Our case began in 2003 when I opened my e-mail while on holiday in the West Country (alright, alright Bristol). The Department of Education and Skills (DfES) had written telling me that it had come to their attention that Tyndale Tuition Group had been providing education and that we needed to know that if it were full time education for five or more children ... it would have to be registered as an Independent School (serves me right for opening e mail on holiday).
We had no real worries at this point, as Tyndale had been set up in 1998 specifically to avoid meeting such criteria. In short we did not want to be an independent school. We wanted, and still want, to determine our own curriculum, discipline, employment and other policies in line with the teaching of the Bible and the law of the land. When Tyndale opened, it provided approximately 15 hours of taught time a week to four children. We knew that the Department had defined full time education as a minimum of 21 hours per week since at least 1990.
Tyndale was more open to parental scrutiny than any maintained school in the country and more than most independent schools. Advertising was done openly in the local newspaper and in the Yellow Pages and Thomspon Directories. Nothing was done in a corner. Parents were made aware at interview stage that we were not a school but rather were assisting parents in providing "Education Otherwise than at School" according to the 1996 Education Act (Section 7). I responded to this enquiry by phone on returning home and told the official of the position as we saw it. Unknown to us at the time the Department had written to our Local Authority and asked them to visit us and ascertain the nature of our provision as it appeared to them that we didn't want anybody to know about us.
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