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How we can help you

Initial visit to discuss your plans

When we are told that you plan to educate your child at home, we will contact you to offer an initial visit to provide advice and guidance which may be helpful to you when planning to home educate.

During this visit we would talk about how you plan to provide a suitable education, and ways you can keep evidence that you are doing this. We will also put you in touch with helpful organisations and websites that offer useful support for home educators.

With your agreement, we will come and see you again after a few months to see how you are progressing, and then make periodic contact at your discretion to offer support if and when needed.

If you do not require a visit you do not need to agree to one, we will not impose where parents choose not to engage with us. Our elective home education policy sets out strictly limited situations where there are strong indications the child may not be receiving a suitable education where we would expect a meeting to be arranged.

Use this template as guide to help provide information about your child's education:

For more information on educating your child at home, read our guide to home education (PDF, 162.2 KB).

Or to find out how we can support you in the planning stages of your child's home education complete our online planning support form.

Providing your child suitable education

We have a duty to act if it appears that home educated children are not receiving a full time, efficient education that is suitable for the child's age, ability and aptitude.

We will contact you to discuss your approach to education, and ask for evidence, such as:

  • reports
  • examples of work and logs to record learning
  • getting work endorsed by someone independent
  • meetings with us to discuss work and progress.

Usually any concerns can be addressed informally. But if not there are statutory procedures that we enter into.

  • We will write to you about the concerns.
  • There is an opportunity to adapt the education being provided.
  • We will then review the work the child is doing.
  • If suitable education is still not being provided, we may consider a School Attendance Order (SAO), requiring parents to register their child at school. This is only the case once all reasonable steps have been taken to resolve the situation and would be a last resort.

Discover what to teach your child at home.

Safeguarding children

We have a duty to safeguard all children, including those who don't attend school.

If you are employing others to educate your child, for example tutors, we strongly recommend you carry out the appropriate checks and references and have arrangements in place for how you supervise them. Find out about Disclosure and Barring Service Checks (DBS) on GOV.UK.

We have general duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and a responsibility to do this through our work. We must act upon any concerns that a child may be at risk of significant harm, in accordance with our child protection procedures available on the Kent Safeguarding Children Multi Agency Partnership website.

However, such powers cannot be used in order to establish whether the child in question is receiving suitable education at home.

Elective home education consultation

The DfE ran a consultation between 2 April and 24 June 2019 to gather views on proposed legislation to create a register maintained by local authorities of children not attending mainstream schools, read the DfE response to the consultation.