Elective home education is the term used by the Department of Education to describe parents’ decision to provide education for their children at home instead of sending them to school. This is different to home tuition provided by a local authority or education provided by a local authority other than at a school.
Parents' legal duty is set out in Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 as follows -
'It is the duty of parents of every child of compulsory school age ‘to cause the child to receive an efficient full-time education suitable to his/her age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he/she may have either by regular attendance at school or otherwise’.’
'Full time' does not mean home educators are bound by school hours and terms, and 'efficient' was once defined by a judge to mean 'achieving that which it sets out to achieve'.
It is also important to know that parents have a right to educate their children from their own philosophical, spiritual or religious standpoint.
Further information for parents considering educating their child at home is available from these websites -
Government Guidelines on School Attendance Orders may be found at -
Special Education Needs
An Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) does not affect the right to home education.
No permission is required unless your child attends a Special School however, we would advise that parents and carers speak with their SEND caseworker before considering home education.
Suitable arrangements for meeting the child's special needs must be made. This can include an alternative provision to that specified in an EHCP, provided the child's special needs are adequately catered for.
For the duration of the EHCP, we need to continue to hold an Annual Review. This includes considering whether the wording of the EHCP is still appropriate and whether the EHCP needs to remain in place.
Rights of appeal to the SEN tribunal still apply.
Returning to school
If you wish to re-register your child at school, you will need to contact the schools' admissions team and request an application form or contact the school and request a place.
However, it cannot be guaranteed that there will still be a place at the school previously attended; we will not cover any cost of transport.
Find out how to register your child for a Hull School contact the Schools' Admissions Team via email - lsadmission@hullcc.gov.uk.
All families have an allocated Access and Inclusion Officer, employed by the council. This Officer will contact you and provide further sources of advice and guidance. The Officer is not responsible for providing teaching or learning. The responsibility for this rests with parent’s and carers. The Libraries and local bookshops are also full of useful material.
Families who choose to electively home educate their children assume financial responsibility for their education. This is set out in paragraphs 5.1 to 5.2 of Elective home education - Guidelines for local authorities.
If we have concerns over the education being provided the Access and Inclusion Officer will discuss this and agree a timescale in which improvements need to be made.
Should there be no improvement, we will write a further letter to inform you of this. The letter would explain that unless there was an immediate improvement, steps would be taken for your child to return to mainstream education. This would be done by the means of a School Attendance Order (section 437 to 444 of the Education Act 1996).
This will name the school the child must attend and will direct the parents to register the child at the named school.