What is elective home education?
Elective home education is a term used to describe a choice by parents to provide education for their children at home by removing them from the school roll.
Parents/carers can choose to educate their child/young person at home for a variety of reasons, however, this decision should never be made in an attempt to avoid non-attendance issues at school or as a response to incorrect or insufficient support being offered at school.
Many children/young people face struggles and obstacles within education settings, and it is important to recognise the root cause of these to ensure the child/young person can be offered the correct support. Professionals such as the SENDCo, health services, Educational Psychologists, behaviour support services etc can be part of a child/young person’s support within an educational setting and their advice and input can be a supportive network for the family. However, we do recognise that for some children/young people, education within a typical school setting is not appropriate/conducive and a decision to educate them at home can be made.
It is important to understand that elective home education is not the same as children/young people receiving home tuition from the Local Authority due to health needs such as anxiety or hospital tuition for those with medical needs. Elective home education means that the child/young person’s education becomes the sole responsibility of the parent/carer and no funding or support is provided from the LA.
The decision to electively home educate your child/young person should be a carefully considered decision, and there is a specialist team within the LA who can explain the process to you and any implications which may follow. We advise that you contact the EHE team before any decisions are made. The EHE team can be contacted here.
EHE leaflet – Together for Children
EHE resource list – Together for Children