Home Schooling explained :-

Firstly, the difference between home education and home schooling came about during Covid, when schools were closed to all but vulnerable children, and children of key workers. Most pupils were educated at home. This is known as home-schooling. While being home-schooled children remained on their school roll and received a combination of support from schools, online.

Home schooling in this instance is different to elective home education.

Home Education

Elective Home Education (EHE) is the term used to describe the education provided by parents at home, rather than providing education for their children by sending them to school. This is different to home tuition arranged by a local authority, or remote education provided by a school, as the parents assume the full responsibility to arrange and/or provide education for their child. This includes covering the costs of any private tuition or online learning, the costs of any education resources used, and arranging any payments for any exams their child will take.

The Law relating to EHE

Parents are not required to have any formal qualifications or training to educate their child at home, but should give significant consideration as to whether they have the capacity to provide their child with a suitable education.

Things to Consider

Parents have a legal right to choose how their child receives a suitable education, be that at a school or otherwise, and so may declare Elective Home Education at any point while a child is of compulsory school age. However, parents must remember that in declaring Elective Home Education, they assume the full legal and financial responsibility for arranging and/or providing their child with a suitable education. Failure to provide a child with a suitable education can result in legal action being taken, and/or impact a child’s ability to achieve in further and higher education and employment aspirations.

Declaring to Home Educate

If your child is registered at a school, even if they’re not attending, you should notify the school in writing, either by letter or email, that you wish to remove them from the school register, as you are assuming full responsibility for their education through home education. If you do not notify the school in writing, it is likely that your child will be marked as absent, which may lead to action being taken for non-attendance. Your child’s school will then notify the Local Authority of your Elective Home Education declaration, and they will contact you for a report after three months and then once a year.

How can AJT Training help?

Not only do we offer our educational packages, we also help our parents to complete the Local Authority reports detailing the child's learning through our Functional Skills Maths and English packages and Pre-16 NVQs progress and work experience. If you would like some help with completing these forms please reach out to us.

In addition to the information provided, I have linked the button below to the .GOV policy on Elective Home Education - Guide for parents, which you my find useful.