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Home ed

Withdrawing your child from school (Scotland)

103 replies

AMumInScotland · 25/02/2008 21:04

A thread for bumping up, to keep general information easily available.

The law in Scotland on Home Education is different from that in England. For full details, I'd recommend reading through the Schoolhouse site, but the basics are as follows:

If your child is attending a state school in the area, you must seek the consent of the education authority to withdraw them from school in order to home educate. To do this, you need to write to the Director of Education for your area, asking them to remove the child's name from the school roll. You will also have to provide outline proposals on your planned educational provision - you can either include this with your letter, or wait for them to ask, but it is quicker to include it. The local authority then has to consider whether there is any existing evidence indicating that there is good reason for refusing consent, eg child protection concern, and also whether there is evidence of the intention to provide "efficient and suitable" education. If there are no problems, they can in theory grant consent straight away, but certainly in most cases they should give a decision within 6 weeks.

You do not have to seek consent if your child has never attended state school in the area, or the school has closed down, or they have finished primary school but not started secondary.

Whether or not you have to seek consent, you will still have to give details of your educational provision, if asked by the local authority.

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AMumInScotland · 25/02/2008 21:11

What is a "suitable and efficient education"?

The Scottish Government Home Education Guidance doesn't define it, but gives the following examples:

Outcomes:

  1. to prepare the children for life in a modern civilised society; and
  2. to enable them to achieve their full potential


Characteristics:
Consistent involvement of parents or other significant carers.
Presence of a philosophy or ethos (not necessarily a recognised philosophy), with parents showing commitment, enthusiasm, and recognition of the child's needs, attitudes and aspirations.
The opportunity for the child to be stimulated by their learning experiences.
Involvement in a broad spectrum of activities appropriate to the child's stage of development.
Access to appropriate resources and materials.
The opportunity for an appropriate level of physical activity.
The opportunity to interact with other children and adults.
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Julienoshoes · 26/02/2008 09:48

bump

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Julienoshoes · 01/03/2008 10:34

bump

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Julienoshoes · 07/03/2008 17:51

bump for narkymom, in case you live in Scotland

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Julienoshoes · 14/03/2008 22:28

bump

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Julienoshoes · 21/03/2008 07:19

just bumping up the threads where information is needed frequently, to save us saying the same thing over and over.

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Julienoshoes · 30/03/2008 06:37

bump

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Julienoshoes · 04/04/2008 07:58

bumping for avenanap in case you are in Scotland

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Julienoshoes · 19/04/2008 11:52

bump

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GentleOtter · 30/04/2008 18:34

Thanks a million for this AMuminScotland.
I have a feeling that all hell is going to be let loose as I battle the local authority for funding for a special school for my child.
Their argument is that the local Secondary offers a decent education albeit mainstream, for children with special needs.
While this may well be the case they do not take the human element into consideration and cannot protect the SN children from the 'feral' children. And sod that for a game of soldiers.
The school in question is notoriously rough and my child is particularly vulnerable so I may have no other alternative than to home educate.

What a nightmare.

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julienoshoes · 08/05/2008 10:31

bump

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julienoshoes · 19/05/2008 13:04

bump

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julienoshoes · 21/05/2008 16:34

this needs to be up at the top as well.

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julienoshoes · 21/05/2008 23:14

bump again

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julienoshoes · 07/07/2008 11:21

bumped up, so essential info about home ed is kept near to the top.

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julienoshoes · 17/07/2008 18:39

bump

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julienoshoes · 30/07/2008 15:26

just bumping up the threads where information is needed frequently, to save us saying the same thing over and over.

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julienoshoes · 27/08/2008 20:49

Bumping thread, for anyone interested, as the new school term draws near.

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julienoshoes · 01/09/2008 22:22

information about home ed for onefunkymama to read.

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julienoshoes · 30/09/2008 12:42

bunping the thread, as it contains important information and it was falling down the page.

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julienoshoes · 21/10/2008 23:01

bumping this thread for people new to home education to read

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julienoshoes · 03/11/2008 13:11

bumping for newbies, who might need the information.

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beech81 · 06/11/2008 20:16

Thanks for this,seriously considering taking my daughter out of school, this answers a lot of questions

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AMumInScotland · 07/11/2008 09:26

Glad it was helpful beech - do start up a thread if you have other questions!

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julienoshoes · 25/11/2008 14:14

bumping up in case happyfaceschildcare lives in Scotland

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