UK home education guide
How to tell the school you are home educating
Updated · 2 min read
The conversation with school is the part parents rehearse for weeks. Handled plainly it is one email, and it can end warmly.
It's simpler than it feels — if you remember whose decision it is. (England, mainstream school.)
Telling the school you're leaving — the do's and don'ts that make it clean, calm and legally watertight. You're informing, not asking.
The frame
You're informing, not asking
Deregistration isn't a request. The letter states your decision; the school must act on it.
The trap: open with 'we're thinking about maybe…' and invite a debate. What works instead: state it plainly: 'I am withdrawing [name] to home educate'.
The paperwork
Put it in writing
Verbal conversations evaporate. A dated letter or email creates the record that protects you.
The trap: rely on a chat at the gate or a phone call. What works instead: email or letter, dated, asking for written confirmation.
The meeting invite
The exit meeting is optional
Schools often invite you in to 'discuss'. Go if it's useful to you — but it changes nothing legally.
The trap: feel obliged to defend your decision to a panel. What works instead: attend only if YOU want to — kindly and briefly.
Schools usually mean well with the exit meeting, and some parents find it useful for handing back reading books and saying goodbye properly. It is a courtesy either way, and it changes nothing about the decision.
The tone
Leave warmly
Teachers usually aren't the reason you're going. A kind exit keeps doors open — for clubs, for friends, even for coming back.
The trap: turn the letter into a list of grievances. What works instead: thank them for what was good. Keep it clean.
The aftermath
Then comes the quiet
No more school runs or newsletters — and no more school doing the planning. That job just became yours.
The one line that does the work
'I am withdrawing (child's name) from (date) to home educate, and I would be grateful for written confirmation that they have been removed from the roll.'
Everything else in the letter is manners. Keep the tone kind, keep a copy of what you sent, and let the school get on with its part.