius.”
“It’s not a case of mollycoddling or wrapping your children up in cotton wool, but you can monitor and be more aware of what’s going on,” she added.
“Whereas when you send off your children to school, you’re relying on teaching staff and head teachers to supervise.”
It was such a successful move the mum decided to home educate her younger child, seven-year-old Elliot Rothwell-Betts, when he was born.
Pip started tutoring five students face-to-face around her dining room table back in October 2018, whilst she was still the head of Design and Technology (DT) at the former Oasis Academy.
She had previously worked at Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone and the Aylesford School.
“It was a bit of a sideline project just to get more job satisfaction,” the mum-of-two said. “The creative subjects at schools I had been working in were being battered in terms of funding.
“I began to feel like I was making more of a difference and impact this way.”
After being asked by a family with children who had learning difficulties, she put her cookery course online and within three days had 80 people across Swale sign up.
“It just went crazy,” Pip added. “Obviously there was a demand for it. I haven’t looked back.”
Since then, the business has grown and offers 14 different GCSE-based qualifications in cookery, photography, art, textiles, DT and cake decorating.
They range from entry-level, with children starting as young as seven, and can even provide UCAS points for university applications.
Her company focuses on creative subjects, which at the time were “practically impossible” for home education families to get qualifications due to the coursework element.
Each course can be accessed via a portal online and learners can complete workbooks which have links to pre-filmed tutorials.
They are also allocated an assessor who provides written feedback and guidance. Courses can vary from £20 to £30 a month for 24 months, depending on the level selected.
For example, a family with two children, both wanting to take a Level 1 Award in Creative Craft Textiles would cost a total of £960.
According to a Freedom of Information request shared with KentOnline, 810 pupils in the county’s primary schools were taken out to be home educated in 2023/24 – up a staggering 91% on the year before.
Those being removed from secondary schools rose by 41% to 1,842. In Medway, the figures for all schools were 548 in 2022/23 and 452 in 2023/24.
Whilst many choose to embrace the method of home education, some argue children could fall between the cracks and end up in a vulnerable situation.
Currently, local authorities can intervene if it appears that parents are not providing a suitable education and serve a written notice to the parent, asking them to demonstrate that the child is receiving a suitable education. However, there is no obligation to see or speak to the child.