How to switch to home education from prep school?

[pasok1000]

How to switch to home education from prep school?

Our DS has some turbulent time because he’s grandparent is not well. We are thinking the last half term for our DS to spend time at home with his grandparents and to be home educated till the end of term. Then from September return to school or at the end of the summer term review the best solution for our DS.

Would we have to inform local authority or just to take leave from his Current school? Is there a category that allows children to miss half a term for pastoral reasons?

Thank you

You would need to give notice then reapply at current school. School will likely inform local authority.
You could talk to the school, if you're willing to pay the fees for that half term they may hold his place for him. Especially if you can get a doctors note for mental health.
I think best bet is talking to the school about your options really

You can home educate for a period which is as short or as long as you want. You don't need to inform the Local Authority or seek anyone's permission to do that; your only legal obligation is to actually educate your child. He can't miss education altogether for pastoral reasons, even for a short time. By law, if he isn't at school then he needs to receive an education at home from day one unless he is too ill.

However, because one-to-one attention is so efficient, home education takes far fewer hours than school and it doesn't have to be formal school-style teaching, so you can respond flexibly and sensitively to your son's worry and distraction about his ill relative by adapting the education to his needs. There are no required subjects and you can include practical learning, learning through play, and discussions. You can't go wrong if you simply think through what his actual needs are at this moment and provide for them, rather than worrying about what a school would do or what someone else might expect. You know your son and you can figure out what's best for him. The law is vague on what constitutes a suitable education, so parents have scope to respond to children as individuals and take account of their current situation including their physical and emotional needs.

I have no experience of dealing with private schools in terms of paying fees for notice periods or asking them to keep the child's place open - maybe you can find out more about that by posting on a board where there are a lot of parents who use independent school?

Once you have deregistered from school to home educate, the school is supposed to inform the LA. Many private schools either don't realise this, or choose not to comply. If the school doesn't tell the LA, there's no need for you to volunteer the information yourself. There's no legal requirement for you to do so, and you would only be making extra work for yourself because the LA will usually ask you to supply them with information about how you are educating your child. I'm sure you have better things to do right now.

I wish you all the best during this difficult time.