It is possible to use this as a guide for Wales, however check the rest of our website for EHE rules in Wales
Please DO NOT copy and paste our examples.
This document is meant to be read in conjunction with our website, do not use it without fully reading our site and understanding yours, and the LAs duty.
PLEASE READ THIS FULL DOCUMENT THROUGH ONCE BEFORE WRITING
For more info on how to deal with the LA, please refer to the rest of our website.
Your report does not need to be any longer than two or three pages, it can be written in bullet points or paragraphs. And does not have to be in this order.
Do not overthink your report, the main focus should be on ensuring you have adequately described a suitable and full-time education. SUITABLE TO YOUR CHILD NOT WHAT YOU THINK THE LA WANT TO HEAR
A lengthy report doesn’t always mean you have included adequate info, so do refer to this guide to ensure you have included everything.
We have seen 30 page reports that were deemed unsuitable as they failed to explain how the education was suitable to the child. We have seen half page reports deemed suitable as they included the necessary info.
REMEMBER NOT TO WAFFLE
This only needs to be a couple of lines.
Describe why you think Home Education is right for your child. Doing so will help the LA understand your approach. Keep it positive and not negative about school. This is NOT explaining the reason you deregistered.
Explain what you hope your child will achieve from being Home Educated.
An educational philosophy explains your beliefs around Home Education, and should be respected by the LA when considering the suitability of your provision.
An educational philosophy alone is not adequate information, you need to continue on with a provision and resource report.
The term educational philosophy is sometimes mistaken to mean a report.
EXAMPLE
Educational Philosophy.
Home education ensures Kirk has the time and space to be able to learn independently with support when needed, to improve his social abilities, and achieve his goals academically. I believe this personalised education will allow Kirk to follow any path he chooses.
DO NOT COPY OUR EXAMPLES AS YOUR LA HAS ACCESS TO THIS DOCUMENT AND CAN SPOT COPY AND PASTES
a) Provide details of your style of Home Education.
This could be one or a mix of: unschooling, child led, autonomous, semi structured or fully structured etc. Try to stick to known terminology. (We have explanations of styles on our website).
Explain what that means to your family.
This is a good opportunity to mention any SEN if your style is impacted by it.
b) Make a reference to how the education is full time.
You do not have to have a timetable or follow school hours or terms. But a description of how the education is full time is necessary. Merely stating it is full time is not adequate.
This only needs to be a couple of lines of info.
EXAMPLE
We follow a child led semi-structured approach. This means Patty is given freedom to choose what she learns and when, but with some expectations to learn some numeracy and literacy most days. Learning takes place all throughout the year including weekends. Patty is dyslexic, which means reading and writing time for us is structured in short sessions.
OR
Our home education is based on the school terms times, we follow a formal structured style in the mornings, with child led activities in afternoons.
If you are taking time to settle in do not use the term deschooling with the LA.
They misunderstand it to mean no education is taking place.
Further explanation of deschooling.
Whilst EDUCATION MUST HAPPEN FROM DAY ONE it doesn’t have to be formal learning if that doesn’t suit your child right now.
You can discuss how focus has needed to be on mental health, life skills etc. But you do need to demonstrate throughout the rest of the report how the provision is right for your child.
EXAMPLE:
Sookie left school mentally unwell, she was unable to take part in anything that resembled learning without it triggering a panic attack. We have therefore focused on learning through real life. (Then go on to explain how).
Or:
When we started home educating Babette it became clear that they were unable to learn independently, or even understand how to seek activities/information for themselves, we have therefore focused on supporting exploration of how they like to learn, and allowing them time to find what interests them. During this time they have x and y.
REMEMBER: include explanations on how the education is suitable to the child's age, ability, aptitude and SEN.
By including specifics about topics and skills it helps the LA understand the level the child is working at and will then see progress over the coming years. Not everyone follows the Key Stages so using them as references is not expected though can be helpful to include if formal learning is part of the education.
EXAMPLE
Content of learning
Luke has completed the KS2 (age 8) CGP workbook for maths since our last update. He uses BBC Bitesize to quiz himself on the content and is now confidently starting KS3 books. He is currently learning about Pythagoras and has completed topics such as simple algebra, area and perimeter and squared numbers. He mostly learns independently but will ask if he needs support. I can see what he has learned and whether he has understood it from the quiz results.
Luke requires very little supervision with regards to literacy, he watches the Oak Academy year 5 videos, and then uses the Letts workbooks to practice what he has learned He has recently completed the sections on spelling, grammar and punctuation, reading comprehension and story writing. He is currently reading Horrid Henry books.
In recent months Luke has been using a science kit to carry out experiments, first watching them on YouTube then with supervision he has carried them out, we discuss in detail what the experiment is for and what the results mean, he has been drawing graphs and charts in relation to these experiments, such as building a bicarbonate of soda powered rocket and plant chromatography.
Luke has also visited various castles, and coastal areas and had discussions about history and coastal erosion.
OR
Mauri thrives with one to one learning time when it comes to literacy. We will have long discussions about a book he has read, for example he recently read Macbeth, he has been explaining each character in great detail as well as what the author was trying to make the reader feel. Mauri would like to sit his IGCSE literature next year so the learning is in preparation for that. I use the questions on practice exam papers to encourage appropriate discussions.
Mauri has been using English Language IGCSE papers and the Catherine Mooney text books to prepare for his exam next year.
Mauri left school with limited maths skills, he was learning at approximately an 8 year old, therefore our numeracy has gone back to basics to ensure no basic principles are missed. I noted that he did not understand area and perimeter so he has been learning from hands on tasks doing a DIY project in the garden. He is now solidifying his learning of multiplication with baking and cooking tasks. As his confidence has been building he has been putting pen to paper more but much prefers the Khan academy quizzes to check he has understood a concept.
If you have no formal learning in your Home Education it is vital that you explain how what the child does is educational and how you ensure numeracy and literacy skills are incorporated, plus other subjects.
This section would be in lieu of the previously mentioned literacy and numeracy section and should be around a paragraph each for literacy and numeracy.
Include lots of specific examples such as what discussions, TV programmes, outings, websites, games etc they have taken part in.
Ensure you describe how all learning is suitable to their age and ability and aptitude and SEN, and how you are able to know that your child is progressing. Your description needs to be adequate to describe a full time education.
EXAMPLE
Having played Minecraft Rory asked how you can quickly work out how many blocks to use, so we discussed basic multiplication, followed by Rory doubling a baking recipe, we followed that up with discussion on proportion and dividing. They have also used Lego and maths blocks to further practice these skills.
Over the last year Rory has been fascinated with animals, they have watched many documentaries such as Blue Planet. They have created posters with information about different endangered animals using information they have found online. I have noticed throughout the year that their comprehension skills have improved to the point they no longer ask me for clarification of information.
MAKE SURE TO GIVE LOTS MORE EXAMPLES TO DEMONSTRATE A SUITABLE AND FULL TIME EDUCATION.
Home Educators are expected to address how they meet the child’s needs in the report for the EHE team.
If your child has an EHCP section B can be referred to in this report, but you are not obliged to meet school related needs detailed elsewhere in the EHCP.
An EHCP review is likely to be carried out once you start Home Educating and annually after that. EHE and EHCP teams may ask to do updates together, you can choose to keep them separate, we advise this to avoid staff confusing their roles. Make sure you read our website for lots of info about the LA and SEN
EXAMPLES
Jess is autistic and thrives on routine so we have ensured the Home Education has a predictable daily routine, we are encouraging them to explore small changes once a day.
OR
Jess is dyslexic, we have found x website and x workbooks help support his learning style, they provide explanations in ways he can understand.
This section is likely to be around a paragraph long and can be included in other sections whilst describing the education.
Home Education isn’t just formal learning, even the most structured of Home Educators will learn through other methods too.
A 100% formal structured education with no input from the child is most likely to be deemed unsuitable as most children need some flexibility. Ensure you give some examples of flexibility and fun.
DESCRIBE THE FUN STUFF
Describe other educational and learning activities your child does and how they add to the educational provision/skills they learn. Examples include baking, DIY, building Lego, gardening, board games, Brownies, Forest school etc, use a few of your own examples.
THIS IS EXTRA INFORMATION TO WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY WRITTEN A paragraph is more than enough, and helps the LA see that the education is varied, it can be included in the body of your report.
Explain how you know the learning is suitable, and how you know they are progressing. This can be included in other sections or separate.
To reiterate, this is about what your child is learning and how it is right for them!
Tips on how to ensure your report describes how the education is suitable to:
AGE:
Whilst it is not required to follow the national curriculum, it would be prudent to be aware of what a child the same age is learning. Workbooks and websites usually follow the same content as the NC. But there are other resources you could look at to reference how the education suits their age. For example if you unschool but your child has recently learned about fractions using pizza and Lego, you can look online to see what age this is usually learned and make reference to this being an age appropriate learning activity.
If your child is learning at a level different to their age you MUST explain why, ie your child left school learning below their peers.
ABILITY:
Describe why and how the education is suitable to the child's ability. For example they may be very good at story telling, so you encourage that, but numeracy may be difficult for them, you would therefore explain how you support that.
APTITUDE:
If your child has a natural talent for something then it is good to explain it, especially if it is a prominent feature of the education.
SEND:
You only need to mention SEND if there is an EHCP or their SEN affects how the education is provided or if it affects their learning level. You do not need to mention something if it does not affect their education.
If the child has an EHCP describe how you ensure their needs (detailed in section of B) are met and what support you have in place.
If there is no EHCP then discuss how the home ed addresses their specific SEND needs.
EXAMPLE
I have regular discussions with Dean about their learning, it gives me the opportunity to note how he is getting on, how they are understanding the topics/concepts, this shows me that the level of learning is appropriate to him. Dean will ask me for help if they are struggling to understand something, therefore I am confident that he is progressing well.
Or
Dean completes end of topic quizzes in either the workbooks or websites previously mentioned, these are automatically marked or I work through the answers with him, giving us the opportunity to discuss any areas they struggled with.
If you are writing a report after only just deregistering you will not be expected to explain what progress has been made, but it would be prudent to explain how you will know if your child is progressing.
EXAMPLE
We will have regular discussions to ensure Logan has fully understood a topic/concept before moving on.
If the LA allowed you time to settle in before requesting information, or this is annual update you will be expected to describe what kind of progress your child has made, why you’re happy with progress and how you establish progress is being made. Remember if home education has been established for some time then the LA enquiries and your response need only be brief.
Include details of progression.
EXAMPLE
Since last year’s report Paris has progressed through year 8 level learning in maths, English and the sciences using CGP workbooks, she is now working on year 9 workbooks. Her understanding of the none formal learning, such as history and art has also progressed as she shows a deeper understanding of the topics. I have included specific details of topics previously in the report.
OR
Last year April was able to use the number blocks to do simple multiplications such as the 2 and 5 times tables, she can now do any multiplication with 2 digits. They are now able to do this independently. Other mathematical skills such as comparing and ordering numbers, and recognising place value have been learned through play, these are advances from when we started home education.
Make sure you refer to progress made in other subjects including numeracy and literacy.
This will be around a paragraph of detail and can be included in the main body of the report when discussing the topics learned.
Explain how your child socialises, takes part in sports or other physical activities. 2-4 lines of information is all that is needed.
EXAMPLE
Michelle goes to a weekly Home Education group where they mix with children and adults of all ages, they enjoy the opportunity to play as well as take part in their educational outings to the museums.
OR
Michelle has a couple of close friends who he regularly spends time with, playing games or riding bikes. Michelle is with his siblings and cousins daily.
If your child is unable to socialise due to anxiety for example, explain this in a positive way
EXAMPLE
Due to Michelle’s anxiety they are unable to attend groups, but they regularly speak with our neighbour and see their cousins weekly. Social opportunities are always available but they choose to take part in quieter activities with people close to them such as going to the park during the day with their brother.
IT'S OK TO NOT WANT LOTS OF FRIENDS Remember not all children need or want to go to groups or have lots of friends. You shouldn’t say anything negative here, but it is ok to say something like Michelle has been working hard on their social skills and has recently been able to play alongside other children in the park. Or whatever is right for your child.
PROTECT EVERYONE‘S PRIVACY Do not give details of specific friends or groups.
You can include resources in the body of the report or write it as a list.
Include what the child currently uses and has used since your last report NOT what they might use in the future
REMEMBER YOU NEED TO HAVE INCLUDED SPECIFIC DETAILS OF WHAT YOUR CHILD HAS LEARNED FROM THESE RESOURCES:
We suggest including specific details of:
Reading book titles (fiction/non fiction)
Workbooks (incl. age or key stage info)
Internet (list which learning sites and fun)
Library (mention how often, what they do there etc)
Art supplies (give one or more examples of what they've made etc)
Musical instruments (lessons, or self taught)
Science equipment (give examples)
Sporting equipment (give examples) etc.
MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE SPECIFCS
EXAMPLE
Jackson has been reading the Biff and Chip level 3 books.
OR
Jackson uses a CGP KS3 numeracy workbook recently covering trigonometry
Or
Jackson does science experiments with a chemistry kit, recently using it to create a volcano
You could include workshops, groups, outings etc here or elsewhere in the report.
A short list of the main resources, or a few lines included elsewhere within your report is enough. The LA don’t need to know every book the child has read, but 3 recent examples would be helpful.
Always include this at the end of your report:
‘The above is not an exhaustive list and is subject to change at any time as my child’s needs change. We expect this is adequate information to satisfy your informal enquiry, please confirm receipt.’
It is common for different people within the same LA area to be treated differently. Comparing reports with other families could lead to problems such as copying or believing you will be ok doing the same as them, however this guide really is your best bet at ensuring you include what is necessary and representative of your home education. You do not have to refer to the questions asked on LA forms or letters, these are often worded like school or are info not required.
Do not refer to school other than ‘when X left school he could do x and now can do y.’ Anything else about school is irrelevant. How the education is suitable to now is the important part.
Do not mention future school plans or if home education is a temporary situation.
Do not give specific details of clubs or people, tutor names etc as some LAs actually will, and do turn up, or contact places/people. You can say they attend a weekly home education group or use a maths tutor.
No need to use school terminology or refer to curriculum or school assessments such as SATS or EYFS.
Try not to use words like timetable, plan, or lessons. Instead refer to your routine, your day, learning time. And never mention deschooling.
Always use the term home education and never use home schooling as these are very different things.
Do not mention your own qualifications, or experience. For example some LAs will expect former teachers to be creating school at home and have issues if you don’t, some will claim your educational experience is causing you not to be flexible enough etc, so don’t mention it.
Don’t talk about yourself, your work history, disabilities, mental health, siblings, marriage, holiday etc are all irrelevant here.
Don’t mention a specific number of hours, but do make a reference to how it is full time. And do not include a timetable.
Do not mention future plans, if you fail to do something this can be construed as not being committed or failing somehow.
Despite LA claims of offering support we are afraid to say this is very rare and often damaging.
We advise against sharing your concerns with the EHE team, instead reach out to us or other Home Educators via our Facebook group or website.
If you are going through a divorce or your beloved family dog has just died, if you are having a home ed wobble etc, we know for some people it is normal to want to share these elements of their life, but please don’t include them in your report, unfortunately they could be used against you if you’re in an unscrupulous LA area.
Always include examples such as 'x is using BBC Bitesize to learn about circumference.'
Never give samples such as photos, completed work, or worse still sharing login details. Nowhere in law are you required to show samples, your written report should be adequate. Providing samples is setting a precedent, one that is used against other families, especially those who do not create 'work'.
If your LA demands supporting evidence after receiving your report please use our template letters and reach out to us if you require support.
We really wish every Local Authority behaved the same, and within the law and guidance. But they don’t! Keeping things in writing protects you.
Home Educational update of provision and resources for Lorelai aged 12.
Our educational philosophy.
We believe Home Education allows Lorelai the opportunity to go completely nuts, it is best suited to them because of the freedom to bang their own drum along with suitable guidance when required.
Our style of Home Education.
We follow a mostly clown style, which means Lorelai can take charge of her clown car, whilst also being guided by the elephants to ensure core learning takes place and ensuring she can blow up balloons without them going pop! This suits Lorelai at present as they enjoy the freedom and challenges.
A full-time education.
Lorelai is at circus camp every morning and in the afternoons practices at home or with friends. They are also interested in JCB driving, so will spend many an hour digging up the back garden and uncovering interesting things that they then spend time researching or asking about.
What they have been learning.
Literacy: Clown,com online and Circus workbooks for level 3. She has recently covered the topics in tightrope walking, juggling and clown expressions.
These are then supported with in person clown workshops.
Lorelai will choose to read manuals on how to erect a circus tent and has been reading up on becoming a lion tamer, she has chosen these herself.
Numeracy: Lorelai has been working on juggling 4 balls, which is amazing progress from being able to do 2 last year.
She has learned how to calculate how many clowns will fit in a car at level 4 as well as making good progress through the workbooks for circus maths level 4
Maths is incorporated into her normal daily life with experiences such as custard pie making, having to calculate the ingredient proportions for the perfect consistency to cause the biggest splat!
Other subjects
Lorelai uses the internet for research on the items they find whilst digging, as well as many family and friends who they phone/visit to ask questions.
Lorelai has access to and regularly uses mud for painting, a tool kit for exploring how the JCB engine works, juggling balls, fire sticks and wigs.
Age, ability, aptitude and SEN
Lorelai has an aptitude and natural ability with counting clowns and therefore is learning at a level advanced for her age.
Learning to paint with mud has not been so easy, with lots of support she is now able to work at a level suitable to her ability and SEN. Being a non clown means she has to work harder to achieve the same as her peers, but she is well supported and determined to succeed.
How we ensure progress and the learning is suitable.
As mentioned, Lorelai is progressing well, we are able to see their progress as they improve their skills and move onto harder levels. A year ago she could not juggle without support, and has moved on from walking the tightrope a foot from the floor to being up high. Lorelai is confident in literacy and numeracy, but is given extra support with mud work.
Social
As a family we attend regular circus outings with other families where Lorelai will engage with children and adults. She has many friends who she sees a few times a week sometimes as part of the clown sessions, and also to go skydiving or causing riots together. She engages confidently with those she knows and with our support is starting to be able to laugh with people she has not met before.
The above is not an exhaustive list and is subject to change at any time as their needs change. We expect this is adequate information to satisfy your informal enquiry, please confirm receipt.
It is vital you protect your right to home educate by knowing what you must do as a home educator and what the LA can and shouldn't do.
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and much more.
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