Educating your child at home
Guidance for parents who are considering educating their children outside the school system.
On this page
What to consider before you make a decision
Most parents choose to send their children to school to be educated, but you are legally entitled to educate your child at home. We call this elective home education (EHE).
Before you decide to remove your child from the school roll and educate them at home, contact us for advice and guidance.
Consider how you will devise, resource and deliver a full-time education to your child. Elective home education can be a demanding and rewarding experience. It is important you feel confident to do this.
You don't have to be a teacher, work to a timetable or follow the national curriculum (although you can if you wish).
View the government's guidance about elective home education.
Telling us your decision
Parents are not required to inform the local authority of their intention to home educate if the child:
- is of pre-school age
- has never been registered at school, or
- you are already home educating and have moved into the authority.
Please contact us if your child is of statutory school age. We can provide information, guidance and support if required. Registering with us avoids any confusion of your child being considered a Child Missing Education.
Contacting us means you can benefit from the information we have to offer.
Children that are registered at a school
If your child is registered at a school, you must write to the headteacher to tell them your decision to educate your child at home.
The headteacher will offer a meeting with you before removing your child from the school roll. They will want to understand your reasons for taking this decision and address any worries that prompted this decision.
An Oxfordshire County Council officer may also be invited to the meeting. We want to ensure you're making this decision for positive reasons and can meet the demands of home education. We will ask for some basic information about your provision.
When you must contact us
Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
You are within your rights to educate your child at home.
It's our duty to ensure the educational provision specified in the EHCP is made available to your child. However, if you decide to educate your child at home we have no duty to arrange any special educational provision for your child.
The EHCP will set out the type of special educational provision that we think your child requires. The plan will also state that you have made your own arrangements.
The Special Educational Needs Team will continue to coordinate an annual review for your child's EHCP. We'll also continue to check home education is suitable for your child. If we find that home education is no longer suitable, we will ensure that the special educational provision specified in the EHC plan is made available.
View the SEND: local offer.
Children at a special school with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)
You need to ask your named SEN officer for consent to educate your child at home.
You will need to speak to your child’s named EHCP Casework Officer to obtain agreement from the Local Authority to educate your child at home.
You will need to provide information detailing how you'll meet the educational provision in your child’s EHCP.
Children registered at a school or academy as a result of a school attendance order
You must ask us to revoke the order.
What happens next
Approaches to Home Education
The Local Authority recognises that there are many diverse and varied, but equally valid, approaches to home education. We recognise that education takes place in a variety of environments, not just the child’s home.
We also recognise that children learn in different ways and at different speeds. Home education will reflect a diversity of approaches and philosophies. It can range from a formal structured, time-tabled programme to a more informal, approach to learning.
We aim to understand and respect home educating parents’ individual educational preferences and philosophies and to promote mutual understanding and trust.
EHE link officer
You will be asked to provide a Summary of Education Provision for your child, detailing how you plan to meet their educational needs based on their age, aptitude, ability and any Special Educational Needs.
The EHE officer will talk to you about your summary of provision and offer a home visit. The home visit will be an opportunity to address any initial queries you may have about home education.
Providing we have no concerns we will be in touch on an annual basis to check that you are still home educating. If we receive no information or we have concerns regarding the provision, the child will fall into the scope of the Local Authority’s Children Missing from Education (CME) statutory duties.
If you move address
Contact us with your new address so we can continue to support you.
Changing your mind
The School Admissions Team can offer advice and support if you decide to enter or re-enter the school system. If at any time you want your child to enter or re-enter the school system, the School Admissions Team can offer advice and support. You can also contact us for advice and guidance.
The support we can offer
Our team can offer support and guidance face to face through home visits. You'll be able to present a wide range of work in context and discuss your child’s work in comfort and privacy. The team will offer ongoing telephone and email correspondence.
Where the team identify needs, or you ask, they will refer you to other agencies and colleagues.
We liaise with the health services to support EHE families with routine immunizations and health information. Find further information on the Oxford Health website.
What we cannot offer
We cannot offer direct teaching or provide materials and resources for children you are educating at home.
Work experience
You will be responsible for arranging any work experience placements. If you want to organise this yourself, ensure that the employer has the appropriate insurance in place.
Formal qualifications
Once you have decided to home educate your child, you should be aware that you assume sole financial responsibility including the cost of any public examinations.
There are a number of different examination boards that offer GCSE qualification with different syllabuses. It is crucial that before starting on a particular GCSE course, you ensure that you first identify a centre, such as a school or college, which will accept his/her examination entry. You may find it helpful to consider the following:
- If you have an existing and positive relationship with a school or college, you may wish to enquire as to whether your child could be entered there for the exams and that the school or college will be willing to undertake to assess any coursework.
- If you do not have any relationship or contact with a school or college you will need to contact an Examinations Board, which may be able to arrange a local centre on your behalf. If you do this, you should also ensure that the board can arrange for any coursework to be assessed.
Examinations Boards can supply syllabuses and copies of previous exam papers at nominal cost, or they can be downloaded from the board’s website.
GCSE courses are usually studied over two years but can be completed in a single year. Examination entries need to be finalised in the January prior to the exam (in June).
Private tutor
If you choose to employ a private tutor or tutoring service, you should ensure they have suitable qualifications.
Any tutor should be able to demonstrate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance and provide references.
Providing a suitable education
If the EHE Team believes that you are not providing a suitable education, we will make further visits. We will also speak to the child directly.
We may offer consultations and/or a referral to other agencies to help you overcome the difficulties within a mutually agreed timescale.
School attendance order
If, in the end, the EHE Team still considers that your child is receiving a less than suitable education, then it is our duty to issue a school attendance order. This will require you to send your child to a school named on the order (Section 437, Education Act 1996).
Children’s rights
The United Kingdom has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Article 12 of the UNCRC says that when making important decisions that affect a child, they have the right to give their opinion and be taken seriously. However, this does not give children authority over parents. Educating a child at home is a matter for you as parents.
You should consider whether home education:
- is realistic in your family’s particular circumstances
- if your child is happy to be educated in this way.
We may want to ask for your child’s opinion on the suitability of the home education they receive. As well as their preference for being educated at home rather than at school.
Compulsory subjects
There are no compulsory subjects for home educated children. The National Curriculum applies only to children of compulsory school age who are registered and on roll at a school.
You can use the National Curriculum to support your education plans. It helps to be aware of the National Curriculum if your child wishes to go to school, college, university, or other training later.
Further information about the National Curriculum is available on the Department for Education website.
Further education and training and careers
Raising the participation age
The Education and Skills Act (2008) places a duty on all young people to participate in education or training until they are 18.
The DfE has accepted elective home education as one way for young people to comply with this legal duty. That is, home education can continue after the end of compulsory school age.
The oxme.info website has information about support available to 14-16-year-olds in Oxfordshire looking for work, training and education courses.
Further education college
Colleges can claim the cost of course fees on an individual basis for home educated young people under 16. Contact your local college for further information about courses available.
The following colleges offer courses to 14-16-year-old home educated young people:
Places on these courses are limited and not usually equivalent to full-time provision.
National Careers Service
The National Careers Service is a free careers service for adults and young people aged 13 and over in England. The service provides confidential advice and guidance to help your child make decisions on learning, training and work opportunities.