Sheppey mum and founder of Technology Triumphs says more families should consider taking children out of school for home education
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? Senior Reporter Cara Simmonds finds out.
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.
Former Gravesend Grammar head teacher and education consultant Peter Read fears the checks and balances on the education they receive – and their safety – aren’t good enough.
“At present, there is no check on children whose families elect to remove them from school recording that they will be providing home education,” he said in a recent interview with KentOnline.
“Whilst many will do so for sound reasons, such as an unacceptable experience at school, and are able to provide for their children a valuable alternative form of education, perhaps employing one or more of the reputable home education tutors or online support, many other children simply become invisible and potentially at risk.
“Local authorities only have the power to ask families how they are providing for such children but none to visit them, see how or if they are being educated, or take action if not satisfied with this superficial check.
“There is a highly voluble home education lobby that wants to protect its right to EHE without monitoring, with no regard for those children at risk.
“It is an utter scandalous failure of governments having no idea what happens to thousands of children whose parents or carers have simply informed schools that they wish to home educate them and then removed them from those schools.”
If there are concerns over welfare, then social services – with additional powers – can be called in. But there are fears some may be missed and find themselves not only not receiving an education, but in danger.
The Sara Sharif case is one extreme example.
Pip’s company, Technology Triumphs has robust safeguarding policies in place. She explained: “We do have a safeguarding policy and most tuition services will have that in place anyway.
“If you're working in any capacity with young or vulnerable people, it absolutely makes sense to have safeguarding policies in place and to follow through with them. That's what we do.
“All of the subcontractors that I have working with me are all enhanced DBS checks and we have follow-up training as a result of that.
“I do everything I can from our side because I think it's every adult's responsibility to ensure the safeguarding of every child they might come into contact with, whether that's directly or indirectly.”
Asked about the potential for issues to be missed, the mum-of-two added: “The services that are there to protect children are already there and in place, but are spread too thinly.
“How is it going to help if they [the government] suddenly have to monitor thousands more families that are considered potentially a safeguarding concern just because they home educate, when there are so many other factors involved?”
She says her own personal experience is the families she works with just want the best for the children, both academically and emotionally.
“I haven't seen any more safeguarding concerns as a result of children being home educated compared to those in schools, in fact, comparatively less,” she added.
“From my personal perspective – the systems and services to safeguard children are already in place but in too many cases, failing to protect our most vulnerable children.
“Sara Sherif was an example of just such a tragedy. Despite being known to authorities before she was born, (due to the safeguarding risk associated in relation to her father), she was unable to be protected.”
For Pip home education done right, such as through organisations like hers, is where you can create a “completely bespoke” education for each individual child.
This is as opposed to the alternative American-style homeschooling which tries, in her view, to replicate a school environment at home.
She explained: “It means I can tailor learning to their needs but also their interests. They’re able to work at the pace that suits them.
“The families I have dealt with, the majority of them have got more confidence than I’ve seen in school children.
“I think it’s because they are being catered for on a more one-to-one basis – it can help them to flourish.”
“Many don't realise that school in the UK is currently an opt-in service. There’s a lack of awareness...”
Between 2020 and 2025, bookings for Technology Triumphs have increased by 132%.
“There was definitely a jump during and after Covid,” she explained. “I think it showed people that there was an alternative.
“Many don’t realise that school in the UK is currently an opt-in service. There’s a lack of awareness.”
In May, KentOnline reported on how more than 20 families remain without a school place on the Island – with children expected to travel around 30 miles to Faversham instead.
Education on the Island has always been a hot topic of conversation, as hundreds of pupils journey across the bridge to Sittingbourne primary and secondary schools every day.
Pip believes it can be “very limited” and that transport links are “vital” for the area.
“On Sheppey, it can often feel like those options aren’t there. Home education provides an alternative,” she added.
Some children even access her courses abroad – especially those who have a parent in the armed forces or “world schooling” families.
Now, five years later and hundreds of people educated, Pip has been nominated for Entrepreneur of Excellence at the National Diversity Awards, which will take place in Liverpool on Friday, September 19.
She has also recently won Women in Education at the Kent Women in Business Awards and SME Business of the Year at The Dynamic Awards.
