Home education in Kirklees

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

After you deregister

The council's home education page suggests a letter or email to the head teacher, asking for your child's name to come off the roll and giving the date you want that to happen. The school tells the council, so you don't have to. Kirklees's home education policy says the school sends an online notification with a copy of your letter, within five days of deleting the name. If your child isn't on any school roll, you don't have to tell the council, though it says it would welcome hearing from you. The general steps are in deregistering from school in England.

Leaving a special school needs the council's consent before the name comes off. From a mainstream school, a child with an EHC plan is removed like any other pupil, with no consent needed. The policy does ask for a meeting at school before removal to review the plan, with the home education team and the council's SEN assessment team invited, and the council's page strongly recommends talking to the school and your EHCP caseworker first. What happens to the plan afterwards is covered in home education and SEND.

If you seem to be leaving over a one-off incident, attendance or behaviour, the policy says the team will explore that with you to check you haven't felt coerced, and it offers to mediate where things with a school have broken down.

When the council gets in touch

A member of the team contacts you to make informal enquiries, give advice and answer questions. The council lists what your information may cover, from your educational philosophy and resources to how you'll assess progress, how English, maths and IT fit in, exam plans, special needs, social experiences, and how your home suits learning "in terms of noise, space and general environment". Its report guidance also asks for your child's views on being home educated, their interests, who's involved in teaching them, and physical activity.

On the question about your home, the DfE's guidance for parents says there's no requirement for premises equipped to any particular standard, while accepting that very noisy surroundings could make education unsuitable (2.10 and 2.11). None of the council's home education documents mentions home visits. Its policy says the council's welfare powers give it no right to see and question a home-educated child to check the education.

When things look suitable, contact drops to a yearly update unless you've agreed otherwise. If the education doesn't appear full-time, efficient or suitable, the team talks it through, makes suggestions and arranges follow-up. A flowchart sets out the formal route after that, with 15 days to answer each of two notices before a school attendance order. The council also says it will treat no reply at all as a sign that your child doesn't appear to be getting a suitable education, which matches the DfE guidance (5.3). For what a reply can contain, see answering the council's letter and reading your council's policy.

Kirklees quotes two different school benchmarks for time: the DfE's recommended weekly hours for schools (21 to 24, by age) on its web page, and 22 to 25 hours a week for 38 weeks in its information for parents. Neither binds you. Its own policy says "full-time" has no current legal definition.

Exams

You contact a centre, register your child and pay all the fees. The council's page links AQA's list of centres and names two local schools, Madni Girls School in Dewsbury and Cambridge Street School in Batley. Over-14s need a Unique Learner Number for entries, and the team can tell you how to get one.

Kirklees College runs an English and maths GCSE offer for home-educated Year 11s. Eligible families registered as home educating in Kirklees are emailed an application directly, in April of Year 10. Calderdale College and Leeds City College are listed for 14 to 16 courses. For anything else, our exam centres guide covers booking and fees.

Support the council lists

• C+K Careers, which gets information from the team in your child's last year of compulsory education. Its Careers Chat line is 01484 213856, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.
• For SEND, the page links the Kirklees Local Offer, the Kirklees Information Advice and Support Service (KIAS) and IPSEA.
• Families Together, the council's early support for families, including emotional wellbeing help.
• Going back to school: the council offers to help find a place but can't promise the same school. For a place mid-year, see changing school during the school year.

Contacting the home education team

Email EHETeam@kirklees.gov.uk. The policy and the information for parents also give a phone number, 01484 221919: ask for the EHE team.