Home Schooling - Elective Home Education Team

About

When electing to home educate, parents must arrange an education that suits the age, ability and needs of their child. Parents can do this by sending their child to a school, or by taking personal responsibility for their child’s education in choosing to educate their child/children at home.

How it works

It is a parent’s responsibility to ensure their child is in receipt of a suitable and efficient education whatever this may be.

Statutory school age is:

  • From the start date of a school term following a child's 5th birthday.
  • To the last Friday in June in the year when the child's 16th birthday is before 1 September.
Do you need to get permission to educate at home?

If the child has never been to school, parents do not need to inform anyone or ask anyone's permission to educate their child at home; parents can still contact the EHE team should they wish to ask for any advice or support on all aspects of home education and the team will try to assist them where they can do so.

Where a parent is removing a child from a school roll in order to electively home educate, they must let the school know in writing, the school will then pass this information on to the Local Authority. It may be a good idea to discuss this with the EHE co-ordinator before any formal de-registration is submitted to the school in question.

Parents are advised to contact Katie Digiorgi on 01706 925139 or ehe@rochdale.gov.uk  in the first instance.

If your child has an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) and attends a specialist school, parents must get permission from the Local Authority beforehand in order to request to educate their child at home. For children with an EHC Plan it remains the responsibility of the Local Authority in these cases to make sure the child's needs are met and to review their needs annually.

Where a parent of a child with a EHCP is wishing to home educate please contact the EHC Assessment and Review Team on 01706 925981 or at EHC@rochdale.gov.uk.

Deciding how your child will be educated​

Parents don't have to be a qualified teacher in order to educate their child at home, and there is also no requirement to follow the National Curriculum or to a set timetable. If you want to follow the National Curriculum you can find information by visiting www.gov.uk/national-curriculum.

Should a parent decide they may wish for their child to go to school in future, it may be in their best interests to teach the child in the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and ICT. Should a parent decide they want their child to sit an examination, there are a number of distance learning organisations that can provide all the work and preparation for the exam, but they will need to find an examination centre that will allow for their child to sit an exam as an external candidate.

If you would like to know more information regarding this please contact the EHE co-ordinator on the contact details above.

Elective Home Education in Rochdale

Within Rochdale the EHE team sits within the Fair Access Team, part of the Children’s Services Directorate and is made up of a number of key stakeholders including the EHE teacher consultant, the EHE co-ordinator and officers from the Education Welfare Service. Officers within the Fair Access Team are available to offer advice and support to parents and carers of electively home educated children and young people and to those parents who wish to discuss all aspects of home education before making a formal decision.

Area of support, how can we help? A trained and experienced teacher who can provide support and guidance to parents/carers who want help in all matters relating to EHE.

Elective Home Education Teacher Consultant - Annmarie Moran - 01706 925290, Annmarie.moran@rochdale.gov.uk

Local Authorities are duty bound to make arrangements for ensuring the functions conferred on them in their capacity are used with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Education Welfare Officer - Visits are arranged by various officers depending upon your locality - 01706 925115 - education.welfare@rochdale.gov.uk. A first point of contact for parents who want additional information relating to EHE.

Also if you are considering reintegration into mainstream school, the CME officer or the Fair Access Support Officer can talk you through the process and support you along the way.

EHE Co-Ordinator/ Fair Access Support Officer - Katie Digiorgi - Kelly Fletcher - 01706 925139 / 01706 925251 - ehe@rochdale.gov.uk

If you want your child to go to school

If a parent decides their child should go to school, they will need to let the EHE team know they are no longer home educating. The EHE team can advise them on the process for applying for a school place or parents can contact school admissions directly on 0300 303 0340 for information on availability and on how to formally apply.

The expression "parent", in relation to a child or young person, includes any person who is not a parent of the child but who has parental responsibility for him or her, or who has care of the child. For purposes of education law, all persons who are parents have equal rights and responsibilities in respect of their child's education unless removed by order of the court.

Who to contact

Telephone
0300 303 0340 0300 303 0340
E-mail
ehe@rochdale.gov.uk

Where to go

Address
Number One Riverside
Smith Street
Rochdale
Postcode

OL16 1XU

View OL16 1XU on a map

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