How to Deregister Your Child From School (Including Template Letter)

You’ve chosen to home educate! This is the start of your child’s exciting Home Education journey! 

Now, if your child has been attending school you’re probably wondering how you go about deregistering them. Don’t worry, it’s not as difficult and daunting as it may sound. We’re going to explain exactly how to deregister your child from school and what you need to know. We’ve even created a deregistration template letter, which you can use and customise! It’s really simple.

If your child has never attended school you don’t need to do anything. This means there’s no need to notify your Local Education Authority and you can start home educating right away. One thing to remember is that you must start home educating when your child reaches compulsory school age.

Your Right to Home Educate

Anyone has the right to home educate and no one can tell you otherwise. Your responsibility? To provide your child a suitable education and one that meets their own needs and follows their interests and goals.

You know your child better than anyone, which means you’ll likely know what works for their education too. Home Education is unique to each individual and we all have different reasons for choosing it. 

It’s likely that your decision to take your child out of school will be questioned, especially by people who don’t have an understanding of what homeschooling is. The best thing to do is simply accept that other people will have different opinions and it shouldn’t matter to you if you are confident in your choices. Trust your instincts, block out the doubt, and enjoy the journey. 

What Does Deregistering Mean?

Once you’ve made the decision to home educate, deregistering is simply taking your child’s name off of the school register. This is done by a letter of request and informing the school that you will now be homeschooling your child.

Once your child is deregistered, they can no longer attend school and must be home educated. If they want to go back to school, you’ll have to re-register them.

Do You Need Permission?

England, Northern Ireland and Wales

From a mainstream school, you do not need permission to home educate but you will have to let your child’s school know that you are deregistering them.

If your child attends a Special Educational Needs school you will need consent before you deregister them. This is not the case if your child has SEN and attends a mainstream school. Find out more here.

In terms of getting permission from partners or coparents, there is no rule that you must both agree. However, for everything to go smooth-sailing it is recommended that you have a discussion about Home Education first, just to make sure that you’re both on the same page. 

You can easily deregister your child from school without your partner or co-parent’s permission — but they can just as easily re-register them, so it’s best to reach the same agreement. 

Scotland

You will need permission to home educate from your local education department. This does not apply if:

• you move to a new local authority area
• your child has never attended school
• your child is leaving p7 (end of primary school)
• your child attends a private school

How to Deregister Your Child From School

1. Discuss your reasons for wanting to deregister your child from school

It’s a good idea to talk about or write down your reasons for wanting to deregister your child from school. Obviously, the main reason would be to home educate them, but many of us have more specific reasons for coming to this decision. Not only will this make your choice clearer but it will also motivate you to start off on the right foot. 

It will make things a lot easier if you and your partner or co-parent are on the same page as you both have the same rights. 

2. Write a deregistration letter

Deregistration letters are pretty simple. All you need to do is inform your child’s school that you will be home educating and that you request that their name be removed from the school register. 

Letters can be handwritten, typed or emailed. If you’re not sure on how to write one, feel free to use our Deregistration Letter Template. 

3. Get acknowledgement from the school

It’s recommended that you get the school to confirm that they’ve received the deregistration letter by email or receipt so that you always have proof of deregistering. It’s also so the school can’t claim that they never received the letter. 

If you’ve sent your child’s deregistration letter by post, get a postal receipt. 

Don’t worry if the school does not acknowledge or respond to your letter. You’ve done all you need to do and can start home educating. 

4. Start home educating as soon as you’ve deregistered

Once you’ve sent or handed in the deregistration letter you can start home educating. Remember, you do not need to give any notice. On their last day of school, whenever you’ve chosen that to be, their education is your responsibility.

Important Things to Know About Deregistering Your Child From School

Here are some important points to remember and keep in mind when deregistering your child from school.

• Before removing your children from school you must deregister them.
• Home Education must start on the first day that your child is at home after deregistering. 
• You are not obliged to attend any meetings that the school or Local Education Authorities (LEA) propose after sending the deregistration letter. 
• If any meetings are requested, just respond politely and decline. 
• It’s the school’s responsibility to remove your child from the register and inform the LEA.
• If your child is due to start, or is already enrolled in a nursery, then you must inform the nursery that you no longer need the place. This is the same for a child who is under 5 and registered at a school. 
• You can always re-register your child at school.

We hope everything is now a lot clearer for you and that you feel more confident in your decision to deregister your child and how to do it. So, now that you’ve deregistered, what next? You might want to consider deschooling! And if you have any other questions, we’re only an email away!

Disclaimer:

The information presented in this post is through current research. We always aim to keep our posts up to date, but please be aware of any new changes that may occur through the GOV website.