Is there a guide to de-registering your child from school?

[CornishTeaTime]

A friend wants to homeschool her son due to various reasons, only thing that's stopping her is she doesnt know how to, school havent been very helpful and she said government site is too comicated. Not sure if she's too nervous to do it. Anyway got me thinking is there a guide on what you should do, letter templates maybe?

Also does it differ from area to area or local authority etc

Tell her to go on Facebook and look up home education groups - start with HEFA, Education Otherwise and Home Education UK. From there she should be able to find everything she needs.

The short answer to the OP is that she just needs to write to the school (assuming it is mainstream England) instructing them that from date x her child will be home educated so they should remove him from the school register. The groups above have templates that quote the specific legislation etc if desired.

However I’d strongly recommend reading the groups thoroughly before taking the plunge so that she is fully informed about how it all works and what she is and isn’t required to do before starting.

In addition to the above, she should contact the LA, who may have a dedicated homeschool dept - many do these days,

Unfortunately, LAs don't tend to be particularly clued up about the legalities of home education. Even the people whose job it is often give out incorrect information. There is no mandatory training for staff in these jobs, and in many LAs, looking after home education is something of a "pass the parcel" job, with frequent changes of staff. One of the home ed advisory groups examined the websites and policies of all the LAs in England and Wales and found that almost none of the LAs had information which was completely accurate. Shocking but true.

This is such a problem that experienced home educators typically advise new families to check up on whatever their LA is asking of them, so they can correct anything which isn't right. It's a postcode lottery, and every change of staff can result in the LA concocting new policies which don't align with the law.

The home education charities are a better bet.