Sara Sharif was murdered by her father and stepmother in August 2023 following years of abuse. Head of Education Steve Beegoo explains how this awful abuse should never have been used to clamp down on home educators
New details have come out this week regarding Sara Sharif and how the stretched safeguarding systems, and neighbour’s fears of being thought ‘racist’, prevented this precious girl’s protection.
It was nothing to do with ‘dangerous’ home education.
Suspicion
Suspicion immediately surrounds any parent who doesn’t want to send their child to the local state school. Politicians and even the Children’s Commissioner seem to fear what they cannot utterly control.
As soon as it was discovered that Sara Sharif’s father had decided to ‘home school’ his daughter in her final weeks, the propaganda machine got moving. “We must investigate homes! Get parents to register themselves with local authorities! Require details about children’s daily activities, their religion, their sexuality…because no other child must ever go through what Sara went through!”
This is what is being pushed through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. And so the public gets persuaded and crucial freedoms are eroded.
Report
Yet this week we have heard from an independent report that there were years of missed warnings, poor communication and safeguarding failings that left 10-year-old Sara trapped with her killers, and hidden behind a hijab. She had been known to social services from birth and was twice placed in foster care by the time she was three. Later in life, she was transferred between the custody of her father and mother, with both accusing the other of neglect or abuse.
The independent safeguarding review also discovered that Sara Sharif’s neighbours did not report concerns that she was being abused to police, despite what they could see and hear, because they were worried about being seen to be racist.
The report explains, ‘It was notable that when Sara returned to school her demeanour had changed to one of being quiet and coy and she pulled her hijab down over her face… We now know that the wearing of the hijab did, in the later period of Sara’s life, hide bruising and injuries to her face and head.’
Far from being hidden from the view of social services or the community, council staff had even tried to check on her the day before she was murdered by her father and stepmother, but went to the wrong address.
This was never a ‘we are not monitoring home educators properly’ problem. It is one of failures and lack of funding to a system, combined with societal political correctness.
Propaganda
Yet out rolls the propaganda machine, callously using the story to push forward a political agenda based on unfounded suspicion, misdirected good motivations and ideology.
There is no evidence that children are less safe in their family homes than they are in a state school – in fact the opposite it true.
Our response to the draft home education guidance explains in detail the real situation for Christian parents, and the deep concerns about state overreach into parental homes for those who decide to home educate. The ideological foundations to this, within the current Labour government, the intentions of the Children’s Commissioner, and even the Centre for Social Justice, are clear. They all say we should have registers and more inspection and suspicion.
By taxing independent schools and seeking oversight even of informal parent-led learning groups and cooperatives, the government is certainly making it increasingly hard for parents to send their children to anything other than the local state school without major interference.
The desperately tragic circumstances of this poor girl should never be being used to remove the fundamental freedoms of parents to home educate with unnecessary and invasive scrutiny from the state when there are no serious safeguarding issues apparent. There were many over many years in Sara’s family. They just were not followed up effectively by the systems that already exists.
Information
For analysis and updates on home education policy, HE Byte contains lots of essential information on this bill as well as home education more generally. We also have a page on our dedicated education website highlighting resources useful for home educators including support, curriculum and advice. Home education is becoming of growing interest to Christian parents who understand the issues in society and the Lord’s commission to ‘train up a child’.
On Saturday 25 April 2026, we will be hosting our third Education Revolution conference in London.
Registration is open, so do book your early bird ticket now if you wish to join the momentum of faithful Christians who are wanting to develop bold education initiatives, along with those who are seeking to remain faithful in the education sphere. To get an idea of what to expect, you can read this report from the previous conference and watch the video.
Let us not be persuaded by the political propaganda, and let us pray that church, community and society will more effectively protect such neglected and abused children as Sara, without taking fundamental freedoms away from parents.