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.
EDUCATION OTHERWISE THAN IN A SCHOOL
You may feel no setting would be appropriate for your child, and do not wish to request any setting when you receive the draft EHC plan.
Section 61 of Children and Families Act 2014 allows an LA to arrange for some or all special educational provision to be made otherwise than in an early year, school, or post 16 setting (AKA “EOTAS”), if the LA agrees it would be inappropriate for provision to be made in such a setting.
Whether it is appropriate or not will depend on all the facts, including the:
- child’s background and medical history;
- particular educational needs;
- facilities that can be provided by a school;
- facilities that could be provided other than in a school;
- comparative cost of the possible alternatives to the child’s educational provisions;
- child’s reaction to education provisions, either at a school or elsewhere;
- parents’ wishes; and
- any other particular circumstances that apply to a particular child.
Elective home education: guide for parents (publishing.service.gov.uk)
https://www.ipsea.org.uk/FAQs/elective-home-education-quick-guide
Education otherwise than at a school
Home schooling and ‘education otherwise’ | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice
Exams
As your child progresses through school and college, they may be required to take exams and or assessments. Changes to support your child/young person to be able to complete these assessments can be referred to as access arrangements or reasonable adjustments – reasonable adjustments are changes made to an assessment or to the way an assessment is conducted that reduce or remove a disadvantage caused by a student’s disability. They are needed because some disabilities can make it harder for students to show what they know and can do in an assessment than it would have been had the student not been disabled.
Schools and colleges apply for reasonable adjustments on behalf of their students. To show that a student is eligible for a reasonable adjustment, they need to be able to show that:
- the student is disabled
- their disability would significantly disadvantage them in the assessment
Schools and colleges must also set out the adjustments the student needs. The student’s normal way of working is likely to be particularly relevant when coming to that view.
A school or college that is unsure what adjustments might be appropriate for a particular disabled student should discuss their needs with the exam board as early as possible. The exam board will be able to provide advice about the different adjustments that are available, and the evidence that will be needed to support the application. Some adjustments take time to arrange, and early notice helps the exam board provide the adjustment in time.
Schools and colleges are responsible for making sure that any adjustments agreed with the exam board are put in place and are used properly when students take their assessments. Schools and colleges have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students under the Equality Act.