Educating your child or young person with SEND at home (EHE)

Elective home education (EHE) is a term used to describe a choice by parents to provide education for their children at home - or at home and in some other way which they choose - instead of sending them to school full-time. This is different to education provided by a local authority otherwise than at a school (EOTAS) - for example, tuition for children who are too ill to attend school. More information about EOTAS can be found further down this page.

In Kirklees, we have an Elective Home Education team who parents/carers can contact for advice, guidance, and support. The team are also happy to speak to parents/carers who may be considering home education and want to talk it through before a decision is made. The team can be contacted on 01484 221919 (ask for EHE team) or by email at EHETeam@kirklees.gov.uk

Information for parents about Elective Home Education is available on the Kirklees website page below:

Elective home education | Kirklees Council (opens link in new window)

This page includes information on:

What to consider when deciding to elect home education
What you need to know / what the law says
Resources
EHE policy and guidance for parents

Kirklees Elective Home Education policy Kirklees Elective Home Education Policy 2021

The Government has produced guidance for Local Authorities, schools, and parents:

Elective Home Education guidance (opens page in new window)

If you are thinking about home education for the first time, it may be worth considering the following:

Prepare for your child's learning before making a decision. Research a range of approaches and learning styles. Decide whether you want to involve others to provide additional teaching support. Explore local activities and groups and consider opportunities for social contact with other children.
There is no funding available from the government for home educating families, you must meet the costs of your child's education yourself. This will include providing appropriate resources, opportunities for educational visits, access to activities with other children their age and other adults, and exam fees.
Your child's needs change at different ages and stages. If you decide not to continue with home education and would like your child to attend a school, we will offer to support you in finding a school place.
If you deregister your child and then change your mind, Kirklees Council is unable to guarantee that your child returns to the same school. Bear in mind the pressure on school places in your area; local schools may not have places available.
If you have a difficulty or a disagreement with your child's current school. You should contact a member of the school staff to try to resolve the difficulties before removing your child from the school roll. You may decide to consider other local schools for your child. We would also encourage you to contact us to discuss the situation where we may be able to offer support to resolve any issues.
As a parent you have a legal duty, as set out in section 7 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that your child receives an efficient full-time education suitable to:
- age, ability and aptitude
- and any special educational needs, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise, (otherwise can mean at home)
If you use a third party (like a tutor) to deliver part of your child's education, you are responsible for ensuring they are appropriately qualified and suitable. This includes Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

If your child is already at school and you are committed to electively home educate your child, we advise you to write to the Headteacher of the school through letter or email to inform them of your decision.

Ask for the child's name be taken off the school roll, and give them a specific date that they should remove your child from the register.

The school will inform us that you are going to be responsible for educating your child.

We will contact you to make informal enquiries as to how you will provide education for your child.

If your child is not on roll at a school, you are under no specific duty to inform Kirklees Council of your decision to home educate. If you would like to contact us we would welcome hearing from you, so we can introduce ourselves and discuss any queries you may have

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) you must inform the Head Teacher in writing. If your child attends a special school the consent of the LA must be obtained before your child's name is removed from the school roll. The school will liaise with The EHCP Team, to ensure appropriate procedures are followed.

If your child has special educational needs (SEN) you can still educate them at home, whether they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan or not. If your child has an EHC plan, we have a duty to make sure the child's needs are met, and that you make suitable provision, including for your child's special educational needs.

However, if your child goes to a special school, you will need permission from us before you can take your child out of special school and start home educating them.

If you are thinking of elective home education as an alternative to your child being taught in School then we would strongly recommend you discuss this with the school and your SEN caseworker before confirming your decision.

Parents who are educating a child at home may ask Kirklees LA to carry out a statutory assessment of their child's special educational needs (called an Education Health and Care needs assessment - EHCNA - more information can be found on the page below). The LA must consider the request within the same timescales as the requests that it receives from any other parent.

How to apply for an EHC Needs Assessment (opens link in same window)

If you want your child to take exams, such as GCSEs, your plan must include the year your child will sit exams, deadlines for applying, and where they will take them. You will need to be familiar with the details of the correct syllabus to follow.

Many subjects also have coursework, which will need to be marked by someone the exam board has approved.

You will need to contact an exam centre directly and register your child for the exams. You will be responsible for all the fees.

Some families choose to enter their children for International GCSEs (IGCSE's). These are ideal for those wanting to study by distance learning. IGCSE's offer a practical way forward for those studying at home as assessment is by written exam at test centres world-wide.

IGCSE vs GCSE: What's the difference? (opens link in new window)

Exam boards

Exam centres

When submitting a young person for exams, if over 14 years old, then a Unique Learner Number (ULN) is required. If you require information on how you can obtain a ULN for your child, please contact us.

Past papers

Some local colleges offer courses to young people who are home educated. They may require a child to be home educated for a specific time and some may contact us to confirm whether we are aware that you are home educating. You can speak to the 14-16 provision managers about your expectations and what they have to offer.

Young people in Kirklees can access C+K Careers (opens link in new window) for information, advice and guidance on post-16 options and careers.

C+K Careers My directions (opens link in new window) also has information aimed specifically at young people where they can obtain information and chat with advisors.

Get Into, the Kirklees online prospectus (opens link in new window) is an online prospectus and application system for young people to search for courses and apply to school sixth forms, colleges and training providers in Kirklees and its surrounding areas.

The EHE team share information with C+K Careers when young people are in their final year of compulsory education, to support them with post-16 plans

If you no longer want to educate your child at home and want to access education in a school, you will need to apply for a place at your preferred school using the Admissions process.

If you want your child to access education in a school during the school year, then you should read Changing school during the school year and complete the application form.

If you need any help or advice, please feel free to contact us

What is flexi-schooling?

Flexi-schooling describes an arrangement between the parent and school where children are registered at the school in the usual way but attend school part-time. For the rest of the time, the child is home educated.

Unlike full-time home education, any agreement between parents and a school for the child to be flexi-schooled is at the Head Teacher’s discretion. Flexi-schooling can be a long-term arrangement or a short-term measure for a particular reason. The child will be required to follow the National Curriculum whilst at school, but not whilst they are being educated at home.

There may be many reasons why parents may want to arrange flexi-schooling for their children, for example:

illness,
a desire to home educate while making use of the school for some subjects,
school phobia/refusal,
allowing time for a special ability, such as music, sport etc.,
a phased return to school after an absence for some reason

Flexi-schooling is also different from a temporary reduced timetable. Reduced timetables are put in place on an exceptional basis for a time-limited period for circumstances such as medical intervention or to meet a pupil’s individual needs.

How a Request for Flexi-schooling Should be Made

Arrangements for flexi-schooling can only be made at the request of a parent or carer with parental responsibility. If a parent/carer is interested in making a flexi-schooling request, the Head Teacher of the child’s actual or prospective school should be contacted so that the proposal may be considered.

Parents do not have a legal right to have a flexi-schooling arrangement. Flexi -schooling is an arrangement between the school and the parent of a registered pupil and is entered into at the complete discretion of the Head Teacher.

The Governing Body may be involved in agreeing and reviewing a general approach to requests for flexi-schooling, but this does not exempt the Head Teacher from the need to consider each request individually. The whole Governing Body should not become involved in individual cases and cannot overturn a Head Teacher’s decision.

There is no right of appeal against the decision of a Head Teacher not to agree to a flexi-schooling request.

Kirklees have produced a PDF guide to Flexi Schooling which can be found below:

Kirklees Flexi School guidance (opens PDF in new window)

You can speak with the Elective Home Education Team by the following ways:

Telephone 01484 221919

Email EHETeam@kirklees.gov.uk

For those with an EHCP, The EHCP Team can be contacted on 01484 456888 or EHCP.Team@kirklees.gov.uk

You can also get impartial advice from KIAS by calling 07771977384

This refers to when a young person is not on a school roll and has an alternative (EOTAS) package in place, paid for by the Local Authority.

The agreement for an EOTAS package to be in place is done via an EHC Needs Assessment (this can include via review of an existing EHCP)

We have a page dedicated to EOTAS, this can be found below.

Education Other than at school (EOTAS) - opens link in same window