C.L.A.S

Your Legal Responsibility as a Parent

All parents have a duty to ensure that their children receive an efficient, full time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise (under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996). However, the law allows parents to educate their children at home instead of sending them to school. Parents will find the following guidelines useful when considering educating their children at home.

When a parent decides to withdraw their child from school to home educate, it is important that they notify the school where the child is registered. The school will then remove the child from their register and inform the local education authority (LEA). Parents are not legally required to inform their LEA.

The Responsibility of the LEA (local education authority)

The LEA will need to be satisfied that a child is receiving suitable education at home, and will probably ask to meet with the family in order to talk to the parent and to look at examples of work and learning. LEAs have no automatic right of access to a parent’s home. However, parents may, if they wish to, permit access to their home, or offer an alternative venue for a meeting. At the initial meeting, the nature and frequency of future contact should be agreed. Twelve monthly (ie ONCE a year) meetings are more than adequate.

Where it appears to an LEA that a child of compulsory school age is not receiving efficient or suitable full-time education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise, the LEA is under a duty to serve a notice on the parent requiring them to satisfy the authority that their child is receiving suitable education “otherwise than at school”. If the parent’s reply is unsatisfactory, or if they fail to reply, the LEA may issue a School Attendance Order (under section 437(1) of the Education Act 1996). LEAs may also apply to the Court for a child assessment under the Children Act 1989, if they have reasonable cause to do so.

Children with Statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Children and young people with statements of special educational needs can be home educated. When a child has a statement of special educational needs which names a special school, the child’s name may not be the removed from the register of that school without the consent of the education authority.

De-registration from school

If the child is currently or has previously been educated at a maintained school and parents wish to withdraw them to home educate, it is essential that the parents inform the school in writing so that the child’s name can be removed from the register as a Unique Pupil Number (UPN) will have been allocated for the child. It is the schools legal responsibility to inform the LEA within 10 days of reciept of the deregistration letter. It is not a legal requirement as a parent that you must inform the LEA of your intentions to home educate.

If the child has never attended school they will not have been allocated a UPN and there is no statutory requirement for home-educating parents to register their child with LEAs. However it is recommended that you answer any correspondence that you may recieve from your LEA. Should you encounter any problem in this area it is recommended that you contact one of the Home Ed organisations for advice and assistance.

Who bears the costs of home educating

There are no funds directly available from the Government for parents who decide to home-educate their children. Neither do LEAs have a legal duty to provide financial support to parents who choose to home educate their children. However, some LEAs do provide free National Curriculum materials and other support to parents, but the level and extent of such support is decided locally, based on the LEA's own policies and the needs of the child.

Parents are strongly encouraged to plan ahead and think carefully about the costs associated with educating children at home (especially in the longer term when they may wish to take public examinations). However the actual cost can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. There are many free resources on the Internet and within your local community.

What happens about exams and tests 

The internal assessment component of many standard qualification courses such as Standard Grades, National Qualifications and GCSEs can restrict the choice available to home educated students. On the other hand, the examining board Edexcel has made their International GCSEs (with coursework-free option) available to home-educated children from Summer 2004 and there may be other options available through the local Connexions service and local colleges.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT C.L.A.S. ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION ABOVE, GOVERNMENT POLICIES CHANGE FREQUENTLY AND YOU SHOULD APPRAISE YOURSELF OF THE CURRENT LEGAL POSITION BEFORE ENTERING INTO ANY LEGAL PROCESS.