Homeschooling in England:

Homeschooling in England is growing

Across Europe, more and more families are choosing to educate their children from home — for the flexibility, for travel, for wellbeing, or simply because it fits their child better than a traditional classroom.

In England, educating your child from home — known locally as Elective home education (EHE) — comes with its own rules, which we walk through below. Increasingly, families meet them by enrolling in an accredited online school, so their child still gets live teaching, structure, and real friendships.

If you’re exploring your options, here’s what you need to know — and how bina can help if you’d rather not figure it all out on your own.

Is schooling from home legal in England?

Yes. Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, the parent of every child of compulsory school age must ensure they receive an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs — "either by regular attendance at school or otherwise." That "otherwise" is your legal right to educate from home, known as elective home education (EHE). Compulsory school age runs from the term after a child turns 5 until the last Friday in June of the school year they turn 16.

If your child has never been to school, you don't need to register or ask anyone's permission. If they are already enrolled at a mainstream school, you simply write to the headteacher asking to take them off-roll; the school removes them and informs the local authority. There is one existing exception: a child attending a special school under arrangements made by the local authority can only be removed with the authority's consent. There is no National Curriculum requirement and no mandatory tests for home-educated children — the education just has to be genuinely suitable. The local authority may make informal enquiries to satisfy itself this is the case.

Note for 2026: the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Royal Assent 29 April 2026) will introduce a "Children Not in School" register, a duty on councils to offer support, and a wider consent requirement to withdraw certain children (those on, or recently on, a child protection plan, in addition to the existing special-school rule). These measures are not yet in force — they await further regulations and guidance, with rollout expected from late 2026 onward — so for now existing rules and your council's current process apply. Home education itself remains lawful throughout.

What are the steps to school from home in England?

1. Confirm your child's status and decide your approach — If your child has never been registered at a school, you can begin home educating straight away. If they're currently enrolled, plan to take them off-roll — and check whether they attend a special school, which needs the local authority's consent first.
2. Deregister in writing (if your child is at school) — Send the headteacher a clear letter or email stating that you are educating your child at home from a given date. For a mainstream place the school must remove them from the register and notify the local authority — you do not need the school's or council's permission.
3. Enrol with an accredited online school such as bina — Choosing a recognised online school gives you a ready-made, full-time, suitably broad curriculum delivered by live teachers — a clean, evidence-backed way to meet the "efficient, full-time and suitable" standard without building everything yourself.
4. Respond calmly to any local authority enquiry — Your council may write to ask how your child is being educated. You can reply by describing your provision — sharing that your child attends an accredited online school, with its curriculum and timetable, is usually a straightforward and reassuring answer.
5. Plan ahead for qualifications — Home-educated children aren't required to sit exams, but if you want GCSEs or IGCSEs, you'll enter as a private candidate at an exam centre. An online school like bina builds the curriculum and exam preparation in, so you're not arranging this alone.

An accredited online school like bina makes much of this simpler: we provide the curriculum, the live teaching, and the progress records your authority may ask to see — so you can focus on being the parent.