Educating Your Child at Home

It is the legal duty of all parents and carers to ensure that their child is included in appropriate full-time education. The majority of parents and carers in County Durham do this by ensuring that their child attends one of their local schools. However, for a number of different reasons a number of parents decide to educate their children at home.

Parents have a right to educate their children of school age other than at school. This is set out in the Education Act 1996.

Elective Home Education is where you as a parent or carer can decide to teach your child at home. The education of your child is a great responsibility which County Durham Local Authority takes very seriously. The Local Authority is responsible for ensuring that the arrangements put in place provide a suitable education for the child.

Please note that if your child attends a special school and has a statement you will not be able to withdraw them and educate them at home without the consent of the Local Authority.

Children should not be taken out of a school simply because of a disagreement with the school or Class Teacher, there are many ways of solving problems such as contacting the Head Teacher of your child’s school, the Governors of the school or by contacting the Local Authority.

Deciding to educate your child at home is a major responsibility for you and your family. Educating your child will take huge amounts of effort, time, energy and lots of patience. You are also advised to consider the financial implications of purchasing equipment you would need to educate your child.

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There are a number of common questions that families ask when they are considering educating their child at home. Our Home Education Leaflet.pdf (4 pages, 57kb) hopefully will help you in making an informed decision as to whether Elective Home Education is a suitable alternative to a school for your child. By taking your child off the role of a school you are solely responsible for your child’s education, you will not receive a Home Tutor to help you educate your child, nor is the Local Authority able to offer you any financial assistance.

If after reading the information on this website, you have further questions please contact Sheila Gibbon, Operations Manager on 0191 3833115 who will be more than happy to help you.