When the law changes,

Four different things, easily confused

Most of the worry around home education comes from these four being run together, so that something a council may politely ask for starts to sound like something the law demands. They are not the same, and the difference is worth knowing before you answer anyone.

1. 1

   What the law requires of you

   In England, section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places one duty on you: secure an efficient, full-time education suitable to your child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs. That is the whole of the duty.

   • There is no legal duty to follow the National Curriculum, keep school hours, use a timetable, sit tests, or hold a teaching qualification.
   • There is no legal duty to produce any document at all. Section 7 asks you to secure an education, not to evidence one.
   • Two exceptions change the ordinary route: a special school arranged by the local authority needs the authority’s consent first, and a School Attendance Order stays legally binding until it is revoked.
   • Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own systems. In Scotland you need the council’s consent to withdraw a child who has been attending a public school.
2. 2

   What a local authority may ask for

   An authority may make informal enquiries to satisfy itself that a home-educated child is receiving a suitable education. Asking is not the same as requiring, and none of the things below is a duty on you.

   • It may ask for a report, ask to visit your home, ask to meet your child, or ask to see samples of work. You can say no to any of them.
   • It cannot insist on a particular format, and it should not dismiss what you write simply because it is not in the form it would have preferred.
   • One thing here is different: a formal notice under section 437(1) is a real legal step with a set period to reply, and it is worth taking seriously and answering.
   • Engaging calmly tends to make life easier, and parents are strongly encouraged to co-operate. That is a good idea, not a legal obligation.
3. 3

   What you may choose to give

   Everything a parent typically sends an authority sits here, and all of it is optional. Departmental guidance for parents (paragraph 5.4) says you are under no legal obligation to produce specific evidence.

   • A short written account of your approach, your child’s interests and some recent learning. Most families find this alone is enough.
   • Photographs, samples of your child’s work, reading lists, a meeting, a visit. Your choice, every time, and never expected of you.
   • You can answer in writing instead of meeting, and you can decline a visit without giving a reason.
   • Choosing to give more does not make your education more legal, and choosing to give less does not make it less legal.
4. 4

   What Flybrite can help you record

   Flybrite records everyday learning as it happens and turns it into a clear account you can share if you decide to. That is what it does, and it is genuinely useful on the week a letter arrives.

   • It saves you rebuilding a year from memory, and it makes the account in rung 3 much easier to write.
   • It does not discharge the duty in rung 1. Only a suitable education does that.
   • It is not required by any authority, and no record carries special weight with one. A notebook and a phone camera work too.
   • What you share, and whether you share anything, stays entirely your decision.