Home education

Find out what you need to do if you want to teach your child at home full time.

Teaching at home

Teaching your child at home, instead of sending them to school full time is called elective home education. 

If your child is of compulsory school age (between 5 and 16 years old) and you want to teach them at home, you need to contact us. 

You can teach them yourself or employ a tutor to support you. You will be you will be fully responsible for making sure that they receive a suitable, full-time education for their:

• age
• aptitude and skills
  
• special educational needs (if any)
  

Before you decide you should read more about elective home education on GOV.UK.

Financial support 

If you educate your child at home you will not get any financial help from us. You will need to pay for:

• all educational resources (such as books or computers)
  
• tuition fees 
• exam fees
  

You will not receive any money for free school meals.

What we need to do

We need to safeguard all children and to make sure they are getting a suitable education at home. 

We will arrange a home visit at least once a year to see you and your child.

To check that your child is getting a suitable education at home, we will ask you to provide an education plan.

If we think your child is not getting the education they need, we can serve a school attendance order. This will mean that they need to be taught in school.

If your child has an Education Health and Care plan (EHCP)

If they go to a specialist provision or school

If your child attends a specialist provision or school and you want to teach them at home, you’ll need the permission of the Head of Learning Inclusion. You will need to provide a plan that shows how you will meet the EHCP needs at home.

If they are in mainstream school

If your child goes to a mainstream school you do not need to ask our permission. If they have an EHCP and you decide to home educate then there will be a review of the EHCP.