How to de-register a child from school (England and Wales)

[Julienoshoes]

A thread for bumping up, for information, so we don't have to keep repeating ourselves.

You'll find a sample de-registration letter (England and Wales) and other information about the realities and legalities of home education on the Education Otherwise and Home Education UKwebsites.

It is recommended that you get a receipt for the letter.

You are not obliged to have any further contact with the school once they have received this letter.
You are not obliged to contact the LA yourself at all, that is the school's responsibility.

Note that if you were already being pursued for truancy, that offence still stands but your child cannot be a truant if they are not a registered pupil. If you are providing an education under s7 of the Education Act 1996 by the time it gets to court, you may be fined for the earlier truancy but it seems unlikely a court would order a parent to prison.

For information about home education in Scotland contact Schoolhouse

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

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[emmaagain]

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[Julienoshoes]

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[needmorecoffee]

Except special schools. When you have to beg permission

[Julienoshoes]

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[Julienoshoes]

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[AMumInScotland]

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[Julienoshoes]

just bumping up the threads where information is needed frequently, to save us saying the same thing over and over.

[Julienoshoes]

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[Flight]

Julie, can I ask please if you have to deregister when your child is attending school but is not yet five?

I am taking out my son, am going to talk to the school about potentially holding a place till the Autumn in case he misses it, and to thank them for their work with him, but I am not sure whether I need to write and formlly deregister him also.

TIA!

[Runnerbean]

Is he in nursery or reception?
If he is on the school register in reception, I would think, yes, you would have to de-register.
If he is only in the nursery you could just decline to take the place.

not sure

[Julienoshoes]

Flight
I think Runnerbean is most likely correct-is he in nursery or in Receprtion?

I have also asked the question of folks who know more than I do about legalities.
I'll get back to you ASAP.

[Flight]

Oh thanks both

Reception. Has been there with much absence since Sept. last year. Just had enough really!

[Julienoshoes]

Flight-one of my more knowledgeable contacts has got back to me.
I asked asked whether a parent has to deregister a child officially if the
child is attending a school, but is not yet 5.

The answer I have been given -assumes that you will not want the place when the child is 5 -and says;

"No you don?t - more or less

Its been complicated by the fact that the new pupil registration regulations
mean that if a child has been offered a place, even if it has never attended
then the child will be deemed to have been registered.

So if the parents have been offered a place for next year at the school then
they will have to formally write to say that they do not want it.

So the short answer is that they do not have to formally withdraw for this
year but they may have been offered a place for next year which requires
them to positively decline."

So it looks like you do not have to formally withdraw from this year-but as you may want the place for when the child is five, you may have to confirm that in writing.

I don't know if the head teacher will have to hold that place for you or whether he will give it to a child who does attend before they are 5.
Is it a very popular/heavily subscribed school?

Given that you said that "Has been there with much absence" is he likely to miss it?
Have you managed to find other home educators locally so that your child can see that there are others around that don't go to school, that he can be friends with?

I'll let you know if my other contact is able to come back with any more info.

[Flight]

Thankyou Julie, that is really helpful. (Sorry not to reply earlier but I wasn't well yesterday pm.)

I'll have a word with the school I think, as we might want to take up the place again next autumn...he just is too small at the moment, to cope physically. He manages and enjoys it if he goes about one day a week, that is all he can really manage, otherwise he is pretty wrecked.

It's very oversubscribed and I suspect they may say 'no' to keeping his place.
In which case we will just chance it.

Thanks again for the info.

[Julienoshoes]

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[Julienoshoes]

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[cupcakesinthesnow]

Hi, Can anyone give me a bit of info and advice? I am taking my eldest son out of school afer he finishes year 3 at hs current school in July. This is for a number of reasons but primarily as we have been unsuccessful at getting him a place in a local school from year 4 that we are happy with (oversubscribed area) I want to home educate on a temporary basis until either a place becomes available at him at our chosen schools or we move to another area.

If I use the deregistration letter who would I send it to? I am presuming the head of the admissions dept or ?

I understand I have the right to home educate but are there any factors I may not be prepared for when I advise the local authority fo my decision? Am I likely to encounter conflict in my decision? Obvioulsy I want to avoid any legal proceedings.

To be honest I am really looking forward (with some anticipation) to home educating him and don;t want to make mistakes withthe authorities etc.

Any advice will be gratefully appreciated and I look forward to joining the Home Ed boards

[AMumInScotland]

Hi cupcakes.

Normally you would write to his current school to deregister him. If your son has been allocated a place at a school in the autumn, then I think you would probably have to write to that school to have him removed from the register, even though he has not started attending there. It is then the responsibility of the school to inform the LA.

If you want to remain on the waiting lists for schools, you should definitely make that clear to the schools involved, as some parents would only be interested in being on the waiting list till the start of term.

The Local Authority should not cause you any problems, but they are likely to contact you to ask how you are providing your son with a suitable full-time education. They may send you a questionnaire, and may suggest visiting you at home and meeting your son, but neither of those are compulsory if you prefer to give them the information in another way. Legally, they are only meant to make enquiries if they have reason to believe that you are not providing a suitable education, but in practice they will normally contact any family they know of, and it is generally advised that you should provide them information if they ask for it, though you can do that in whatever format you choose.

As to legal proceedings, so long as your son is not registered at a state school they cannot pursure for non-attendance. However, if they have reason to believe you are not providing an education, and you do not satsify them if/when they make enquiries, then they could in theory start legal proceedings at that stage. But they would have to give you ample opportunity to explain about how you are educating him first.

Hope that helps!

[AMumInScotland]

Oh, and welcome to the world of Home Ed

[cupcakesinthesnow]

Thanks so much, that's all really helpful

[Julienoshoes]

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[julienoshoes]

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[AMumInScotland]

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