School's responsibilities

Schools must not seek to persuade parents to educate their child at home, nor is it recommended for parents to elect to educate their children at home as a way of solving a perceived or ongoing problem for a school.

Prior to deregistration, Cumberland Council recommends that parents are given contact details and advised to seek advice and guidance from the EHE team before formally asking the school to remove the child from the school roll.

When a school receives written notification from a parent of their intention to home educate their child, it is the responsibility of the school to:

• offer a meeting with parents to discuss any issues or concerns that could be resolved to enable the child to continue to be educated at the school
• acknowledge the deregistration in writing and delete the child's name from the school register
• fill in the EHE1 form and send to the EHE team, along with a copy of the deregistration from parents
• ensure that the pupil file is retained in accordance with usual procedures

Please note that there is no legal requirement for parents to discuss home education with the school.