This covers England and is general information, not legal advice. Each council has its own home education policy, so read yours alongside this.
What the report is for
A report is one way to answer an "informal enquiry", the letter a council sends because section 436A requires it to identify, as far as it can, children in its area who aren't at school and aren't receiving a suitable education. How to handle the letter, visits included, is in how to reply when your council asks.
What the report has to show is that you're meeting your own duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996: "efficient full-time education suitable" to your child's age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs, "either by regular attendance at school or otherwise". Replying is optional, but a council that hears nothing is entitled to conclude your child doesn't appear to be getting a suitable education (the DfE's guidance for parents, paragraph 5.3).
The guidance for local authorities is more specific about what a council looks for. Describing how a council should weigh what parents send once it has served a formal notice, it says the information should show that the education actually being provided is suitable, and address the progress expected and, unless home education has only just started, the progress achieved. What you intend to do, or a description of your teaching approach on its own, isn't enough (paragraph 6.12). Parents should also enable the council to judge the overall time spent, in hours a week and weeks a year (9.9).
What it doesn't need
| You don't need | Where the guidance says so |
|---|---|
| A timetable or set hours | No timetable, set hours, or school hours, days or terms (parents' guidance, 2.8) |
| The National Curriculum | No requirement to teach it (parents' guidance, 2.11; local authority guidance, 9.4) |
| A qualified teacher's report | A council shouldn't dismiss information because it isn't in the form it prefers, "eg, a report by a qualified teacher" (local authority guidance, 6.12) |
| The council's own form | The same paragraph covers this, and you aren't obliged to produce specific evidence (parents' guidance, 5.4) |
| Marks, tests or formal targets | No legal requirement to mark work, formally assess progress or set development objectives (parents' guidance, 2.11) |
Straight after that list, though, the parents' guidance makes a fair point: it's likely to be much easier to show the education is suitable if you've paid attention to breadth and to progress in relation to your child's ability (2.12).
The sections a good report usually has
The child and the period covered
Name, date of birth, the year group they'd be in at school or their age, and the dates the report covers. Add when home education started.
Your approach
A short paragraph on how your child learns and why it suits them. Keep it brief, because on its own it isn't evidence. Structured, informal and anything in between can all be suitable, and councils shouldn't specify a curriculum or approach (local authority guidance, 10.14).
What's been learnt, by area
Start with literacy and numeracy, since councils may set expectations for both, applied to your child's own ability and aptitude (local authority guidance, 9.4). Then the wider range: science, history and geography, languages, the arts, practical skills, whatever your child spends time on. For each area, say what was covered and with what.
How you judge progress
You don't have to test. Say how you know things are moving: work that's got harder, a skill that's now secure, books read independently that would have been too hard a term ago. Compare with your child's own starting point. The guidance tells councils to make allowances where a child's ability is well above or below average (9.4).
Time spent
Give a typical week in hours and roughly how many weeks a year, counting reading, visits and clubs as well as sit-down work. Full-time has no legal definition, but the guidance expects you to be able to put a number on it (parents' guidance, 2.7 and 2.9). The hours calculator turns a normal week into a yearly total.
Resources, groups, tutors and trips
Courses, books and websites; tutors and what they teach; classes and groups; visits. The local authority guidance says councils should be prepared to take account of part-time settings such as sports clubs and drama schools (10.11).
Social and physical activity
Marked isolation from other children can point to an education not being suitable, and the guidance says suitable education should involve socialisation (local authority guidance, 9.4). A few lines on clubs, groups, sport and friends answer that. If this section looks thin, see home education groups and friends.
Plans for the coming months
What comes next in each main area. This is the "progression expected" that the guidance asks about.
Samples attached
A numbered list, so the reader can match each sample to the text.
An example to copy
Replace everything in square brackets. The phrases inside them show the level of detail, not what your child should be doing.
HOME EDUCATION REPORT
Child: [Child's full name]
Date of birth: [date]
Year group or age: [Year 8 / age 12]
Home educated since: [month, year]
Period covered: [start date] to [end date]
Written by: [your name], [parent / carer]
1. Our approach
[Two or three sentences. For example: "Maths and
English most mornings, using [course or book]. The rest
follows projects chosen together, with [Child] leading
on topics such as ..."]
2. What has been learnt
English: [What was read and written. For example:
"Read [titles]. Wrote a book review, a diary of our trip
to [place] and a short story, drafted twice."]
Maths: ["We work through [course] a chapter a week.
Since [month]: fractions, ratio, starting algebra."]
Science: [Topics, resources, practical work.]
History and geography: [Topics, books, visits.]
Other: [Art, music, a language, computing, cooking ...]
3. Progress
["At the start of the period [Child] could ... Now they
can ... See samples 1 and 4." Do the same for maths:
"In [month] [Child] needed help with ...; by [month]
they were doing ... on their own (sample 2)." Compare
with their own starting point, area by area.]
4. Time
[About ... hours a week, about ... weeks a year,
including reading, visits and clubs.]
5. Resources, groups and tutors
[Courses and books; [subject] tutor, ... hours a week;
[group] on [day]; library; trips to ...]
6. Social and physical activity
[Clubs, sport, groups, time with friends.]
7. Plans for the next [six months]
[What comes next in each main area, and any exams
being considered.]
8. Samples attached
1. [date] English: first and final draft of a story
2. [date] Maths: page of ratio problems
3. [date] Science: photo and notes from an experiment
4. [date] English: book review
Contact: [email]. [Whether you would welcome a
conversation, and how.]
Signed: [your name] Date: [date]For a younger or older child
A primary-age report can be shorter. Reading, early writing and number come first, and photos of practical work or notes of what your child said can stand in for written samples. For KS3 and KS4, name the subjects, the courses or textbooks and any exams you're planning; the parents' guidance asks families to consider public exams such as GCSEs before they start (3.1). See GCSEs as a private candidate and finding an exam centre.
How long, and in what tone
Nothing in the guidance sets a length, and a few clear pages plus the samples will usually cover it. Write plainly, in the first person, about what happened. Skip the philosophy essay and the apologies.
What to leave out
Share what shows the education is suitable, and stop there. Leave out family matters that don't bear on the education, other children's names or faces in photos, and medical detail beyond what explains how you teach. Send copies, never originals.
Choosing the samples
A few from each main area will do, dated and spread across the period. Ordinary work shows the education is happening better than a polished folder does, and an early piece next to a recent one in the same area shows progress. Save a couple each week and you'll have plenty when the time comes; home education records explains the habit.
Sending it
Email is fine. Keep a copy of the report and the samples, and a note of the date you sent them.
An informal enquiry has no legal deadline. A family that has only just started can agree a reasonable timescale with the council for showing the provision is in place, as long as it doesn't leave a significant gap after school (parents' guidance, 5.5). A formal notice under section 437 is different: it must give you at least 15 days.
If your child has SEND
The education has to suit your child's special educational needs as well as their age, ability and aptitude, and the report should say how it does. Most of that fits the sections you already have. Under your approach, describe what you've adapted: pace, setting, breaks, equipment, the way you present work. Under progress, measure from your child's own starting point. If there's an EHC plan, list its outcomes and how you're working towards each. Attach any reports from therapists, educational psychologists or specialist tutors, since a council may draw on them (local authority guidance, 8.9).
A council has no right of entry to check your provision just because your child has SEN (parents' guidance, 5.20), and an EHC plan is still reviewed every year while you home educate (local authority guidance, 8.12). A report like this helps at the review as well. More in SEND and home education and home educating an autistic child.
Turning notes into a report
If you've kept notes through the year, the free education record builder turns them into a printable record in your browser, with no account. A word processor and the template above will do the same job.