Elective home education: Guidelines for local authorities was published in November 2007 to support local authorities in carrying out their statutory responsibilities with regard to home education. It also encouraged good practice by clearly setting out the legislative position and roles and responsibilities of local authorities and parents in relation to children who are educated at home.
These guidelines were published by the previous Government and may not represent current Government Policy. However, paragraph 5.6 of the document, on flexi-schooling, has been removed.
Clarification on Flexi-Schooling
On 22 February 2013, the Government published revised advice on school attendance. The advice clarified the Government’s expectations on how various school attendance codes should be used to record pupil school attendance.
Schools should not mark a pupil as attending school, using the attendance code B for off-site education activity, unless the school is responsible for supervising the off-site education, and can ensure the safety and the welfare of the pupil off-site. Schools are ultimately responsible for the attainment of every child registered on their roll. Whilst being home educated, parents and carers are responsible for pupils, not schools.
Where parents have entered in to flexi-schooling arrangements, schools may continue to offer those arrangements. Pupils should be marked absent from school during periods when they are receiving home education.
The reference in the Government’s revised advice on school attendance, that was categorical that a school could not agree to a flexi-schooling arrangement, has been removed.
