Field guide · Read at the government's own source
Homeschooling in England
Nothing to file, if your child has never been on a school roll. If they are on one, you tell the school in writing; that is what takes them off the roll, unless a school attendance order names the school, which the council must revoke first. A special school place the council arranged needs the council's consent first. The council may ask what education you provide. A register of children not in school has been passed into law but has not started yet.
Nothing to file each year, level 1 of 4
What England actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
The school, in writing
Only when a child on a school's roll leaves it. A child who was never on a roll needs no notice.
By
Nothing is due
No date in the year. If the council serves a notice asking you to show that your child is receiving a suitable education, it must give you at least 15 days, starting on the day the notice is served (Education Act 1996 s.437).
Who reviews it
The local authority for the area where you live
It has no formal powers or duty to monitor home education, but it must make arrangements to find out, so far as it can, which children in its area are not at school and not receiving a suitable education, and DfE advises it to make informal enquiries where that is not clear. DfE recommends that each local authority give parents a named contact who is familiar with home education, and have a named senior officer responsible for home education policy.
If you skip it
The steps, in order: 1. Informal enquiries by the local authority. You have no legal duty to answer, but if you give no information about your child's education, the authority is entitled to conclude that your child does not appear to be receiving a suitable education. 2. Section 437(1) notice, served on you in writing, requiring you to satisfy the authority within the period it states (at least 15 days, beginning with the day it is served) that your child is receiving suitable education. 3. School attendance order (SAO), if you do not satisfy the authority and in its opinion it is expedient that your child should attend school, requiring you to cause your child to become a registered pupil at the school named in the order. 4. Offence under section 443 if the SAO is not complied with. 5. Education supervision order; parenting order; ultimately care order proceedings. Penalty: A fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale, on summary conviction under section 443. Defence: It is a defence for the parent to prove that they are causing the child to receive suitable education otherwise than at school. Source: Education Act 1996 sections 437, 443 and 447; DfE guidance for local authorities, paragraphs 6.5 to 6.21 and 7.10 to 7.14.
Who is in charge
The local authority (LA) for the area where the child lives
Who reviews your child is set out at the top of this page, in the authority's own terms.
The year
Nothing falls due on a date. Every duty below arises only when a child who is on a school's roll leaves it, or if the local authority asks.
What you must file
No fixed dateYou file
Written notice to the school (deregistration)
Goes to: The school your child is on the roll of, in writing (the regulation names the school's proprietor)
Only if the child is on a school roll. You tell the school in writing that your child will no longer attend after a stated day and will receive education otherwise than at school. Once that day has passed, the school must take your child off its roll, unless a school attendance order naming the school is in force, or your child is at a special school under arrangements the local authority made (see the consent item below). The law does not oblige you to give this notice, but until your child is off the roll you are at risk of prosecution for not securing attendance at the school, even if you are providing suitable home education, so DfE says it is in your interests to notify the school in writing.
No fixed dateYou file
Local authority CONSENT to remove from roll
Goes to: The local authority that arranged the special school place or, where a school attendance order names the school, the local authority that served the order. If it refuses, you can ask the Secretary of State to settle the dispute.
Required where the child was placed at a SPECIAL SCHOOL under arrangements made by the local authority (reg 9(2)), or where a school attendance order is in force naming the school (the order must be revoked or amended first). If consent is refused, the parent may ask the Secretary of State to settle the dispute.
No fixed dateYou file
Response to a section 437(1) notice
Within the period stated in the notice, which must be at least 15 days beginning with the day the notice is served
Goes to: The local authority that served the notice
Once the notice is served, you must satisfy the local authority, within the period it states, that your child is receiving suitable education, meaning efficient full-time education suitable to your child's age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs. What is enough depends on the facts of the case and the local authority's judgement. DfE tells local authorities not to dismiss information simply because it is not in a particular form they prefer, such as a report by a qualified teacher. The information should show the education actually being provided and the progress expected and, unless home education has only just started, achieved. It should not be simply a statement of what you intend to provide or a description of your teaching approach. DfE says a parent who refuses to make any substantive response should expect to be served with a school attendance order.
Not required
Often assumed. None of it is asked of a family homeschooling in England.
Registration or notification to the local authorityNot required. There is no legal duty on parents to inform the local authority that a child is being home educated. DfE guidance recommends it and some LAs run voluntary registration schemes, but neither is compulsory.Response to the LA's informal enquiries about the education providedNot required. Parents are under NO legal duty to respond. But non-response has a hard consequence: current case law means a refusal to provide any information will in most cases oblige the LA to serve a s.437(1) notice, because the only conclusion it canStandardised test scoresNot required. Never required. No national testing obligation on home-educated children in England.Attendance records / hours loggedNot required. Not submitted as a return, but DfE tells LAs they should be 'enabled by parents' to assess the overall time devoted to education in hours per week and weeks per year. A family that can state its hours is answering a question the officer is
The words a reviewer uses
key stagesprogrammes of studysubject contentattainment in line with national norms for children of the same age (with an explicit allowance for ability and aptitude)literacy and numeracybreadth of learning experiencesprogresssocialisation / interaction with peers
efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for England, which today are English (279 of 383), Mathematics (443 of 574), Science (480 of 604), Social Studies (132 of 1631), Physical Education (73 of 106) and Arts (42 of 115). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of England's published standards. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Sources
- Read 11 Aug 2026
- Read 11 Aug 2026
- Read 11 Aug 2026
- Read 11 Aug 2026
- Read 11 Aug 2026
- Read 19 Aug 2026
- Read 19 Aug 2026
- Read 19 Aug 2026
- Read 19 Aug 2026
- Read 19 Aug 2026
- Read 6 Oct 2026
- Read 6 Oct 2026
- Read 6 Oct 2026
- Read 6 Oct 2026
Last read at the source on 2026-10-06: Education Act 1996, Part VI Chapter II (sections 436A to 447, with the 2026 Act's prospective sections 436B to 436S), legislation.gov.uk. That is the date we read it, not the date the rule last changed.
The law itself: Education Act 1996 s.7 - parental duty to cause a child of compulsory school age to receive efficient full-time education suitable to age, ability and aptitude and to any SEN; Education Act 1996 s.436A - LA duty to identify children not receiving suitable education; Education Act 1996 s.437 - notice and school attendance order procedure. We hold no direct link to the authority's page for this jurisdiction.
Guidance, not legal advice. Rules change and districts vary: confirm with the authority named above before you file.