Home education: your responsibilities
If you decide to take your child out of school, you should write to the school and ask for your child’s name to be taken off the school roll.
The school will tell us. We will then:
- Send you information about home education
- Offer to meet you and your child to talk about your plans for home education.
If your child is not registered at a school and you wish to home educate, call us on 020 8430 2000.
You can choose how to teach your child and you do not have to follow the national curriculum. But if you wish to use a tutor or a tuition centre, it is your responsibility to check whether the person teaching your child has any criminal convictions. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) can help you to do this.
Health services
You will need to tell your GP, and any health services you use, that your child is being educated at home. This is so that your child can continue to get the health checks and immunisation that he or she would have received through school.
Home education: public exams
If you wish your child to take a public exam, you will need to:
- find an exam centre willing to take your child as an external candidate
- pay the exam and centre fees.
Staying in touch with us
We aim to work in partnership with you to make sure your child has a successful home education.
By law we are required to monitor your child’s progress and wellbeing, so we will ask to meet with you and your child at least once a year, either at your home or at a location of your choice.