Home education guidance

Section 3 Withdrawing a child from school

Why parents choose to home educate

3.1 Parents/carers may choose to home educate their children for many different reasons. Parents/carers do not have to give a reason for choosing home education when requesting to withdraw their child from school. Any reason given should have no bearing on whether or not consent is given, as the authority's interest lies in how the parent/carer intends to educate their child, not their reason for doing so.

3.2 The following reasons are common, but not exhaustive:

• The wish to follow a particular philosophy, including an educational philosophy;
• Religious or cultural beliefs;
• Dissatisfaction with the system;
• A child's reluctance or anxiety regarding attending school or other educational setting;
• Issues at school, e.g. bullying;
• Geographical - due to remoteness, or mobility for work or cultural reasons;
• The wish to support a child with additional support needs in a particular way;
• As a short-term intervention for a particular reason.

3.3 While parents/carers do not have to provide the authority with a reason for their request to withdraw their child from school, it may be helpful for the authority to understand the circumstances which have led to this decision. Parents/carers are strongly encouraged to engage in discussions with the local authority prior to making the choice to home educate in order to ensure that all options for the provision of education and any additional support, or strategies which may be of benefit to the child or young person, have been considered by their parents/carers and the authority. This will ensure that parents/carers have a clear understanding of what support their local authority may be able to provide to their child if the choice has been made to home educate.

3.4 For children and young people with additional support needs attending school, the local authority must provide them with the support they need to fully benefit from their education, as the local authority is responsible for providing the appropriate education for children being educated at a local authority school. Similarly, where a child cannot attend school temporarily due to a mental or physical health reason, the local authority must likewise provide the necessary support to aid their education. If parents are unhappy with the level or type of support that their child is receiving, they should raise their concerns with the school, or local authority, to try to come to a suitable resolution. Where concerns cannot be resolved through discussions with the school or local authority, the 2004 Act provides a number of ways in which parents can try to resolve concerns about the support that is being provided to their child at school.

3.5 If the child's current school cannot meet their needs, the local authority should explore other ways to provide the support. Home education should not be used as an alternative to the local authority providing a child or young person with the support they need to stay in school or under the responsibility of the education authority. Home education should always be a choice made by families.

3.6 Further information for parents/carers is available from Enquire^[21], the national advice and information service for additional support for learning. Children and young people looking for further advice and information can access Reach.scot,^[22] which has advice and information for pupils to understand their rights to feel supported, listened to, included and involved in decisions at school. As set out elsewhere in this guidance, the duties on local authorities under the 2004 Act do not extend to children and young people who are not on the school roll of a school in that area. Where a parent/carer is considering requesting to withdraw their child from a school roll, it is important to discuss with the local authority what support may be available if their child is withdrawn from the school roll.

3.7 Guidance for schools and local authorities is provided through the Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017^[23].

Who needs consent?

3.8 Under section 35 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, parents or guardians of a child who has been attending a public school must seek the local authority's consent before withdrawing their child from that school, and the authority must not unreasonably withhold consent to withdraw. It should be noted that while consent is needed for withdrawal from school, consent is not needed to home educate in itself. Parents/carers are however strongly encouraged to engage with the local authority regarding their intent to home educate, while local authorities are encouraged to respect the validity of the choice to home educate, and families’ right to make this choice. Making the choice to home educate should not be viewed as a child protection concern unless there is reason to believe that concern is warranted.

Consent to withdraw a child from school is not needed in the following situations:

• The child has never attended a public school;
• The child has never attended a public school in that authority's area;
• The child is being withdrawn from an independent school;
• The child has finished primary education in one school but has not started secondary education in another.
• The school the child has been attending has closed;
• The child is not yet of school age.

3.9 There is no statutory duty upon families to inform the local authority that they are home educating if they do not require consent to withdraw from a school roll, however this guidance strongly encourages parents/carers to make known to their local authority their intention to home educate. The local authority should seek to promote collaborative relationships with home educating families by informing families about what support may or may not be available to them, and to offer practical support and resources as set out in section 5 of this guidance. Authorities are not legally obliged to provide any resources for home educated children or their parent/carer, as full responsibility for a child’s education is held by their parent/carer after a local authority communicates their consent to withdraw the child from the school roll. The local authority may choose to provide support at their discretion. Local authority support may take a variety of forms and may simply be provision of contact details on the authority’s website.

3.10 Home educators are strongly encouraged to make themselves known to their local authority and both parties are encouraged to form a collaborative and constructive relationship considering the best interests of the child. Positive partnership between home educating families and local authorities is considered to be in the best interests of the child. Where there are difficulties in this relationship it may be helpful to consider mediation. More information about mediation services in Scotland can be found from Scottish Mediation.^[24] Additionally, where a local authority is aware of the full number of home educating families in its area, the needs of home educators in the area can be better reflected in future policy development and resource considerations.

Withdrawing the child from school - the process

3.11 The process for considering a parent/carer's request to withdraw a child from a school roll should be fair, clear, transparent and consistent. This process should be carried out without undue or unnecessary delay. Parents/carers should write as early as possible and, where reasonably practicable, well in advance of the date they wish to withdraw their child from school. It is for a parent/carer to consider whether consent to withdraw from the school roll is required (with reference to the exemptions set out at paragraph 3.8) and to then write to the local authority to request to withdraw from the school roll if no exemptions apply. Parents/carers may find it useful to consider the Enquire factsheet on home education^[25] , which sets out information on this process. Local authorities should have regard to the individual circumstances of the child and any issues that they may be experiencing at school. Local authorities should be aware that a request to withdraw from the school roll can be made at different points in the year, and that the expectation remains that a request should be proceeded without undue or unnecessary delay. The authority should endeavour to issue a response as soon as possible in circumstances where a child may be suffering distress or be experiencing difficulties as a result of continued attendance at school.

3.12 Local authorities should respect the decision to home educate as a legitimate choice, and be reminded that consent to withdraw a child from a school roll should not be unreasonably withheld. Local authorities should aim to issue a decision on consent to withdraw a child from school within 6 weeks of the receipt of the original request. It is expected that the majority of requests should be dealt with well within this timescale. However, in a small minority of cases it may not be possible for a decision to be issued within 6 weeks. The parent/carer should be kept informed of the progress of the request, the reason for any delay, and the likely timescale to reach a decision. While the time taken to process a request should be kept to a minimum, it is in the interest of all parties that sufficient time is allowed for the processing of each individual case.

3.13 The authority should seek to issue a decision as soon as possible. As set out in paragraph 2.4, local authorities should seek the views of the child in question as part of their consideration of the request, should the child wish to give their opinion. The child should not be required to give an opinion if they do not wish to do so. This is in line with Article 12 of the UNCRC, wherein a child must be provided the opportunity to share their opinion, should they wish to do so. Local authorities may find it useful to consider the aspects of education described below, to aid the process of considering the parent/carer’s request to withdraw their child from the school roll. It is recommended that this is cross-referenced with the information on a 'suitable and efficient' education set out at paragraph 2.17 in terms of legislation, and the purpose of education set out in UNCRC Article 29 at paragraph 2.3 of this document. It should be noted that, as set out in paragraph 3.3, parent's/carer's are not required to indicate the reasons that they are requesting to withdraw their child from the school roll. In addition, it should be taken into consideration that in these early stages, a parent/carer’s proposals may not be detailed, and they may not yet be in a position to respond fully to all of the information requested, which may include:

• how the child's education will help to prepare them for life in modern society and achieve their full potential;
• how to ensure that the views of the child are heard, should the child wish to provide them, including the views of the child on the decision to home educate;
• the approach to how the child will be home educated;
• how the education provided will take into account and support the child's individual needs, learning strategies, attitudes and aspirations;
• the kinds of resources and materials the child will have access to;
• how the child will have opportunities to interact with other children and adults;
• Information on physical activity;
• how the child will be involved in a broad spectrum of activities and be stimulated by their learning experiences;

3.14 Parents/carers should be given the opportunity to address any specific concerns that the authority has, within a reasonably practicable period.

3.15. If no evidence exists of reasonable grounds to withhold consent to withdraw from the school roll, and parents/carers have provided some indication of their educational objectives and proposed resources, consent to withdraw can be granted immediately.

Withholding consent to withdraw

3.16 The local authority may not unreasonably withhold their consent to withdraw a child from school. The local authority should notify the family in writing of their decision, setting out reasons and the grounds for refusal if consent to withdraw is withheld. Parents/carers should then be given the opportunity, within a reasonably practicable period, to address the grounds for refusal and resubmit their request for reconsideration.

3.17 In the period between receipt of an request to withdraw the child from the school roll and a decision being issued, the local authority should take a reasonable approach to attendance procedures. As set out in 3.30, local authorities should have regard to any distress that the child may experience by continuing to attend school while awaiting the request. In most cases it would be inappropriate to initiate or pursue attendance procedures, in respect of awaiting consent for the child to be withdrawn from school.

3.18 During this period, local authorities should continue to identify, provide, and review any additional support required by children and young people to support them with their learning. Where there are concerns about this support, authorities should continue to engage with parents to try to resolve these concerns. For further information on addressing concerns about support, please see the Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3.19 Local authorities should acknowledge that potential home educators come from a range of backgrounds and communities, and that these factors should not bear upon the authority's decision.

3.20 Parents are not required to have any qualifications or training to home educate their children.

Information held in the child's records

3.21 On receipt of a request from a parent to withdraw a child from school, local authorities should consider carefully whether there is any existing evidence in an authority's own records (including SEEMiS) or, where appropriate, from other services or agencies indicating that there may be good reason to refuse consent to withdraw the child from school. Previous irregular attendance is not of itself a sufficient reason for refusing consent to withdraw from school. Specific instances where such consent to withdraw a child from school may not be able to be granted immediately are:

• where a child has been referred to social work, police or health for child protection reasons, and the matter is being investigated;
• where a child is subject to a Child Protection Planning Meeting, has an Interim Safety Plan or a Child Protection Plan;
• where a child is subject to an Interim Compulsory Supervision Order, a Compulsory Supervision Order, or a Child Protection Order;
• where there is a history of domestic abuse in the family home;
• where a child is on the child protection register;
• where a child has been referred to the Children's Reporter on care and protection grounds, whether welfare or offence based, and the referral is being considered.

3.22 Consideration should also be made as to whether the above applies to any of the child's siblings or other children resident in the home. If the child is subject to any of the above, then consideration should be given to requesting a multi-agency meeting to discuss the request to home educate, and how this may be supported as part of the child's care plan.

Processing of data by local authorities

3.23 Local authorities must ensure any personal data processed as part of a request to withdraw a child from a school roll is processed in accordance with data protection law. This includes but is not limited to the processing of personal data when receiving and considering a request to withdraw a child from a school roll; and the processing of personal data in the retention of information about children known to be home educating within that local authority area. The "UK GDPR" and the Data Protection Act 2018^[26] together provide the legal framework for data protection compliance ensuring that personal information is used fairly and lawfully. These privacy rules apply to every organisation processing personal data. Local authorities will wish to consider the use of a Data Protection Impact Assessment.

3.24 Personal data is information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. Personal data may also include special category personal data or criminal conviction and offences data. These are considered to be more sensitive and can may only be processed in more limited circumstances.

3.25 The data protection principles^[27] are at the heart of the data protection regime. The emphasis is placed firmly on the rights of people, with responsibility on organisations to incorporate data protection into their business. Compliance with the data protection principles and in particular fairness should be central to all processing of children's personal data.

3.26 Individual rights^[28] are set out in the UK GDPR, and local authorities must process personal data in accordance with those rights. Children have the same rights as adults over their personal data, and they may exercise these rights on their own behalf if they have a general understanding of what it means to do so. The most common is the right of access, commonly referred to as a subject access request, which gives people the right to obtain a copy of their personal data.

3.27 This would include any potential disclosure of personal data to an internal or external partner(s)/agency/ies, where a lawful basis under the legislation must be identified to enable the disclosure and the personal data to be provided is kept to what is necessary and proportionate to meet the aim/purpose.

Resolving disputes and complaints

3.28 There is no statutory right to appeal against a local authority's decision to withhold consent to withdraw a child from school. However, local authorities should provide parents/carers with details about their complaints procedure, and all decisions should be reviewed internally by local authorities on request. Some local authorities may wish to recommend using their own mediation services to resolve issues, and the existence of these should be made known to home educating families. If the local authority complaints process has been pursued by a parent/carer, but they remain dissatisfied with the outcome, they can then choose to pursue the matter with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO^[29] ). Decisions made by public authorities under their statutory powers may generally be subject to legal challenge in the Court of Session by way of Judicial Review.