Alternative education

Elective home education is what the Department for Education calls a parent's decision to teach their children at home instead of sending them to school. This is different to home tuition that might be given by a local authority or education provided by a local authority somewhere other than a school.

There are many reasons why parents choose home education. These may include:

• religious or cultural beliefs
• if their child is being bullied
• not liking or being unhappy with, the school system
• a short term plan, because their child is unable or unwilling to go to school
• to have a closer relationship with their children
• if their child has special educational needs and is struggling with school or a parent feels their needs aren't being met or
• the school that they want for their child doesn't have places.

Parents have to make sure that, if their child is of compulsory school age, they get an appropriate full-time education. This is the law.

Compulsory school age is when a child's education must start and finish. In the UK it's from the start of the school term following their fifth birthday, until the last Friday in June in the school year when they reach 16. If your child's 16th birthday is in July or August, compulsory school age ends on the June date before their birthday.

There's nothing in law to say what a 'full-time' education is for state-maintained schools. A child in school should get between 21 and 25 hours of education a week, depending on how old they are, but home education is very different to going to school. There are no rules that say a child should get a certain number of hours each week.

Young people between 16 and 18 have to take part in education or training. They can have that education at home instead of at college.

No, EOTAS is not the same as Elective Home Education. If you choose to home educate, you are responsible for making your own suitable arrangements for your child's educational (including any special educational) provision. Therefore, if your child has an EHCP, the Local Authority does not have a duty to provide the provision detailed in Section F.

If you decide to teach your child at home, you'll be responsible for their education. The local authority may make an 'informal enquiry' from time to time to check that what you're teaching them is suitable and good enough. If they think that it isn't, you could end up being given a school attendance order. This means you won't be able to home educate but instead you will have to register your child at a school that the local authority names. If you don't follow what's set out in a school attendance order you can be taken to court.

Moving to home education is a big decision for any parent or family and it can affect lots of areas of family life. So, it's important to think it through carefully and look at all your choices.

Think about how long you're going to home educate. You may think your child would benefit from a few months or a year of home education but then you would want them to go back to school. You might decide you want to keep your child out of school completely.

Take as much time as you can to think carefully about the main issues including the possible pros and cons. It's a good idea to talk to your child and other family members or friends about what being at home might mean. Some people also find it helpful to talk to other parents who are already home educating.

A few of the pros and cons:

• Teaching your child at home gives you lots of control over what they learn. You don't need to have any teaching qualification, follow a fixed timetable, give formal lessons, stick to school hours or have any set curriculum. You will need to make sure your child is getting a broad and balanced education. That means you'll need to teach them about a wide range of different things. You'll need to plan what to teach, check how well they're learning and monitor their progress. You'll also have to find resources and research topic areas.
• You're the expert on your child, so you should be able to meet their needs well and you can give lots of support and attention. You'll also be spending a lot of time every day with your child. That can bring you closer together but it can also be hard, especially if their behaviour is challenging or they find it hard to focus.
• Most parents aren't qualified teachers, so you'll be learning new skills. You'll need a good level of knowledge, especially as your child gets older when they may be learning at a higher level.
• You're unlikely to get any help with the costs of teaching your child at home. That means you'll be paying for resources, equipment, books, trips and exams. Home education takes a lot of time and that will probably affect your work life. In fact, you may not be able to work at all.
• School life for a child is about more than education. At school your child is mixing with others, building relationships, belonging to a community and learning social skills. Being in school can help some children become more confident and more able to face life's challenges. These are important life skills, so you'll need to think about how you're going to help your child develop these.
• If your child has complicated or specific learning difficulties, you might need specialist support to help them learn. Getting advice and help from specialists can be hard when your child isn't in school and if you're on a budget, going private may not be an option.

Home education may not be the only choice:

If school is hard for your child and they're not managing or if you think they might be at risk of being permanently excluded, you shouldn't feel pressured into 'choosing' home education.

If you want to find out more about your options, you can talk to Surrey's Inclusion Service Team or even your child's SENCo, if they're in School.

Legally, you don't need to register or get the local authority to agree if you want to teach your child at home, except if your child is at a special school. If your child isn't in school, the local authority might ask how you're educating them. Many parents find it helpful to tell the local authority home education service that they're home educating (there's information about this at the end of this guide).

Some parents choose to home educate when their child is young, so they may never be in the school system. If your child is on roll (registered) at a school and you decide to take them out to home educate, then you should tell the head teacher in writing. This will help to prevent any mix-ups about why your child isn't at school.

Only one parent needs to give their go ahead for their child to be taken off a school's roll. This is the parent that a child lives with. If you and your child's other parent can't agree about whether they should be taken off a school roll, the family court will make a legal decision about it.

The head teacher will tell the Elective Home Education (EHE) service what you've decided. If you're taking your child out of school completely, the head teacher must accept your decision but they can refuse if you want to send your child to school some of the time and home educate for the rest. This is called flexi-schooling and it's unusual for schools to agree to it.

Mainstream School

Although you are able to deregister your child from a mainstream school without the agreement of the LA, you must still have their consent before you can lawfully home educate your child and their EHCP will need to be changed and the support your child gets will probably need to be looked at.

Specialist School

If your child is at a specialist school, their EHCP will need to be changed. You will also need to get permission from the Local Authority to take your child's name off the School's roll. This shouldn't take long or be complicated. The Local Authority can say no if you ask to home educate. If this happens, you can Appeal their decision not to change the EHCP.

If your child currently attends a specialist school, you will need to write to the LA (not the School) to get its agreement to take your child off the School roll. The best way for this to be managed is via the Annual Review process.

There is no provision in Law for a 'trial period' of home education.

If the LA decides that the education you're giving is suitable, it should change the EHCP to name the type of school that would be suitable but say that parents have made their own arrangements (under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996).

The LA doesn't have to provide what's in the EHCP as long as they're sure what you're providing is suitable.

If the LA thinks that your child isn't getting the right support, and their needs aren't being met through home education, they should give you support to improve things. If that doesn't work, as a last resort, they can issue a school attendance order. This means a child will have to be registered at and go to, a named school.

If the LA thinks that your child isn't getting the right support, and their needs aren't being met through home education, they should give you support to improve things. If that doesn't work, as a last resort, they can issue a school attendance order. This means a child will have to be registered at and go to, a named school.

What happens then?

Once the EHE service knows you're home educating your child, they will send you information and an Officer will offer to come and visit you and your child at home. You don't have to have a home visit, you could meet somewhere else or give examples of what you're doing with your child another way.

At a home visit, the EHE Officer will talk to you about the education you're giving your child. You can show them examples of work, resources, timetables and anything else you think will show what you're doing. It's helpful to keep a record of the work you've done, the visits you go on and the progress your child is making.

If the EHE Service decides that the education you're giving is suitable, they will give you a 'letter of satisfaction'. Someone from the EHE Service will contact you on the dates you've agreed, to check that everything is still working well.

There's no general financial help towards resources, tutors, support and activities. If your child is age 14 to 16 years and having elective home education, they can go to a Further Education College part-time. If they do this, the college could get some funding for them directly from the Education Funding Agency.

Further information on Elective Home Education can be found on the GOV.UK website.

It's up to you what you teach your child and you don't have to follow a set curriculum, though the education you give should be suitable for your child's age and needs. If your child is likely to go back into school at some time or take exams such as GCSEs, you can help them be well prepared. You should know the curriculum and course content and your young person should be learning that.

Yes. Your young person can take exams such as GCSEs and A Levels. You'll have to pay the exam fees and contact exam boards and nearby exam centres. Make sure you know well in advance how this will work and time frames to do this.

There are organisations, websites and groups that can give you support and advice. Visit Surrey's Local Offer website for more information. This can be helpful for sharing ideas and resources and for some of the social life that your child could be missing if they're not in school.

You can teach your child or you can use private tutors or others to help you. Some parents use distance learning courses if their young person is studying for GCSEs or A levels.

You can mix academic lessons with child-led learning, where your child can explore their own interests. You can go out and do visits to leisure centres, take part in classes, go on trips to museums, gardens and zoos and use your local community.

Because you don't need to follow the hours of the usual school day, you can be flexible and plan learning around your child. So you could arrange the more difficult learning for the times when they're likely to be most focused or work around hospital or therapy appointment.

If your child has an EHCP, you can home educate them. The LA must look at the EHCP every year to make sure that you're giving the right education and support and that your child's needs are being met.

If your child does not have an EHCP, the LA has no duty to fund any provision they may require.

For children with an EHCP, the LA will only fund the SEN of home educated children where it is appropriate to do so. This means that the LA may not pay for any of the provision.

In cases where you and LA agree that home education is the ONLY provision for your child with an EHCP, then the Plan should make clear that your child will be educated at home. The LA, working with you, under section 42(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014, must arrange for the special educational provision set out in section F of the EHCP to be delivered.

Please ensure you have had discussions with your Case Officer about EOTAS and are aware that this could be an option.

If you're home educating your child and you think they might need more support or you think that their needs aren't clear, you can ask the LA for an EHC needs assessment.

When you ask for an assessment, you'll need to show why you think your child needs one. So, you'll need some evidence that they may have an unmet or unclear special educational needs.

Some parents find that after a while, educating their child at home takes its toll on everyone. Some parents find it a 'full on' or intense experience, especially if their child has challenging behaviour. Home educating can affect relationships too if a parent and child don't get a break from each other.

For other parents it's the time it takes up or the costs of home education that become too much. Family circumstances may change and make it difficult to keep going, or sometimes a child's needs change as they get older too. What worked well when they were six may not be working so well when they are 10 or 12 for example.

First of all, talk to your child or young person and find out what they think and feel about going back to school. Some children can find it hard to re-adjust.

If they have worries about going back, you and the school are going to need to know what these are and tackle them. Bear in mind that what you think may not be the same as what your child thinks and what they think they need may be different from what you think.

If your child or young person doesn't have an EHCP, this is what to do:

1. Be as sure as you can this is the right move. It can be unsettling for all of you to make a big change. If you decided to home educate because of difficulties at school, then ask yourself 'How will things be different going back in?'

2. If your child is going into a state school (not a private school), contact school admissions. Ask which schools have places in your child's year group in your local area.

3. Contact the schools that have places or those that you like (some schools have waiting lists for places) and ask if you can visit. Talk to the school's Special Educational Need Coordinator (SENCo) about whether they can meet your child's needs. If they can, ask what sort of support they will put in place.

4. Once you've chosen a school, work with them to make a clear reintegration plan. This is a plan to give your child the best chance of getting back into school successfully.

The plan should focus on the needs of your child or young person and what's going to work best for them. So, you may decide that they'll visit the school a few times, gradually spending more time there as they get to know staff and children or you could ask for a temporary part-time timetable until your child has settled in. Take things at a pace your child can manage and make sure their support is well planned and ready before they go back to school.

5. Have regular meetings with school to check how things are going and change the support if it's needed. If you think your child needs extra support, over and above what the school is doing, then you can ask them whether an assessment for an EHCP should be the next step. This is an assessment of your child's needs, to see whether they need an EHCP.

1. Be as sure as you can this is the right move. It can be unsettling for all of you to make such a big change. If you decided to home educate because of problems at school, then ask yourself 'How will things be different going back in?' If your child has been at a special school, then you're probably not going to get much choice and they may end up going back to the school they were at.

2. Speak to your child's Case Officer or call the generic SEN Team for your area and talk about how things are and what you would like to happen. Your child's EHC plan is likely to need looking at and changing, so you'll probably need to meet with someone. They will need to find a school place for your child and that can take time.

3. When there is a place for your child, work with the school to develop a clear reintegration plan. This is a plan to give your child the best chance of getting back into school successfully. The plan should focus the needs of your child or young person and what's going to work best for them. So, you may decide that your child will visit the school a few times, gradually spending more time there as they get to know staff and children. You could ask for a temporary part-time timetable until your child has settled in. Take things at a pace your child can manage and make sure support is well planned and ready before they go back to school.

4. Have regular meetings with the school to check how things are going, and to change the support if it's needed. You'll also have a review of your child's EHCP every year.

EOTAS stands for Education Otherwise than at School and is education provision to meet specific needs of pupils who, for whatever reason, cannot attend a mainstream or special school. It may be that the placement has broken down, is at risk of breaking down due to complexity of needs or the provision they need cannot be provided within a setting. In Law, Surrey is responsible for providing these services (see the above statement).

It means the child or young person would not be on roll at a school or post 16 institution and the special educational provision could happen at home or could be at another setting, which is not a registered educational setting.

Some examples of EOTAS are as follows:

• Online schooling
• Home tuition
• Other tuition centres
• Hospital schooling
• Therapies such as Speech and Language (SALT), Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physiotherapy.

These or any other provision, which educates or trains a child or young person should be treated as special educational provision and detailed in Section F of the EHCP which it is then the duty of the LA to secure and fund the provision.

No, EOTAS is not the same as Elective Home Education (EHE). If you choose to home educate, parents are responsible for making their own suitable arrangements for the child's educational (including any special educational) provision. Therefore, if you have an EHCP, the Local Authority does not have a duty to provide the provision detailed in Section F.

You need to be in the process of obtaining an EHCP or already have one in place.

You can request an EOTAS package as part of the initial EHC process, ask for one within a reassessment of an EHCP or ask for this at a Review of the Plan. The request should be considered in conjunction with you, the young person if appropriate and the Local Authority. The Local Authority must consider your parental wishes but importantly will need to establish whether the evidence that EOTAS is necessary has been established.

The legal test for the Local Authority to consider when a parent or young person makes a request for an EOTAS package is as follows:

(1) A Local Authority in England may arrange for any special educational provision that it has decided is necessary for a child or young person for whom it is responsible to be made otherwise than in a school or post-16 institution or a place at which relevant early years education is provided.

(2) An authority may do so only if satisfied that it would inappropriate for the provision to be made in a school or post-16 institution or at such a place.

(3) Before doing so, the authority must consult the child's parents or the young person.

The Local Authority must therefore be satisfied that it would be inappropriate for the provision to be made in an educational setting such as a school or post 16 institution.

You can view the EOTAS policy on the Local Offer website that provides more detailed information on EOTAS provision in Surrey.

Case Law: This was considered in the case of TM v London Borough of Hounslow, which confirmed that the full effect of the word "inappropriate" must be considered, and that the LA must determine whether a school setting would "not be suitable" or "not be proper".

The LA would have to take into account all the circumstances and should take consideration of the following matters, (this is not an exhaustive list):

• the child's background and medical history,
• the particular educational needs of the child,
• the facilities that can be provided by a school,
• the facilities that could be provided other than in a school,
• the comparative cost of the possible alternatives to the child's educational provisions,
• the child's reaction to education provisions, either at a school or elsewhere,
• the parents' wishes.

The LA will not name an appropriate school or a type of School in Section I (provision) where it has been decided a child should have EOTAS because it has already been decided that it would be inappropriate for the provision in the EHCP to be made at a school. (The home address of the child or young person would also not be included in Section I).

Your child will not be on roll at a formal educational setting and the provision in regards to the EOTAS package should be set out in Section F of the EHCP. The provision required should be specific and quantified.

Section I will therefore be blank as outlined in Case Law: NN v Cheshire East Council [2021] UKUT 220 (AAC).

If your child has a health need, which means they are medically unfit to attend their educational setting, there are additional specific duties on the Local Authority to provide Alternative Education. This is detailed in the statutory guidance for Local Authorities 'Ensuring a good education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs'. This sets out that if a child or young person is going to be absent for more than 15 days due to health needs, the School have a duty to notify the LA who should ensure there is suitable education put into place. This should be a full-time education but is based on the child's needs and what is suitable for them.

Yes, an Annual Review must take place yearly and the review meeting held within 12 months of the initial EHCP being finalised or within 12 months of the previous Review.

There is the same duty on the Local Authorities to conduct an Annual Review when a child is receiving EOTAS. All timescales and obligations will remain the same throughout the Annual Review process however, the Local Authority may want to see ongoing evidence that it is still inappropriate for your child to be educated in an educational setting so you may wish to consider this evidence before the Annual Review takes place.

You have a Right of Appeal in the following circumstances that may apply here:

1. A final Plan is issued after the initial EHC needs assessment (EHCNA),
2. A final amended EHCP after a statutory Review, (i.e. Annual Review, Emergency or Transition Review) has been issued,
3. A decision to not amend an EHCP after a statutory Review,
4. A final amended EHCP is issued after reassessment,
5. A refusal to reassess,
6. Appealing against a Plan being ceased.

See our Appeals and mediation page for more detailed advice.