Home education guidelines
Do children have to go to school?
The 1996 Education Act section 444 states that it is the duty of parents to secure an appropriate education for their children.
This can be done either by regular attendance at school or ‘otherwise’.
For most children in Norfolk, this means that they will attend the school which serves their local community, but for a wide variety of reasons, a number of parents decide to take on the ‘duty to educate’ their children themselves.
This requires an enormous commitment of time and energy, often without access to the kinds of facilities, resources and expertise provided by the schools.