Some parents choose to educate their children at home, for a variety of reasons. Lewisham Council, as the Local Education Authority (LEA), supports the right of parents to educate at home and has very few rights to intervene.
If you choose to educate your child at home, visits will be made by the school improvement officer or by an experienced colleague working for the LEA, who may be accompanied by an attendance and welfare officer.
The visitor will want to speak with you, and with your child or children if you agree, about the work for the next few months and your long term educational plans.
The purpose of this visit is to monitor the quality and range of the curriculum being offered by you and to offer advice where time allows.
What to do if you wish to educate your child at home
Pre-school children
If your child is of pre-school age you do not need to do anything, though it would help us if you would write to the Director of Education stating that you intend educating your child at home from the intended date. Please include your child's name, date of birth, address and telephone number.
Children between 5 and 15
If you are withdrawing your child from the school that he or she currently attends and he or she is of statutory school age (between 5 and 16) you must write to the headteacher of your child’s school. You must request that he or she is removed from the school roll as you are exercising your legal duty to provide education otherwise than at school. The headteacher will inform Lewisham Education within two weeks of your request being received.
Once the LEA has received notification from the school, or from you if your child is not on the roll of a school, you will be sent a booklet and questionnaire. If after reading this you decide to proceed with your plan to educate otherwise than at school please complete the questionnaire and return it to the address on the questionnaire.
What happens next
After the questionnaire has been received by the authority you will be contacted to agree a mutually convenient date for an initial visit to be arranged. The visit will be made by the school improvement officer or by an experienced colleague working for the LEA, who may be accompanied by an attendance and welfare officer.
It will take some time (a month or more) for this visit to be arranged.
Frequently asked questions
Do children have to go to school?
Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 states that it is the duty of parents to secure an appropriate education for their children.
For most children in Lewisham this means that they will attend a school which serves their community. For a wide variety of reasons a small minority of parents and carers decide to provide education for their children themselves.
How many other people are educating their own children in Lewisham?
There are currently about 100 children out of a total school population of about 36,000 who are being educated by their parents at home in Lewisham.
Some parents provide it all themselves and some provide it in co-operation with other parents, neighbours and/or tutors. Some use materials and ideas from outside agencies such as Education Otherwise and some use correspondence courses.