Express & Star

EXCLUSIVE: ISIS fears over missing children from Black Country and Staffordshire

At least 106 children in the Black Country and Staffordshire have been withdrawn from school with no record of where they have gone – amid fears some may have joined terror group ISIS.

Published

And 177 others either left the country or simply did not return from holiday, according to official records. Figures have been released to the Express & Star after schools chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw warned there were hundreds of children across the country who had effectively 'disappeared' from the system. He has called for more details of where pupils move to be held by councils after they leave, raising concerns that some are at risk of radicalisation or female genital mutilation.

  • 88 children in Wolverhampton have been added to a Lost Pupil Registration Database

  • 13 children in Staffordshire where the council does not know where they are

  • Five in Sandwell where ‘the current school is unknown’

  • 258 pupils in Dudley taken out of school to be educated at home - but none missing

  • Walsall Council has yet to respond after a week[/breakout]

Wolverhampton council said almost one in 20 out of 1,093 children who were 'de-registered' from schools had not been traced, despite council officers investigating. And a further 140 in the city either left the country or 'did not return from holiday abroad'.

Wolverhampton council spokesman Paul Brown said: "If a child is deleted from a school's register and the destination is unknown, the local authority will investigate. If they cannot be traced, schools must put them on the Lost Pupil Registration Database."

British teenagers Shamima Begun, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana

Staffordshire revealed it had 13 children 'without an education provision' and a further 37 had 'emigrated' while there are five in Sandwell where 'the current school is unknown but all reasonable enquiries and checks completed'. Hundreds more have either left the area or are being educated at home.

Dudley Council said there were 258 pupils where their parents had opted to take them out of school to educate at home.

That compares with 48 in Staffordshire and 152 in Sandwell. Sir Michael, head of Ofsted, has written to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan asking for an urgent review of the detail that councils have to collect when a parent withdraws a child.

He said: "They should take account of our heightened awareness of the risks that some young people face, such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage, child sexual exploitation and falling prey to radicalisation.

"We cannot be sure that some of the children whose destinations are unknown are not being exposed to harm, exploitation or extremist ideologies."

His call comes after three schoolgirls from East London, 16-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana,16, and Shamima Begum, 15, went to Syria and are understood to have become jihadi brides. Australian 18-year-old Jake Bilardi reportedly died as a suicide bomber in Iraq after becoming radicalised by Isis propaganda.

Walsall MP David Winnick (left) and Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden

Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden said it was vital schools knew where children had gone. He said: "There may be good reasons for de-registering a child, but it's important that children don't fall out of the system with authorities having no idea of where they have gone. This needs to be looked at."

David Winnick, MP for Walsall North and a member of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: "Every child should be in school. Walsall Council should not drag its feet on revealing this information. It's essential that schools and councils have up to date records. If there are any suspicions then they must be followed up."

Sandwell councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for children's services said: "Whilst we do what we can parents don't always let us or schools know of their intention to move school or address." And Staffordshire county councillor Ben Adams said: "We have a team dedicated to looking into cases where children have withdrawn from school This includes finding out where they are currently living."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.