England. The short version: you do not ask permission, you give notice. And you name the day it takes effect.
The legal ground
Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places the duty to educate on you, not the state: every child of compulsory school age must receive “efficient full-time education” suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, “either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.” Home education is the “or otherwise”. It has always been lawful.
The steps
Write to the school, and name a day. A short letter or email to the headteacher saying that your child will no longer attend after a named day and will be educated otherwise than at school from then on, and asking for their name to be deleted from the admission register under regulation 9(1)(f) of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. The template below is enough.
Keep sending your child until that day has passed. This is the part that catches families out. Regulation 9(1)(f) removes the name only once the day you named has passed, not on the day the school opens your email. Write “after 1 October” on 10 September and you have three weeks in which your child is still on the roll and every missed session is unauthorised absence. The DfE's guidance to local authorities says it outright: until the name comes off the roll, a parent “is at risk of prosecution for not securing attendance at the school even if suitable home education is being provided”. If you want the withdrawal to take effect at once, name the day you are writing, or one already gone.
Then it is done. Once the named day has passed the school must delete the name and tell the local authority it has done so. The school does not decide whether to agree; the two things it can hold you to are the day you named and the consent cases below.
Expect a letter from the local authority. Under the Department for Education's elective home education guidance the authority may make informal enquiries about the education you are providing. You are not legally obliged to answer, though it is usually easier to. Reply politely with a short description of your approach. Your StudyDen report, compiled from real completed work, is exactly the kind of evidence that settles this conversation quickly.
When you need consent, and when you do not
An EHC plan at a mainstream school: no consent needed. This is the case families are most often told is a problem, and it is not one. The DfE's guidance for parents says the ordinary steps above “also apply to children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan attending mainstream schools”. The plan stays; the authority reviews it and will want to know how the provision in it is being met.
A special school the authority placed your child at: consent needed. Regulation 9(2) stops the school deleting the name without the local authority's agreement. If the authority refuses, you can ask the Secretary of State to settle it.
A school attendance order: it must be revoked first. While an order naming the school is in force, regulation 9(1)(f) cannot bite. The authority has to revoke or amend the order before the name can come off. Take advice before acting.
A change that is coming, but is not law yet
Section 37 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 will add a third consent case: where the local authority is carrying out child protection enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 in respect of the child, or has acted under section 47(8) in the previous five years, a parent will have to obtain the authority's consent to withdraw. That section is not in force. It commences on a day the Secretary of State appoints, and no commencement regulations have appointed it yet. Until they do, the rules on this page are the ones that apply. Check before you rely on this paragraph.
What you are NOT required to do
Follow the national curriculum, keep school hours, or replicate school at home.
Be a qualified teacher, or accept home visits as a condition of home educating.
Wait for anyone's approval before you begin.
(StudyDen follows the national curriculum's sequence for the subjects it carries, not because you must, but because it makes the “suitable education” conversation with an authority straightforward. Music is the one national curriculum subject this plan does not carry. Everything else runs Year 1 to Year 6, apart from critical thinking, which starts in Year 2, and computing and French, which start in Year 3.)
The template letter
Dear [Headteacher],
I am writing to inform you that [child's full name], [class/year], will no longer attend [school name] after [last day at school], and will receive education otherwise than at school from that day onwards.
Please delete [child's full name] from the school's admission register under regulation 9(1)(f) of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, and confirm in writing that you have done so.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
Replace everything in square brackets. Keep a copy of what you sent and the date you sent it.
After the letter
The home education guides cover what happens next: replying to the local authority, planning the first week, what a home-ed day looks like, and what it costs. For the sceptic at your table is for the relative who needs convincing.
This is general information for England, not legal advice. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have different rules. Last checked against legislation.gov.uk and the Department for Education's elective home education guidance on 28 August 2026.
Deregistering from school in England — the law, the letter, the timing