Educating your child at home (elective home education) - Print version

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What to consider before making a decision to home educate

Families who elect to home educate do so for a variety of reasons. The decision to home educate should not be taken lightly. It can be very rewarding to educate your child at home but it does require a serious time commitment, patience, energy and the ability to provide appropriate motivation, resources and equipment. You will need to decide if you have the skills and ability to educate your child or if you will need to purchase services to help you do this e.g. online learning packages or tutors. Please keep in mind there is no financial support available when you home educate. In addition, if your child receives free school meals or pupil premium support, this will not apply when home educated and will be lost. You will also lose entitlement to attend HAF programme events.

From the start be sure you are doing what is right for your child. Discuss it with him/her and with the school, if your child is on roll at one. You could also speak to someone at the LA, ask for the Elective Home Education Coordinator who can talk you through what home education entails. Please initially email ehecoventry@coventry.gov.uk to set up a time to discuss it.

You must be able to provide the following:

  • A suitable education 
  • A full-time education 
  • An efficient education

You will also need to consider the following as a part of planning for home education:

  • Opportunities to socialise with other children and build friendships. This could be done through social activities or clubs based on your child's hobbies and interests.
  • Space at home where learning can take place
  • The time - parents who are in employment will have to determine if they can accommodate a full-time education as well as work commitments.
  • What are your child's aspirations? Will your home education take steps towards achieving this?
  • Does your child want to sit any examinations? This can be done but please keep in mind it can be costly as a private pupil.
  • If you want to home educate, once you come off the roll of a school, your place will be allocated to someone on the waiting list. If you want to go back into schools you will need to apply through the admissions [/schooladmissions] process. Please be aware, that there may not be places available at the school you apply for so you may not get the school of your choice.

You should not consider home education purely to avoid sending your child to school or to avoid exclusions or attendance fines. Electing to home educate will not stop these processes. A suitable, full time and efficient education MUST be in place to continue to home educate.

Elective Home Education

Address: Friargate
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Telephone: 024 7683 1614 [tel:02476831614]

The legal position

Duty of the parent/carer:

As a parent, you have the legal right to choose to educate your children other than by attendance at school, usually by providing education at home.

Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act states that:

'The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him/her to receive full-time education suitable -
(a) to his/her age, ability and aptitude, and;
(b) to any special educational needs he/she may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise."

The phrase ''or otherwise'' allows education outside of formal schooling, providing that the parent/carer can meet the child's needs, as stated above.

Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that:

"No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of the parents to ensure such education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions."

Duty of the Local Authority (LA):

The duty under s.436A  means that local authorities must make arrangements to find out so far as possible whether home educated children are receiving suitable full-time education.

Section 437 of the 1996 Education Act states that:

''If it appears to a local education authority that a child of compulsory school age in their area is not receiving suitable education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise, they shall serve a notice in writing, on the parent requiring him/her to satisfy them within the period specified in the notice, not being less than 15 days, that the child is receiving such education."

If the LA is unable to satisfy itself that the child is receiving suitable education, then a school attendance order may be issued to the parents, which will require them to register the child at a named school within a certain period of time.'

Elective Home Education

Address: Friargate
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Telephone: 024 7683 1614 [tel:02476831614]

The role of the Local Authority in home education

The Local Authority has a responsibility to best know who is being home educated in their area. When we are notified that you are home educating, we will contact you via post or email to send a welcome letter, information from the NHS regarding vaccinations that your child is entitled to that are normally given in school as well as details of local offers available to Coventry residents via GoCv [https://go-cv.co.uk/].

The Local Authority is here to support you in your home education, not to judge or inspect. We are happy to support parents in the early stages of their home education by signposting them to resources, activities, websites and home education groups. We can do this via a home visit, virtual visit, email or phone conversations, whichever works for you. Alternatively, we can meet in a public place such as a cafe for an informal chat.

We aim to offer all home educating families an annual visit where possible. We can come and see/speak to you to see how you are progressing and offer further assistance if this is required. We also offer virtual visits. We aim to work in a way that is supportive for you.

We cannot insist on a home visit and we will communicate with our home educating parents in a variety of different ways. However, where parents choose not to engage with us and there are concerns that the child may not be receiving a suitable education, we may need to take further action.

Providing a suitable education

We have a duty to act if it appears that home-educated children are not receiving a full time, efficient education that is suitable for the child's age, ability and aptitude.

We will contact you to discuss your approach to education, and ask you to provide a range of examples that demonstrate a suitable education including:

  • resources you are using
  • examples of work and logs to record learning
  • activities your child has engaged in
  • time dedicated to educate your child

You are not obliged by law to respond, but we may take matters further if we do not receive a response, particularly if we have reasonable grounds for considering that a suitable education may not be being provided. Usually we work with families to address any concerns informally. We will write to you about the concern and give you the opportunity to adapt the education being provided and offer you support to do this. We will then look to see that these recommendations are being followed through – a home visit may be the best way to undertake this, but we can be flexible to a families needs. Where we have made informal enquiries and have not received any information to determine that a suitable, full time and efficient education is in place, we may look to take further steps to establish this.

If suitable education is still not being provided, you will be advised to register your child at a school and be informed of school places available in your area.

As a last resort we may consider issuing a School Attendance Order (SAO), which will name a school for your child to attend. Failure to do this could result in the matter being taken to court.

Elective Home Education

Address: Friargate
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Telephone: 024 7683 1614 [tel:02476831614]

Planning for your child's future: qualifications

There is no obligation to teach the National Curriculum nor study chronologically the same way that pupils in school do. It all depends on your child. You could spread sitting qualifications out over a number of years rather than studying the traditional 10 GCSEs schools do in year 10 and 11.

You may want to think about your educational philosophy  - what approach do you want to take? 

It is important that you encourage your child to explore their future options around career choices as this could inform the approach that you take. If you would like your child to access some careers advice, please contact the Elective Home Education Service (details below) who can complete a referral to Prospects (age dependant).

Exams for home schooled children

If you want your child to take exams, such as GCSEs, IGCSEs or Functional Skills, you should plan in advance for this. You will need to investigate which syllabus you will follow for each subject and what resources you will need to teach it.

Some subjects may have coursework, which will need to be marked by someone the exam board has approved. You will need to pay someone to do this.

You will need to contact an exam centre directly and register your child for the exams. You will be responsible for the fees. There are 2 approved centres in Coventry. The links below are to the main exam boards and their private pupil pages:

Please note that there is no funding to pay for examinations from local or national government for home educated pupils. Home educators assume full financial responsibility for the cost of their child's education. However, please contact Coventry City Council's home education team if you would like to talk through your options regarding this as we may be able to draw on some financial support, dependent on circumstances.

Elective Home Education

Address: Friargate
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Telephone: 024 7683 1614 [tel:02476831614]

Further information

We have prepared an Elective Home Education booklet [/downloads/download/6226/elective_home_education_booklet] which covers the legal rights and responsibilities of parents and the Local Authority. Towards the front there is useful information and the back parent recommendations, websites, apps, groups and places where you can seek further advice and guidance on home education.

We have also started a Coventry City Council Elective Home Education Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/coventrycchomeeducation/], which gives information and advice on what is available for home schoolers in Coventry.

Regional support is available:

Elective Home Education

Address: Friargate
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Telephone: 024 7683 1614 [tel:02476831614]

Make a referral and key documents

Make a referral for a child that is home educated [https://myaccount.coventry.gov.uk/en/service/elective_home_education_referral]

Useful information for schools and parents

Elective Home Education

Address: Friargate
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Telephone: 024 7683 1614 [tel:02476831614]

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