School is often the best place to educate children except for a very small number of pupils. You may be considering educating your child at home because of a problem at school. Often we can help resolve this by talking to you and the school. If not, it may be best for your child to change schools, we can help you with this too.

Responsibility for educating a child at home

All parents and carers are responsible for ensuring their child is educated. Some parents may choose to educate their children at home instead of school.

Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act states:

"It shall be the duty of the parent of every child of compulsory school age to cause him or her to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his/her age, aptitude and ability (and to any special educational needs he/she may have) either by attendance at school or otherwise."

The Local Authority's (LA) responsibility is to make sure this is carried out. 

As it is the LA's duty to ensure that children of school age are receiving suitable education, we must be satisfied that parents who opt for Elective Home Education are fulfilling their duties.  So we will work with parents/carers to ensure we carry out appropriate checks at regular intervals.

 Your questions

We recommend you discuss any queries you have with us before making your final decision.