Our involvement
Our School Attendance Support Team (SAST) has the lead role in meeting our responsibility for elective home education (EHE).
The team will:
- support families, where necessary
- offer advice on providing the best possible education for your child
- carry out our legal duty to make sure your child is receiving a suitable education
Initial contact
Our Education Engagement Officer (EEO) will contact you by phone within 8 weeks of the start of your child's education at home. Initially, this will be for to acknowledge your choice and for an informal discussion of your reasons.
During this first contact, the EEO will offer you an appointment to carry out an initial assessment. It is usually a face-to-face visit at your home address, but it can be at an alternative venue, by phone or via a Microsoft Teams online video call.
Initial assessment
The initial assessment helps us understand the education you intend to provide. Our officer will:
- discuss with you your education plan
- ask you to provide some samples of work your child has completed
- ask you to show how you record progress
After the initial assessment visit, your child's case will be allocated to the Elective Home Education Officer (EHEO) who will carry out all future reviews.
Where a family have settled into home education and there is evidence of a suitable education taking place, contact from the SAST will be once a year to review the provision and to ensure that this remains suitable. To do this, at the review we will:
- expect to see samples of work completed
- expect to see that the child is making good progress
- update your contact details
Interim contact can be arranged at parents' request.
You will get a copy of reports by the EEO or EHEO within 28 days of their visit.
Children with an allocated social worker
If, at the outset of home education, we are aware that a child is an open case to children's social care, the case will be allocated immediately to an Elective Home Education Officer (EHEO).
The EHEO will, in the first instance, contact the child's allocated Social Worker to check whether the decision to educate at home would cause safeguarding concerns, or add to existing concerns. Any concerns raised will be part of the EHEO assessment.
Meeting with your child
There is no legal requirement for us to see the child, but it's important their views are heard. For this reason we would like to include them in the initial assessment and the reviews that follow.
Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child states: "to provide a right for children to express their views and for due weight to be given to those views, in accordance with the age and maturity of the child."
The government's Department for Education (DfE) supports this by stating: "the local authority may wish to gain the child's opinion on the suitability of the home education received as this can be relevant to any decision it needs to make on whether the S.7 requirements are met."
If you prefer not to meet face-to-face
If you would prefer not to meet with us face to face, you must still provide details of your child’s education provision. This could be in a written overview or philosophy, supported by evidence of learning – for example, an education plan, a diary, photographs, or copies of the child's work.
The information you provide should be detailed enough for us to make an assessment as to whether the education is suitable and that your child is making progress.
We also accept endorsements from qualified professionals involved with your home education programme, who can confirm the education is – in their view – suitable
To help you prepare your evidence, we will send you a form containing a number of questions that will guide you towards providing the information.
We can conclude that a suitable education is being provided solely on the basis of:
- a statement of intent of what will be provided
- a description of the teaching approach
If you do not engage with us at all
There is no legal obligation for parents to meet with their local authority or provide samples of the work being completed. However, this makes it difficult for the local authority to fulfil their legal duty to make sure the child's education is suitable.
Guidance from the DfE issued in April 2019 says it is considered reasonable for parents to engage in order for the local authority to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 436A of The Education Act 1996. This is further strengthened by the Judicial Review – go to British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII): Goodred v Portsmouth City Council'.
If no evidence provided at all, the DfE guidance makes clear it would not be unreasonable for the local authority, under such circumstances, to presume the EHE provision is unsuitable and to take appropriate steps to return the child to school.
Information we will hold
Our SAST will hold your child's full name, date of birth, address, ethnicity, parent details and contact details, whether your child has any special educational needs or disabilities, or has an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
The team also keeps copies of visit reports, educational information and welfare information shared with us by you and the school, including why you have chosen to home educate your child.
At the initial contact with you, we will seek your consent to the sharing of information. For more details, read our privacy statement.