How to reply to the local authority

This is the only part of the page that really matters. The two look similar and they are not remotely the same thing.

• It can ask. An authority may enquire informally about the education a child is receiving, and that is a reasonable thing for it to do.
• You are not required to meet anyone. There is no duty to attend a meeting or to accept a visit to your home.
• You are not required to let anyone see your child. An officer has no right of access to a home educated child.
• Your child does not have to be assessed or tested. No SATs, no reading age, no sample of work to a template.
• You do not have to use the national curriculum, keep school hours, or follow a timetable.
• You do not have to register, in England, unless and until the Children Not in School provisions are commenced. See the register explained.

What an authority does have is the duty behind all of this: if it appears to it that a child is not receiving suitable education, it must act. A short, confident written reply is what makes that appearance go away.

One page. Prose, not a form. You are describing an education, not justifying yourself, and the tone that works is the tone of somebody who has this in hand.

1. Say what you are doing. Your child's name and age, that they are educated at home under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, and since when.
2. Describe the education in paragraphs. What the mornings look like, which subjects, roughly how the day runs, what your child is reading. Two or three paragraphs is plenty.
3. Give three or four concrete examples. A topic finished, a book read, a trip, a piece of work. Specifics do more than any amount of philosophy.
4. Say how you know it is working. How you notice progress. It does not have to be a test.
5. Offer a written report, not a visit. Say you are happy to provide a written account annually. Most authorities accept this and it is a normal thing to offer.

Then the stakes change and the deadline is real. The authority must give you at least 15 days from service, and it is saying that on the information it has, your child may not be receiving suitable education.

1. Reply inside the deadline, in writing. Late is the single worst thing you can do here.
2. Answer the substance. Everything in the section above, with more detail and more examples.
3. Attach evidence. Work, a reading list, a record of what has been covered, photographs of things made. This is what a record kept from week one is for.
4. Ask what specifically concerns them, if the notice does not say. You are entitled to answer the actual worry rather than guess at it.
5. Get advice if you are unsure. Education Otherwise and the Home Education Advisory Service both help with this and have seen it many times.

If the authority is not satisfied, and it considers it expedient that the child attend school, section 437(3) lets it serve a school attendance order. That is rare, and it is far rarer still for a family that replied fully and on time.