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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

New to home ed: How much interference to expect from local authority.?

9 replies

MGMidget · 04/08/2021 19:08

I have deregistered my 6 year old from school at the end of this summer term. I have now been called by the local authority who had a chat about reasons, plans etc and then asked for an email to send me information. The email included a form to complete asking lots of questions about my home ed provision and requesting I return it within 15 days. I have completed it ready for return and I am confident I have a reasonable plan and can deliver a good standard of education that will be better than she had at school. How much interference should I expect from the local authority? They asked me to specify time slots each day I would be available for a visit so I wonder if they plan to turn up unannounced for a spot check? Can they do this? I have not given times and said an appointment would have to be arranged!

OP posts:
Blueskythinking123 · 04/08/2021 19:11

The local authority can do unannounced visits. You have to be mindful that they only have your word that you are treating your DC appropriately and there is not a safeguarding concern.

MGMidget · 04/08/2021 19:27

I see, thanks. Do I also have to have a timetable? As my daughter is so young I am planning to be flexible about which aspects of the work we do when because I want the best engagement I can get from her rather than rigidly tryingto stickto a set timetable. Also I will need to work around tutoring and any other outside lesson times. They asked for a timetable.

OP posts:
itsstillgood · 04/08/2021 20:24

No the LEA absolutely can not do unannounced visits!
No you don't need a timetable.
The best thing to do is to find your local home education group on Facebook and get advice from local home educators about how to deal with your particular LA as they are quite variable.

Blueskythinking123 · 04/08/2021 22:57

My advice is wrong. I was thinking of social services not education. A quick google explains your legal rights.

Saracen · 04/08/2021 23:49

The LA is wasting your time. They have asked you about future plans, when those bear no legal relevance to the question of whether you are providing your child with an adequate education. What matters is what you have done and are doing with him. This is what they should have asked. It would have been sensible for them to have waited until a reasonable amount of time had elapsed so you would have something to report back, but there is nothing to prevent them making informal enquiries whenever they want.

Your reasons for home educating also have no legal relevance. I hope they made it clear that answering such questions was optional? I can see why they might like to collect statistical information on the demographics of home educators in their area, e.g. are there particular schools which children are leaving in droves due to unresolved bullying or unmet special needs, are people deregistering temporarily due to Covid etc. But they have no right to demand that information from you if you don't want to give it.

While LAs are allowed to make informal enquiries, they may not require that parents supply information in any particular format, for example via "chats" on the phone, or form-filling, visits to your home or Zoon calls. It is up to you to decide how to respond. Home educators with legal knowledge recommend submitting a report unless there are unusual circumstances. This allows you to explain your approach better. Phone calls and meetings can be interpreted however the LA likes, you might forget to mention something important, and you cannot later prove who said what. Forms may ask leading questions which don't capture the reality of how you educate your child.

Are you in England? If so, have a read of government guidance to LAs, which tells them how they should interact with home educating families. Your LA appears to be leading you up the garden path by implying that you have to do things which you don't have to do. www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education

I suggest you write to them specifying that all future correspondence is to be in writing. If they want more information than you have already given them, send a report. The charity Education Otherwise has guides you can download for how to write a report, and will read draft reports from its members to advise whether you need more detail. There is also an excellent huge Facebook group where the admins will give free legal advice and help, even if you are not an EO member. It's here: www.facebook.com/groups/239232119524989 It is for people who are having trouble with their LAs. The fact that there are 17,000 members is a sad indictment of the behaviour of renegade LAs like yours who will not follow government guidance.

How much interference you can expect depends on how much you will put up with, as well as which LA you have. Most LAs will back down when they discover that you know the law and they cannot pull the wool over your eyes. A few will push and push regardless. However, the law is on your side and if you submit a good report there is little they can do.

Contentmentisacuppatea · 05/08/2021 15:38

My LA were really good I thought- I filled in a form on the LAs website when I deregistered my daughter and started home educating at Easter, and a few weeks in I had a phone call during which I explained how I planned to cover the basics with my daughter (they also asked me why we had taken my daughter out of school, but said I didn’t need to tell them, but it was helpful in identifying trends or problems in schools and I was happy to say).

And whilst I was able to talk about roughly how I planned to cover maths & English and what we were starting with - as I had only just started I made it clear that this was all subject to change and the person from the LA seemed genuinely helpful and supportive- she suggested some classes/groups in our local area and told me about some of the resources available (e.g. books available via the local authority education library service). And she said that normally after the phone call they’d follow up with a home visit but they weren’t doing this at the moment due to Covid- so they wouldn’t be in touch until next year.

(The usual practice in my LA is a yearly phone call followed by a home visit at an agreed time).

AppleWax · 07/08/2021 20:32

We are into our 4th year of home education and have supplied the local authority with 3 annual reports. They know all correspondence is to be done in writing and home visits are not required.

We don’t follow the National curriculum, school hours, days or terms or even academic years now.

There is a thriving home ed community on Facebook- I suggest searching your area and use ‘home education’ in your search as this term is more common in UK rather than homeschool. You need to know your rights and responsibilities as a home educating parent.

On a side note - it is the best thing we ever did, and I wish we had never even tried school - we will be HE right through to 18+ our child has no desire to return to state run education.

intheclouds11 · 23/08/2021 16:25

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Southwestlondonmum79 · 30/05/2022 23:51

How very reassuring. I have two boys (7&9), and we are planning to homeschool them from September 2022. Wish me luck!
I don't particularly want to use Facebook to connect with other families. Is there any other way to meet up with people in our local area? Thanks x

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