We want the many parents who choose to home educate to be supported. These parents devote time, financial resources and dedication to the education of their children. Most parents who take up the weighty responsibility of home education do a great job, and many children benefit from being educated at home.
Choosing to home educate
There are various reasons why parents choose to home educate; this can be because:
- they've made a conscious decision to home educate
- they can't find a school to fit their child's needs - these might be families with a child with special educational needs or disability who find the school environment extremely challenging or who aren’t getting support that works
- their child is finding school very difficult or refusing to attend
Feeling like there is no choice but to educate your child at home puts many families under pressure and in a difficult position.
If your child is finding school very difficult and they’re not managing, or if you think they might be permanently excluded, you shouldn’t feel pressured into ‘choosing’ home education. There are other options. If you want to find out more about these or discuss your situation, contact our Elective Home Education team.
Off-rolling
Sometimes school staff also put pressure on parents to deregister a child. This is called off-rolling and can amount to the same as informal, illegal exclusion. It is important that you inform us if you believe this is your situation.
What to consider when deregistering your child
You should consider:
- what resources you might use, particularly for numeracy and literacy
- who might look after your child if you are at work
- the potential costs involved – parents take on the full financial responsibility of home education
- if your child is approaching GCSEs, find out what the implications of deregistering will be if your child is in Years 10 and 11 and thinking of taking exams
Rights and responsibilities
Parents who are choosing to Electively Home Educate (EHE) have a legal duty to make sure their child or children get an efficient full-time education suitable to the age, ability, aptitude and any Special Educational Needs (SEN) they might have. This is set out in Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act, which states:
The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause them to receive efficient full-time education suitable:
- to their age, ability and aptitude
- to any special educational needs they may have - either by regular attendance at school or otherwise
For more information about your responsibilities as a parent, read Elective home education: guidance for parents (GOV.UK)
While it is reasonable to expect a period of time in which you are finding your feet and exploring styles and resources to develop your educational provision, we expect learning to be taking place from day one of Elective Home Education.
Home educating parents are not required to:
- have a timetable
- have set hours during which education will take place
- observe school hours, days or terms
However, parents need to be able to demonstrate the amount of time for which the child is being educated. Their education needs to amount to a significant proportion of their life (making allowances for holiday periods).
The type of education you need to provide
The education provided needs to be suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and take into account any special educational needs.
The education must be age-appropriate and help the child make progress according to their particular level of ability, and should take account of any specific aptitudes (for example if a child is very good at mathematics, it might focus more on that than some other subjects).
Even if there is no specific link with the National Curriculum or other external curricula, there should be an appropriate minimum standard which is aimed at, and the education should aim to help the child, when grown-up, to function as an independent citizen in the UK.
We would be expecting to see numeracy and literacy skills being developed, however this does not mean a specific maths or English curriculum. Read our list of resources for numeracy and literacy
If your child wishes to sit national tests, such as iGCSEs or GCSEs, it would be wise to cover the curriculum being tested. Read our section on exams for more information on qualifications
Elective Home Educated (EHE) children do not need to:
- follow the National Curriculum
- have formal assessments
- match school-based age specific standards
Socialising your child or children
Parents who home educate do not need to reproduce school-type same-age socialisation, however education may not be deemed suitable if it leads to excessive isolation from the child’s peers, as this can impact their social development.
For example, the educational provision would likely be suitable if the young person was getting outside the house, and communicating and meeting with people who were not family on a regular basis. This might be friends, it might be a club or group, or it might be simply going to the shops or on the bus or into town, or for some it might be communicating online with friends they know from the real world.
For more information about your responsibilities as a parent, read Elective home education: guidance for parents (GOV.UK)
If the education provided does not meet the requirements
We (the local authority) will issue a Notice to Satisfy, which means you will need to give specific information regarding the child’s education within 15 working days.
If this is not followed, or is still unsatisfactory, we can serve a School Attendance Order, which means that your child will need to attend school.
If the child is still not sent to school, we can prosecute or seek an Education Supervision Order. If parents do not comply with that, then we can seek a Care Order for the child.
If you use an education provider
If you plan to get someone else involved in educating your child and they will have unsupervised contact with them, either in a paid or voluntary capacity, then they should agree to an enhanced disclosure (with barred list where applicable) from the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Declare yourself as an education provider.
Cumberland Elective Home Education policy booklet
The Cumberland Elective Home Education booklet is designed to explain the basics of Elective Home Education and the specific role of the home education team.