Homeschooling.. informing the lea?

Question

okay, i go to school in one area. say it is simply called 'a'. my nan's adress is down as where i live according to my school file. this isn't in the same area as the school. we'll call this 'b'. i actually live with my mum in area 'c'. when i start being homeschooled, i sent a letter to the school and they inform the lea but which council's rules on home education do i have to follow? also, are there different lea's in different areas? and if i register as homeschooling in one area, as far as i know, if you move, you don't have to reregister so would that mean we wouldn't get any visits or letter from them? [UK answers only]

Answer 1

You don't have to follow any council's 'rules' on home education. A lot of them try it on but you only have to worry about the LAW (see the DCSF guidelines below).

When you de-reg you tell the school, they are then legally required to tell LA 'a'. If your nan's address is under a different LA, then LA 'a' will probably either mark you as no longer in their area and forget about you OR pass your details, with your nan's address to LA 'b'. If they're told LA 'b' will contact your nan who can tell them that you've moved. If she gives them your mum's address then LA 'b' could do the same as 'a' allowing another chance for LA 'c' never to find out about you :-)

Now all that assumes that the areas in question are under different County Councils or similar. If they're just different boroughs or districts but within the same county then your only hope of avoiding them is for you nan to just say you've moved and claim not to have the new address.

If you DO come to their notice you don't have to accept visits and they do NOT have a power or duty to monitor you. A simple written Educational Philosophy sent in response to their enquiry should be enough.

p.s. Truancy Patrols should not be an issue but if you join one of the HE organisations like Education Otherwise you'll get a neat little truancy card pointing out what the law says, which is that once you have stated that you are home educated they should let you go on your way UNLESS the PC has reason to believe you are lying. They have no right to return you home or even demand your name and address.

p.p.s. does this mean your mum has agreed to let you be home educated? If so, congratulations!

Answer 2

Firstly, you are not legally obliged to register with any LEA, or inform that that you are being home-educated.  Your school would have (by law) informed the LEA that they are with.  Should you wish to contact an LEA (and many people do), then you should go to the LEA covering the area in which you live.  However, if you do register with an LEA, you are not obliged to meet any of their EHE staff, or show them examples of your work.  Neither do you have to follow the National Curriculum.

For further information on the law, see:

http://www.education-otherwise.org/Legal...

Answer 3

people have already said what i was going to say but here is a good website for families using home education.

http://www.education-otherwise.org/

Answer 4

I actually home school a girl who is 14 and the council have been round to them as someone told them she was not being educated. They went to check and she was.

The council have to be confident that a person is not just skipping school and that is the reasons for the registering.  No you do not have to but in my opinion advisable and I have given this girl a note to carry with her to say she is being home schooled by me to avoid her being held by police who think she is just not attending school.  you have to see it legally as well as far too many children are absent fro school getting up to no good.  And the police have to find these youngsters.

So hope this has helped.

Do email me as I might be able to help you like I have helped this lass.

G