Home education in Hampshire

Covers Hampshire County Council, England. General information, not legal advice. Checked against the council's own pages on 2 November 2026.

After you deregister

Hampshire strongly advises you to write to the school to say you're going to home educate: a school can't take a child off its roll without written notice, and simply keeping your child at home could lead to prosecution for non-attendance. The school then tells the council. Before you decide, you can ask for a meeting with the head teacher, and the council recommends that schools offer one (planning for EHE).

If your child goes to a special school, or there's a school attendance order, the council has to agree first, and it says it may not refuse unreasonably. If your child has never been at school, you don't have to tell the council, though it says it would help. Its online registration form is for families moving into Hampshire, children who have never been at school, and children who aren't moving on to another school at a change of phase; you don't need it if your child is leaving a Hampshire school (EHE registration).

The council also says its team manager can advise if you feel pressured to take your child out of school. For the general steps, see how to deregister from school in England.

When the council gets in touch

The council offers each home-educating family an appointment with an EHE Visitor, at home or at a venue such as a library or community centre, to give advice on education, teaching and learning, and sends you a written report of the visit (role of the local authority). It quotes the DfE's guidance, which recommends contact with home-educating families once a year.

A visit is an offer. Under the DfE's guidance you don't have to accept one, and you can answer the council's enquiries in writing instead. Our guides on replying to the council and reading a council's policy explain how.

If your child has an education, health and care plan, Hampshire's SEN service says it will contact you about an annual review within a term of your child leaving school, and reviews carry on while the plan is kept (child with an EHCP). See also home education and SEND.

Exams

The council says families take on the full cost of home education, exam fees included, and its pages don't offer exam places. Some Hampshire sixth form colleges take a small number of Year 10 and 11 home-educated students on part-time courses; you apply to a college directly (colleges and careers). To find a centre that takes private candidates, see our guide to exam centres.

Support the council lists

• Local groups including the Fareham and Gosport Home Education Group (FareGos) and Home Educators Educating Together (HEET) in Tadley, alongside national ones such as Education Otherwise and the Home Education Advisory Service (EHE information and support options).
• Award schemes open to home-educated children: the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and Arts Award.
• Hampshire SENDIASS, an independent advice service for special educational needs (phone 0808 164 5504).
• Drop-in sessions for home educators, announced on the council's home education page.

Contacting the home education team

Elective Home Education, Hampshire County Council, 1st Floor, Elizabeth II Court West, Winchester SO23 8UG. Phone 02392 441507, or email ehehampshire@hants.gov.uk. Concerns about the service go first to its EHE co-ordinator.