NEW figures reveal the number of Southampton children home schooled by their parents has risen 25-fold in ten years, or 2,327 per cent.

The massive hike means the city has the highest increase in England of parents who choose not to put their children through mainstream education.

The figures show only 11 children in Southampton were recorded as home educated in 2006, but by 2016 that figure had risen to 267.

Mum Emma Nichols, pictured, decided to teach her children at home due to the pressures on youngsters “even in the early years programme”. She said: “We had known a few home educators over the years and I didn’t want to follow the national curriculum.

“I’ve always been surprised at just how diverse the community is. We know Muslims, Christians, atheists who are all home educating their children.

“There’s only one day in the week when we don’t meet up with other people and there are anything from 12 to 30 people on any of our educational trips.

“I think schools are overstretched anyway.”

But another mum, who did not want to be named, withdrew her child after concerns for his safety at school, and said that teachers “expected him to behave like an adult”.

She added: “They said they weren’t able to manage his behaviour so I needed to take him out of that environment. But I think parents should know that there is another option.”

Southampton city council’s education chief Darren Paffey said the figure represented “only around one per cent of the total pupil population” in Southampton.

He said the council has a dedicated officer who gives advice and guidance to schools and parents and added: “We have been working with all schools and partners to ensure we have a robust and appropriate response in place and that parents make informed choices.

“Parents are not required to inform local authorities that they are home educating their children or their reason for doing so, which means it is very difficult to provide an accurate number of children who are home educated.

“Within Southampton, pupils can be tracked from early years provision through their whole compulsory educational career, allowing us to identify children at the earliest opportunity,” adding that parents who want to receive support “are prioritised”.

Principal Dr Nick Smith at Oxford Home Schooling – the company which carried out the research – said: “The growth of home education reflects the country’s changing educational needs. One school structure doesn’t fit all and online home education providers enable people to access alternatives much more easily.”

The Southampton figures compare to a 361 per cent increase nationally, after information was analysed from 137 councils.