got letter from school this morning and.......

[becaroo]

...I am having a little wobble

It seems so final when it states his name has been removed from the register doesnt it???

But the letter also states that I have to contact the LEA at matlock (they have even given me a name) but I thought I didnt have to do that?

Should I just do it and get it over with or wait for them to contact me?

The exact wording of the letter is;

"If you have not already done so you will need to contact the LEA to register ds as in "elective home education" they will then make arrangements to visit you and discuss timetables and arrangements"

Timetables????? I have only been HEing a week!!!!!

Help!!!

It's a scary moment to actually see it in writing, but take a deep breath!

You DO NOT have to contact the LEA. There is absolutely no legal requirement for you to "register" your DS as being home educated - you are legally responsible for making sure he gets an education, whether or not you send him to school, and he does not have to be on any register.

You also do not have to accept the LEA visiting you, if you choose not to, and no sane LEA representative with the faintest knowledge of HE should be expecting you to provide them with a timetable.

All you are required to do is to provide a suitable education. If they enquire how you're doing that, then you ought to provide them with the information, but it's up to you how you do that.

Opinion varies about how best to handle it - you can wait for the LEA to get in touch, or you can contact them. Either way, it's worth being clear what the legal side is - you could get advice here on what to put in a letter, or how to respond if you wait for them to contact you. Some LEAs make it sound like they have far more power than they do, so it's worth checking what they say rather than assuming they are being completely honest.

Timetables

I dereged mine at the beginning of september - I took the letter to the school, the head said I ought to contact the LEA. I said I think that is what you need to do actually, I wont be.

I have as yet still not had any contact with LEA at all - they havent written and Im certainly not going to make the first move!

I had major collywobbles during our first week/month - bravery is required!

I dereged mine at the end of last term, by writing to the Head. I went on the LA's website the other day just for a dabble and then saw that they ask you to notify them direct if possible if you intend to HE- so I did.

They've emailed me back- they sound very positive and (almost!) empathetic. They ask for a letter stating how we intend to HE.

I had no problem in doing so (tho of course I haven't got round to it yet )- but now I'm wondering- because of what I see can be a very deep mistrust of LEAs in the HE community- whether I'm not being incredibly naive/gullible?

...have to say though if they'd mentioned timetables I would certainly have buckled

For the LA not to be informed within 2 weeks of a child being deregistered is an offence. But it wouldn't be the parents breaking the law, it would be the school...

leave 'em to it. If the school are sufficiently clueless that they don't inform the LA, that is their problem, not yours.