Educating your child at home
In Scotland, all parents/carers of school age children must provide an education that is appropriate to a child’s age and ability. Most choose to do this by sending their child to school. If you prefer, you can educate your child at home.
Children already at school
If your child already attends a Stirling Council school and you want to educate them at home, you must seek our consent to withdraw them from the school roll. The procedures for doing this are in our Home Education Guidelines
Children not at school yet
If your child has never been enrolled in a Stirling Council school, you do not need to seek consent to educate them at home. You can choose whether or not to notify Stirling Council of your decision to home educate.
Responsibility
If you decide to educate your child at home, Stirling Council is not responsible for providing your child with support or for arranging assessments. It is the parent/carer's responsibility to provide an efficient and suitable education for their child and to meet any costs in doing so.
Flexi-schooling
In Scotland, all parents/carers of school aged children must provide an education that is appropriate to a child’s age and ability. Most choose to do this by sending their child to school. Flexi-schooling is an arrangement whereby both the school and parents/carers take responsibility for agreed aspects of teaching and learning with the child attending school only part of the time. The rest of the time the child is educated at home.
Flexi-schooling your child
If a parent/carer wants to enter a flexi-schooling arrangement with their child’s school, they must seek agreement from Stirling Council's education service. The procedures for doing this are outlined in the Council's Flexi schooling Guidelines.
Stirling Council follows a similar process to home education for any requests for a flexi-schooling arrangement between home and school. In this case children and young people remain on the school roll but their time out of school for alternative educational arrangements is not recorded as absence from school. Careful planning between the school and the family, and the young person where applicable, with clarity about the learning being provided is required to make a flexi-schooling arrangement successful.
Responsibility
Flexi-schooling is an agreement whereby both school and parent or carer take responsibility for agreed aspects of teaching and learning and regular Team around the Child meetings will support effective partnership working. During the time that the child is educated at home, parents/carers are responsible for providing an efficient education suitable to the age, ability, and aptitude of the child.