Elective Home Education
Parents may choose to educate their child at home rather than at school. The reasons for deciding on this approach are many, as are the styles of education undertaken. Whatever the circumstances, we aim to support parents in their choice.
By law, parents and carers must ensure their children receive an education. The local authority are responsible for ensuring education given to children at home is suitable.
The first step to home education
To begin to home school your child you must first deregister them by sending a letter/email to your child's school requesting them to take your child off roll, from a specific date, stating that you intend to home educate them from now on. The school will then inform Access and Inclusion who will make contact with you.
After deregistering, it is your responsibility to organise the education of your child. The local authority cannot send anyone to your house to teach your child.
The National Curriculum
The education you provide has to be full time, efficient and suitable.
You do not have to follow the National Curriculum, but you may find it helpful to use it as a framework, both for subjects to include and to get an idea of levels of achievement. The government website includes guidance and tools for both Primary and Secondary.
You might follow a timetable that you have devised; most home educators have a "flexible" timetable. You may choose to follow a form of 'discovery' education, in which the interests of your child are the focus. Or you might use mixture of these methods. It's entirely up to you. Oak National Academy has lots of resources to support home learning. If you intend to send your child to school in the future, then it would be wise to be aware of what is taught in school so they are not disadvantaged. There are many textbooks and workbooks based on the National Curriculum and these may be useful.
Exams
It is up to parents to investigate and pay for your child's exams. There are some schools in the local area that will agree for home educated children to sit exams at their school. The schools which offer this are subject to change, as it depends on how many of their own students are sitting exams as to whether they can accommodate any more.
You can contact Access and Inclusion or other professionals to find out if they are aware of any currently taking students, or please let us know if you have found a school that will.
Sending my child back into school
If you decide to send your child back into school please contact the school admissions team by completing an online form. There is no guarantee that a place will still be available at their previous school.
Support for parents or carers
Here are some of the ways the local authority can support parents or carers if they are considering home education as an option:
- how to deregister your child from school
- advice on different approaches and ensuring that your child receives an education suitable for their age, aptitude and ability
- particular advice on contacts around issues of special educational needs. For example, SEND Advice contacts, information on requesting an assessment of needs, careers and counselling contacts
- reports may be provided to support parental appeals, for example, admissions or college entry
- personal or telephone contact to discuss issues at any time
- general advice about the different ways families home educate in Central Bedfordshire