Victoria Climbie

A number of Local Education Authorities and Education Welfare Officers have been quoting Victoria Climbie to home educators and claiming that it is because of what happened to Victoria that they are now checking homes.

It is obvious from the Final Report issued by the Victoria Climbie Inquiry that, although Victoria was not at school, she was not home educated. It is also obvious that Social Services and a number of other authorities were involved with Victoria and her guardians and that this did not prevent her tragic ending.

The full report may be read here.

Not only does the Climbie case have nothing to do with HE, there is no legal basis for LEAs to insist on home visits on welfare grounds. According to s175 of the Education Act 2002, while LAs must carry out their duties "with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children", the LAs have no extra powers conferred on them. This is clearly explained in the EO Bulletin on visits to home educating families.

Any child protection concerns should be referred to social services, and that is what happened to Victoria. The problem for Victoria was not that she was not seen, but that professionals who saw her failed to record or sometimes to perceive what she was suffering.

"On the second day she and Kouao were in this country Kouao and Victoria visited the homeless persons unit in the London Borough of Ealing. In the months which followed Victoria was known to no fewer than four social services departments, three housing departments, two specialist child protection teams of the metropolitan Police. Furthermore, she was admitted to two different hospitals because of concerns that she was being deliberately harmed and was referred to a specialist Children and families centre managed by the NSPCC. All of this between 26th April 1999 and 25th February 2000."

(Lord Laming's speech 25 January 2003)

The relevant paragraphs from Victoria's Story in the Final Report which mention Victoria's education are reproduced below at the request of a number of EO members.

3.19 It is unclear how Victoria passed her days during the first month she spent in the Nicoll Road hostel. No effort was made, either by Kouao or by Ealing Social Services, to enrol her in any form of educational or daycare activity, and there is no evidence to indicate she had any friends or playmates.

3.24 By the middle of June, Victoria was spending the majority of her days being looked after by Priscilla Cameron, an experienced, but unregistered, childminder. Kouao approached Mrs Cameron when she (Kouao) got a job at the Northwick Park Hospital on 8 June 1999. Victoria's history was taken by Dr Rhys Beynon at the Central Middlesex Hospital on 14 July 1999 from Mrs Cameron's daughter, Avril. His notes record that Mrs Cameron had been caring for Victoria for the previous five weeks. Typically, Victoria would arrive around 7am and not be picked up until the evening, sometimes as late as 10pm.

3.52 Ms Arthurworrey did not ask Kouao how Victoria was spending her days at this stage. She was not enrolled in a school and there is no indication she participated in any form of daycare activity. Kouao no longer worked at the Northwick Park Hospital (her employment had been terminated due to prolonged absences) and so Manning's assumption that Kouao and Victoria spent most of their time in his bedsit seems correct.

3.60 However, Ms Arthurworrey noticed nothing untoward when she made the second of her two pre-announced home visits to Somerset Gardens on 28 October 1999. The purpose of her visit was to explain to Kouao that the housing application, made after the previous visit in August, had been turned down and to discuss the remaining options. Victoria seems to have been all but ignored during this visit as she sat on the floor playing with a doll. The fact that she was still not attending school was raised during the conversation, but no questions seem to have been asked about how Victoria was spending her days.

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