Home education

If your child has special educational needs (SEN), there are a few extra things you need to take into account.

Guidance on home education for children with SEN is set out in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice: 0 to 25 years, paragraphs 10.30 to 10.38, as published by the government in January 2015.

Getting advice

If your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, or your child is already home educated and you have concerns about SEN your child may have, you may find it helpful to contact our SEN team.

We will work with you to see how your child's needs can be met and what the support and review arrangements will be. We will also give advice on other agencies that may be able to help.

Before deciding to educate your child at home it is useful to discuss this in detail with their school, pre-school or nursery, and in particular with their special education needs coordinator (SENCO), or at an annual review. If your child is not already in a school or pre-school then our SEN team can offer advice.

Removing your child from school

If your child has an EHC plan and is attending a mainstream school, you should write to the school stating that your child will be attending education otherwise than at school. The school will remove your child from the school register.

If your child is attending a special school, we must give consent before the child's name can be removed from the special school's register. If this is your intention, then we will work closely with you to make sure it is carried out quickly.

When home educated, the EHC plan remains in place to make sure your child's needs are met and that the right support is in place. We will review this with you annually.

Funding

In some situations we can fund or provide for the special educational needs of home educated children. You should consult the SEND Code of Practice or contact our SEN team for a full explanation. Broadly, however:

• where the EHC plan does not name a school or a type of school but states that the child or young person will be educated at home, then we will arrange for SEN provision within the EHC plan

• where we name a school or a type of school in the EHC plan but state that parents have made their own arrangements to home educate, we do not have a duty to make SEN provision as long as we are satisfied that the arrangements are suitable, although we must continue to review the plan annually

Young people with SEN can also be educated at home to make sure they participate in education and training until the age of 18. The above arrangements will apply while their EHC plan is in place.