Do I need to inform the local authorities to home educate my child?

[0MammaBear0]

Hi, my child will be 5 next year so he has never been enrolled in a school. I'm unsure whether I would need to inform the local authorities over our decision to home educate. I've read children who are enrolled in schools need to inform the school and the local authorities, but it seems if your child has never enrolled in a school before there's no need or obligation to do so. Is that the case?

First hit on Google.

There is no legal duty on parents to inform the local authority that a child is being home educated. If a child never attends school, an authority may be unaware that he or she is being home educated.

Yes I know how to use google and that's what I read, I just want to be extra sure about this as I wouldn't want to be surprised with a school attendance order or something. I'd like to hear from other parents who were in this position where they began homeschooling their kids before registering them in any school

Have a look at the Education Otherwise website, it's an amazing source of info and support. Also join some local HomeEd Facebook groups for specific area support. Good luck and have fun. I home educate my 4 and it's an absolute blast!

But that document is actually by the Department For Education.

You won't get any greater reassurance than that.

It's true. You don't need to inform anyone. Your only legal duty is to educate your child.

By the way, if a child who is of Compulsory School Age is attending school, their parents must instruct the school in writing to remove their child's name from the register on the grounds that he or she is being home educated ("deregistration"). Parents do not have to contact the LA; that is the school's job.

If you want to start home educating at a natural transition point, e.g. after the end of primary school, you don't have to inform anyone - just don't register them at a high school. Also if the start of home education coincides with you moving to a new area, you don't need to inform anyone.

Well... one would like to believe so.

Unfortunately the DfE does come out with some corkers. For example, in the sister document to the one from which you've quoted (i.e. in the 2019 "Elective home education: Departmental guidance for parents"), the DfE wrongly states that "If your child is currently on the roll of a school you are not obliged to inform the school that he or she is being withdrawn for home education"!!! 😬 In the public consultation on the draft guidance, and at intervals since then, various parents have pointed out this basic error, but four years on it's still in there.

it would also be nice if we could rely on Local Authorities to provide accurate legal information about home education, but surprisingly few get it completely right. The law relating to home education is quite brief and straightforward, so it shouldn't be hard for people whose job titles contain the words "home education" to familiarise themselves with it, but I don't think most of them ever think to read it for themselves. LAs are pretty notorious for misleading parents about the law, whether maliciously or through incompetence.

So actually I think the best sources of information on the law are the main home education charities.