What to tell current school

[Lochnessgiraffe]

Hi we are removing our dd from y8 and going to be home schooling. I know we have to tell the school what do we say? Do we need to contact the council or will the school do it?

You just tell them that.
You’re de registering her and plan to home school her for now.
I’m not sure what happens after that you may well be contacted by someone to check on your daughter and the plans you have in place for her.

That's good. So quite simple then. Do you know what happens next?

Usually after that the school will inform your LA and shortly afterwards they will be in touch. Have you joined any fb groups for home educators locally? Even if you don’t plan to do many home ed activities, it’s useful to get an idea of how helpful (or otherwise) the EHE people are in your LA.

Most people near me advise keeping everything in writing and refusing home visits. You aren’t obliged to show evidence of your child’s work. The LA’s main concern initially (if they’re any good) will be to ensure that this is a choice that you’ve made, and that your child isn’t being off-rolled by the school.

Haven't joined any local groups. We have registered her with an online school and she is following the British ks3 curriculum. She's done nearly 1 week of online school and is getting on very well. Happy to inform the council of this

Like a pp said, it's simple. You just send an email or letter to the school telling, not asking, telling them, you are removing your child from the school and they need to remove them from the school roll/register. "Please remove ** from the school roll with immediate effect as he/she is now home educated. Please confirm receipt of this letter/email and that (child's name) has been removed from the roll. Thank you".

Get confirmation that they have done this in writing and that is all you as the parent are required to do. The school has absolutely no right to question you or to tell you they cannot do this without seeking permission from the LA. That is not true. You are not required to contact the council/LA.

Your only requirement after you have done this is to provide your child with an education suitable for their age and aptitude. There is also no set method of home education. You are perfectly entitled to follow the NC but it is not necessary to do so. You're not breaking any laws by not following the NC. Plenty of home educators don't or they do to start with and then find it doesn't suit their child and find a more suitable path.

I strongly advise you search for some Facebook HE groups. Mumsnet is not a stronghold of Home Educators. Good first ports of call are the Home Education UK group, a Home Education and your Local Authority and HE Exams and Alternatives. There is very likely to be HE FB groups for your local area. Good luck and have fun! (Home educator of 15 years).

I've requested to join some HE groups. There's a online school group I've joined.

Yes, I strongly advise telling the LA to keep all communication in writing, and join a Facebook group where you can get advice on your dealings with them. Shockingly, very few LAs comply entirely with Department for Education guidance on dealing with home ed families. Many LAs are in the habit of misleading parents about legal requirements. If you do everything in writing, you can check up to see whether they are trying to lead you up the garden path!

We've had a response from the school telling us they won't deroll her until they know where she is going to. Do we give them her new online school info or just ignore?

Just say ‘as per my last email she will be home schooled’

If you simply told them to remove her name from the register without giving any reason then they are correct - they cannot legally do that. You do need to specify that she is being home educated.

They do not need to know about the online school. The details of how you home educate are nothing to do with her current school.

I told them she would be home schooled but they want to know what we are doing at home otherwise they said they will register her as a "child missing education " which I didn't think they could do? I thought we'd be in contact with the home Ed person at the council.

Schools HAVE to register as a child missing from education until the local authority have confirmed to the school that the child is being home schooled. Don’t worry, as long as you have told the school she is being home educated, that’s all you need to do.