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Deregistering from a school can be a very scary ordeal, it can feel incredibly overwhelming and very lonely, especially if you’re having to make this decision as a last resort, or for safeguarding concerns with the school, or because of bullying. I feel you honestly!
If your child is at a mainstream school within England or Wales (currently as of Aug 22) then you send a deregistration letter to the head of the school, this letter is your instruction that you are removing your child from the school register and into home education, this letter does not and should not include all the reasons why you are removing them. If you feel you need to explain further, include a cover note outlining why you are removing them, but do be prepared though that this may then lead to the school wanting to discuss things further with meetings etc.
There is no reason to give a timeframe, and I along with all the home ed groups I’ve been in would also advise against this, if you plan on removing them at the end of a half term then have your child say goodbye to friends or write parents a note, the day half term starts, and then send the letter the morning they are due back to school. This is so school / teachers aren’t able to guilt trip a child into staying, enforcing meetings telling you all the things they can do / will do to help your child, yet if they could do all these things now, why haven’t they done them prior to now?
If home education is really what you want and you feel right now it’s in your child’s best interest then don’t allow school to try and guilt trip you in to keeping them there, only you know what’s in your child’s best interest, and school will always be there if home ed doesn’t work out for you, but what if it’s the best decision you ever made?
So to send that letter, you can either send it in letter form, either via the post (I’d advise to send with a signature) hand delivering or via email, email is perfectly acceptable! I have seen times where the school expect a wet signature on a physical letter before they will accept the letter, so if that is the case print out the email, sign it and drop it into school.
They may come back with notions that they have to have meetings, gain permission from the LA etc, they currently do not, they may say you need to fill in forms, you do not those are for the school to fill out, your letter is an instruction to remove your child not a request. If this is the case then you should send a failure to deregister letter.
It is not your place to inform the Local Authority (LA) that is the job of the school.
Here is a letter you can use, PLEASE make sure you change what is inside the ** sections.
Dear *Head teachers name*
Ref: *Include child’s full name and date of birth*
Please remove *child’s name* from the school roll with immediate effect in accordance with Regulation 8.(1) (d)that he has ceased to attend the school and the proprietor has received written notification from the parent that the pupil is receiving education otherwise than at school; of the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006. *Child’s name* is now home educated in accordance with section 7 of the Education Act 1996.
Please confirm receipt of this *letter/email* and that *child’s name* has been removed from the school roll.
Yours Sincerely
*Sign*
It is incredibly important that you read, read and re read the EHE Guidelines, as these outline your rights and responsibilities as a home educator. You can find the parent copy here.
It is also incredibly important to note that education MUST begin from day one! However, how that looks is up to you. It could be a bike ride round a local lake, woods, bike trail etc.
I discuss the LA, and education from day one further in other posts.
Nicci x
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