My child attends a local authority school but I now wish to educate him/her at home.  What do I need to do?

You must seek our (the education authority’s) consent before withdrawing your child from school. You do this by:

• Writing to us (address overleaf) to inform us of your decision to home educate your child and to request consent to withdraw your child from school.
• Including initial proposals as to how you intend to provide an efficient and suitable education for your child. (At this stage, we realise that your proposals may not be detailed. However, you should provide some indication of your educational objectives and proposed resources.)

We can provide you with a template to enable you to outline your home education proposals.

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What happens next?

• We will acknowledge receipt of your letter. 
• We will check whether there is anything in your child’s record to cause concern. For instance, if your child is on the child protection register, we may not be able to grant consent immediately. If this is the case, we will keep you informed of the reason for the delay.
• If you have provided outline proposals of your educational provision and there are no specific concerns, we should be able to grant consent promptly. You should receive written consent within 4 weeks from our receipt of your letter. You will be given a named contact from the education authority who is familiar with home education.
• Sometimes, we may need to ask you for more information about your proposals. If so, we will contact you as soon as possible.
• Once you have received our written consent to withdraw your child from school you can start your provision of home education.

As part of the process, we like to meet families – either at your home or elsewhere. This gives you the opportunity to meet your named contact and to discuss, informally, any issues that you might have about home education. Such a meeting is entirely optional, and if you would prefer your contact with us to be by phone, letter or email, please let us know.

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My child is unhappy at school. We have just written to withdraw him/her in order to home educate. Does he/she have to attend school until we receive written consent?

It is best if you apply for consent to withdraw in advance of the date that you wish your child to stop attending school. Many families choose to write to us at the end of a school term so that the process can be completed over the holidays.  However, we understand that this is not always possible and we will always take a reasonable approach in such circumstances.

You do not need to obtain our consent in order to start home education if:

• Your child has never attended a local authority school
• Your child has not attended a local authority school in The Moray Council‘s area
• Your child is being withdrawn from an independent school
• Your child has finished primary education in one school but has not started secondary education in another
• The school that your child has been attending has closed.

For more information about home education, including characteristics of an efficient and suitable education, see ‘Home Education: An outline’.

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Contact Details
Your Headteacher
or
The Quality Improvement Officer with responsibility for Home Education
Educational Services
The Moray Council
High Street
Elgin
IV30 1BX
Tel. 01343 563397

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