Choosing an education provider

Elective Home Education (EHE) is only relevant for parents or carers of children who are of compulsory school age (5 to 16).

Parents or carers may choose to provide education for their child at home instead of sending them to school full-time. This is Elective Home Education.

Some children are home educated from age 5 and may never attend school. In other cases, a child starts at a school and later the parent decides to remove them from the school roll and educate them at home.

Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996:

Elective home education is a form of ‘education otherwise than at school’.

The education must be:

• full-time - there’s nothing in law to say what a ‘full-time’ education is. A child in school should get between 21 and 25 hours of education a week, depending on how old they are. But home education is very different to school, and there are no rules that say a child should get a certain number of hours each week.
• efficient – it must achieve what it sets out to achieve.
• suitable – to the child’s age, ability, aptitude, and any special educational needs they may have. The education must equip the child for life within the community and must not limit a child’s options in later life.

Elective Home Education requires parents to take full responsibility for their child’s education, including all associated costs such as:

• exam fees
• transport costs
• costs of online home tuition programmes or other providers

Schools are not required to provide any support to parents that have withdrawn their child from the school roll for Elective Home Education.

Support provided by local authorities is discretionary, including support for a child’s special educational needs. This means local authorities have the power to provide support, but they do not have any duty to do so. For example, for children with SEND who are getting specialist teaching or therapies as part of their education/training, this will not usually continue once the child is Electively Home Educated unless parents choose to pay for it.

For children with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans:

• If the local authority agrees that your arrangements for elective home education are suitable for your child, it no longer has the duty to provide any support outlined in your child’s EHC plan. Even so, it will continue to maintain your child’s EHC plan so that it is an up-to-date record of your child’s special educational needs, the outcomes desired for them, and the help required to meet their needs.
• Your Education, Health and Care Coordinator will amend the EHC plan in section I to name the type of school that would be suitable but state that ‘parents have made their own arrangements under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996’.
• An annual review must happen every year. The annual review process must be completed on or before the anniversary of when the EHC plan was first issued or the anniversary of the last review. Annual reviews for electively home educated children are arranged by the local authority. If you have not been invited to an annual review when you would expect or wish to call an early annual review, you should contact your Education, Health and Care Coordinator.

If you think Elective Home Education might be in the best interests of your child, the Government expects your local authority to coordinate a meeting with you, involving your child’s school and social workers where appropriate. The Government recommends you meet with your local authority to consider whether Elective Home Education is appropriate for your family and your child before you decide whether to withdraw them from their school’s roll.

You may want to consult the Buckinghamshire Elective Home Education (EHE) team, or speak to a friend who is already home-schooling, to help you to make an informed decision.

You can contact the Elective Home Education team at:

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01296 382 687

Educating children at home can work well when it’s a positive choice and you are able to help your child to learn in line with their age, ability, aptitude, and any special educational needs they have. You will need to have time to support and supervise your child day to day. This is likely to mean you will not be able to continue with full-time work of your own.

The education you provide at home does not need to be full-time, or follow standard school days or terms, but Government guidance for parents says it should occupy ‘a significant proportion of a child’s life’.

You may feel that you have no choice but to keep your child with SEND at home because you don’t believe any school is suitable for them. For example, your child may be getting into trouble or having other problems at school and is finding it difficult to attend.

Alternatively, you may find yourself under pressure from your child’s school to home educate your child. This is a form of ‘off-rolling’ (removing a pupil from the school roll in the best interests of the school, rather than the pupil) and schools should not suggest or ask you to home educate your child. There is information about this on page 8 of School exclusions: What is legal?.

If you feel pressured to home school and it is not your choice to do so, it is recommended that you do not take steps to remove your child from the school in haste as this may not be in the best interests of you or your child. Instead, tell your school you do not wish to home educate and:

• If your child has an EHC plan, you should consult your Education, Health and Care Coordinator
• If your child does not have an EHC plan, contact the integrated SEND team support line on 01296 382135

You can also get in touch with the SENDIAS service using our contact form to discuss other options available to you. This can include:

• Improving levels of support at school
• Alternative provision – education arranged by the school or local authority for a child who is unable to attend school because of illness, exclusion or other reasons
• Obtaining a package funded by the local authority called Education Otherwise than at School (EOTAS) if everyone agrees that your child is not able to attend any kind of school

Where a pupil is withdrawn from school for EHE, there is no obligation for the school to keep that place open. If the parent wishes to return their child to school, they may not be able to return to the same school. There is a pressure on school places in Buckinghamshire, so if you remove your child and then change your mind and ask for him or her to be reinstated, you may not get a place.

Once a child is educated at home, Local Authorities will begin making enquiries as to how suitable the education being provided is. Failure to satisfy the enquiry may result in you being issued with a School Attendance Order and/or the court may make an Education Supervision Order. Find out more about School attendance and absence.

Once a child is educated at home, Buckinghamshire Elective Home Education team will call you and arrange a meeting to discuss your plans for your child’s education. If the team has concerns that the education you are providing is not suitable for your child, they will discuss their concerns with you and ask you to take steps to improve what you are providing. Failure to satisfy their enquiry may result in a referral to social services, you being issued with a School Attendance Order, and the court may make an Education Supervision Order.

You can find out more at the below pages:

• Government guidance for parents
• School attendance and absence
• Social services and your family

If you have already arranged for your child to be removed from the school roll and have changed your mind, you could try contacting the school and asking for your child to be re-admitted. If the school has a place in the year group, the school should offer your child a place.

Where a pupil is withdrawn from school for EHE, there is no obligation for the school to keep that place open. If the parent wishes to return their child to school, they may not be able to return to the same school. There is a pressure on school places in Buckinghamshire, so if you remove your child and then change your mind and ask for them to be reinstated, you may well be disappointed, even if you change your mind the next day.

If there is no longer a place at the school, or you would prefer a different school, see apply to change school during the academic year.

If there is a place at your child’s original school and it is the nearest, your child is unlikely to be eligible for school transport to a further school.

If Section I of your child’s EHC plan relates to Elective Home Education and not to a school, and you have changed your mind about home educating your child, consult your Education, Health and Care Coordinator. They will ask you for your preferred school and will make the arrangements to find a school place for your child.

See choosing an education provider for more information.

You can make a request for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for your child, even if they have never been to school.

For more information, see the EHC needs assessments page.

• Department for Education - Elective Home Education guidance for parents
• IPSEA - Home schooling and ‘education otherwise’
• Child Law Advice – Home Education
• Ed Yourself - EHE practice and policy from an expert parent home educator
• Education Otherwise - Support and advice for home educating families
• Education Otherwise - Buckinghamshire Community Catalogue

• Bucks Family Information Service - Elective Home Education
• Buckinghamshire Council - Elective Home Education guidance