just deregistering

[knat]

my dd is 5 and asd. She's in mainstream school and not coping at all. Have given our deregistration letter in and she leaves on Friday. The Head was very supportive and recognises that dd isnot coping and thinks that we have made the right decision. However she has not dealt with anyone leaving school to be homked. She said she would speak to her Welfare Officer and the LEA to see what benmchmarks there are for hedding. She also thought we couldn't home ed without anything in place. I told her that we had done our legal duty by the deregisteration letter and that it was up to the school to inform the LEA who would then determine to contact us etc.

She has spoken to the welfare officer who apprently is very supportive but who is going to sell it to her seniors? What does this mean - we have every right to take her out and home ed - or so i thought? Any help????

[AMumInScotland]

So long as you are in England and she is not in a special school, you have every right to deregister her from school and home ed her. No-one needs to be asked, no-one needs to give permission, no-one needs to "sell" the idea to anyone!

You don't need to have anything particcular "in place" when you start - you only need to be able to describe how you are planning to provide a suitable education if/when the LEA ask you.

And it has nothing particular to do with the Welfare Officer, unless you are already involved with them for some reason.

HTH!

[knat]

thanks - thats just what i thought.

[wicanwitch]

make sure you have filled out the home education form from the lea then you will have someone allocated to you that will give you loads of advice on how you can help your children

[knat]

great wicanwitch - will they just send that to me when teh school have informed them?

[wicanwitch]

we went to our lea and picked it up and filled it out their as i wanted to make sure that i did everything leagally my circumstances were different to yours but i think if you cover all aspects that you can it saves any hassle later on

[julienoshoes]

Personally-after eight years of home educating, I can't think of a single reason to fill out the home education form, from the LA.

Most LAs don't give any useful advice about home educating. At least not anything you can't get from other home educators, more quickly and that is more relevant.
Many lie, deceive and generally mislead home educators into believing they have to have a home visit,have to provide a plan and timetable etc.

The comment about the EWO 'who is going to sell it to her seniors' does nothing to persuade me differently.

Which LA do you come under?

Join the Home Ed Special Needs list and find home educators locally-that would be so much moremore useful IMHO.

[wicanwitch]

im in the southwest and have just taken my child out of secondary due to bullying and the school not sorting it, the reason i filled out the form was to cover my own back as the EWO threatened me with leagal action saying i couldnt take him out of school just for bullying i told them i can take him out to home ed him and to take me to court if they like thats why i did the form just in case they decided to be stupid as it happens they backed down [what a suprise] so i was just making sure that i had everything in place

[AMumInScotland]

That's the sort of behaviour by EWOs that makes so many HE families reluctant to have anything to do with the LEA! I can understand why you felt you had to go along with their "requirements" but it's definitely not a legal requirement to fill out any form, and they have absolutely no right to start threatening legal action to prevent you from HEing, whether or not you do things "their" way.

I'm not surprised they backed down - it was almost certainly an empty threat from the start, but it's worh t being very clear what the legal position is in case they start harrassing you again.

[knat]

i feel generally that im having to get permission to do this! I am right in that i dont have to have visits and can provide information to my dd's education i n other formats. Also its so early days that i dont have a defiinte idea of how we're going to do it and i want to take it quite slowly and also have to concentrate on social/emotional issues and general day to day living skills.

I have joined home ed listing and am going to join education otherwise.

[wicanwitch]

we went to the law centre to make sure we were covered [and we are] but on a good note we had our first visit today and it went well im doing a great job apparently although teaching a dyslexic child is very challenging

[Kayteee]

hi Knat
No "permission" needed to HE. It's the parents' responsibility NOT the states'.

LA's are acting ultra-vires (outside the law) if they tell you ANYTHING otherwise.

You aren't required, by law, to receive visits, inspections, or to provide any samples of work from your dc. A written report from you should be satisfactory.

I always get everything in writing from them and always suggest to anyone who's being hassled by them to state to you (in writing) which section of the Education Act requires you to submit to this sort of interference.

Wican, well done for standing your ground. They will back off if you do as they know they're in the wrong at the end of the day

[julienoshoes]

You also don't have to fill out any form.

The law says the LA can make informal enquiries about the education you are providing. Case law says that it would be a good idea for a parent to respond once asked.

BUT the choice of how to supply information about the education is entirely the parents.

You may well want to supply written information instead, such as an 'Educational Philosophy/written report.
The form from the LA often of no relevance to home educators who do not 'teach' subjects.

They are not compulsory-so even if they did decide to be stupid, they couldn't do you for not filling in the form.

Case law also says that it is reasonable to have a period where you settle into your home based education, so usually I would suggest writing to the LA and telling them you will get back in touch with them after a reasonable amount of time.

To demand a home visit at all is 'ultra vires'-to demand one so soon after deregistering is just so wrong on so many levels! Just another form of bullying IMO.

[musicposy]

I wouldn't fill out any forms. I refused to fill mine out. It was so full of absolute rubbish (eg. "please list the names and qualifications of all the people who will be involved in teaching your child" -which anyone who has home educated will realise is impossible to answer - the whole world teaches ours, lol)that I sent a letter back saying I wouldn't be filling it in as there was no legal requirement to do so. However, I sent them a letter on my own terms saying what we were doing. They never asked for the form after that. They knew I was right