Home education in Somerset

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

Families in North Somerset or Bath and North East Somerset deal with those councils instead, and you can check yours by postcode with GOV.UK's find your local council.

After you deregister

Somerset's types of schools page says you must tell the school in writing if you choose home education. If the school isn't told, it warns, absences may lead to legal action. How to deregister your child from school walks through the rest, with a letter to copy.

The same page says that if your child attends a special school named in an EHC plan, you must get the council's agreement before removing them. A child with an EHC plan at a mainstream school can be deregistered in the usual way, and SEND and home education covers what happens to the plan.

The council's pages don't say who will contact you once your child is off the roll, or how soon. Its elective home education page says only that it may contact parents and carers to discuss home education.

When the council gets in touch

You don't have to respond, the council's page says. Where more information is needed about a child's learning or welfare, though, it advises you to, because a reply "can help stop statutory action from being taken". The types of schools page adds that the council may ask for information or evidence of what your child is learning. If there isn't enough evidence of an efficient and suitable education, it says, it must take steps to find a solution.

Neither page mentions home visits, a form to fill in or how often the council will be in touch. The same elective home education page also says that you can choose how, when and with whom learning takes place, and that you don't need formal learning plans, lessons or assessments.

With no local policy published for now, the national guidance is what's left. The DfE recommends that councils contact home-educating families at least once a year as a rule (guidance for local authorities, 5.4). The guidance for parents says education law doesn't oblige you to agree to a meeting or to produce specific evidence (5.4). If you don't reply at all, though, the council can conclude that your child doesn't appear to be getting a suitable education (5.3). How to reply to the council sets out a written reply, and what to look for in a council policy is worth rereading once Somerset publishes its new one.

Exams

Somerset's pages describe no exam offer of the council's own. Its home education page says you approach local exam centres, usually schools and colleges, that accept private candidates, and that an entry fee is payable. It points to the JCQ list of centres, which you can search by postcode. Exam centres for private candidates explains how to find one and what it costs.

Support the council lists

• Somerset's SEND Local Offer and its SEND service directory, both linked from the home education page.
• The directory includes home education groups: Taunton Home Education, Home Educators Yeovil and Bridgwater Home Educators.
• The home education page also links to the elective home education advice from Somerset SENDIAS, the local SEND information and advice service.
• If your child goes back to school, you can ask for a place at any time through in-year school admissions.

Contacting the home education team

Somerset's home education page doesn't give an email address or phone number for a home education team. It sends you to the council's contact us page, which lists the general line, 0300 123 2224 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm), and an online enquiry form. For a school place, the page gives the School Admissions team's email, schooladmissions@somerset.gov.uk.