Elective home education

Parents have a legal responsibility and a duty to make sure their child is educated. Most parents and carers choose to send their children to school, but school is not compulsory - you have the right to educate your children at home.

This is called elective home education (EHE).

For full details of the regulations around home education and the points to consider when deciding if home education is right for you and your child, see GOV.UK - elective home education.

De-registering a child from school

Before de-registering your child we ask your child's schools to arrange a meeting with the Local Authority, parents and child (if age appropriate). The meeting can be virtual and is to discuss the reasons for the de-registration and to provide information about the expectations and responsibilities around EHE .

Following the meeting if you choose to de-register your child, school will inform us and an advisor from the Attendance and Children Out of School team will then contact you to arrange a home visit.

If your child currently attends a special school, you will need to write to the Local Authority (not the school) to get agreement to take your child off the school roll.

Responsibility to provide your child’s education

When you choose EHE you have the responsibility to provide your child’s education. If you choose to use tutors to support this, you will be responsible for paying the tutoring costs yourself. Remember that if you choose to educate your child at home, you as parents must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility for the child’s education, including bearing the cost of any public examinations.

Electively home educated children are not eligible to access free school meals.

The support Cheshire East provide

Families will be allocated an advisor from the Attendance and Children Out of School team, this person will offer you a visit initially to talk through and have oversight of your plan to home educate your child, this worker will then assess how often you will need to meet. This could be more often in the beginning when you are starting out. Cheshire East have the responsibility to check that you are providing a suitable education for your child.

You don’t need to be a teacher to be able to educate your child at home, but you do need to think about what you want your child to study and research and plan how you can support them to learn.

More guidance can be found on the elective home education guide for parents on the government website

Returning to school

If deregister your child from school then change your mind, you will need to go through the in-year admissions process. If your child’s previous school still has places they should be able to return there. If there are no places at your chosen school you will need to apply to another school.

Contact elective home education

For any further questions about home education, you can contact our Elective Home Education team or call us on 01270 375255.

The Cheshire East Council named contact for EHE is Sally Ashworth, Team Manager for the Attendance and Children out of School service.

Page last reviewed: 31 October 2023