The Elective Home Education (EHE) team:
- ensures that children who are home educated receive the education they are entitled to
- offers advice and guidance to parents about how to meet their child's learning needs
- helps families to find other support services if needed
The county council must make sure that children receive a suitable and efficient full-time education. This is part of the Education Act 1996. The EHE team works with parents to help meet this legal duty.
Parents educating their child at home do not have a legal requirement to reply to our enquiries, but if we are not assured that the child is getting a good education, we have a legal duty to ask more questions.
How we support you
We have a team manager, 4 advisory teachers and 4 support officers. We help you in the following ways.
First contact
When you start home educating, we will call or visit you. We will ask about:
- your child
- why you chose home education
- the education you plan to provide
An advisory teacher will review this information. If you have asked for help they will contact you.
Education reviews
We check how home education is going through regular reviews. These can be a:
- home visit
- phone call
- meeting in another suitable place, if you prefer not to meet at home
- completing a Parent Self-Completion (PSC) report
Reviews are a chance to:
- talk about how things are going
- celebrate progress
- ask for advice or extra support if you need it
After each review we will send you a written report.
How often we carry out a review depends on the information you give. If you provide us with lots of detail, we can better assess the education you provide. This helps assure us that you are meeting your legal duties. If you do not provide enough information, we may ask for details more often.
To help us carry out the review, you can provide:
- examples of your child's learning, for example
- a learning diary or journal
- dated and filed written or computer-based work
- screenshots of online learning
- completed and dated workbooks or worksheets
- reports from tutors or online providers
- pictures of their learning with summaries of what you did
What advisory teachers do
Advisory teachers:
- check that your child is receiving a suitable and efficient full-time education
- decide when an EHE review should happen
- offer support and advice about:
- teaching materials
- educational and local resources
- how to show your child's progress
They may ask to visit your home, especially if they are concerned about your child's education. They will write a report explaining the concern and offer advice. You will have time to make improvements.
Advisory teachers may also ask for more information from families. This is to help them understand your child's learning journey and progress.
If the advisory teacher continues to have concerns, they will talk to you about other options.
If home education is not suitable
If the advisory teacher is not assured your child is getting a suitable and efficient full-time education, they will pass the case to the Children Missing Education (CME) team. The CME team will work with you to get your child back into education.
You can find information about starting school in our school, college and work guidance for home educated children section.
If you are dissatisfied with the assessment of your educational provision
If you are unhappy with how the council has assessed your child’s education, speak to an advisory teacher.
If you are still dissatisfied, you can contact the team manager. Find details on the contact the Elective Home Education team page.