Sample Letter for School Refusing to De-register a Child

Dear --- (find out the name of the Chair) and Governors

You will be aware that, under section 434(3)(a) of the Education Act 1996, the proprietor of a school has an obligation to delete from the register the name of any pupil to whom certain prescribed grounds are applicable. Education (Pupil Registration) Regulation 8(1)(d) 2006 gives as one of these grounds

'that [the pupil] has ceased to attend the school and the proprietor of the school has received written notification from the parent that the pupil is receiving education otherwise than at school'

Section 434(6) of the same Education Act states that

'A person who contravenes or fails to comply with any requirement imposed on him by regulations under this section is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.'

These duties are normally delegated to the head teacher, although we are advised by Education Otherwise that it is arguable that the responsibility remains with the Governors.

We withdrew our son/daughter, X d.o.b. ---, on (date), by handing written notification as described in PRR8(1)(d) to Ms ---, our son/daughter’s year head.

X was unable to do the work (s)he was given. Some teachers were kind and kept the situation under control, but we now find that despite having been put in for nine GCSEs, (s)he can barely spell the primary key words, subtract more than two-figure numbers, and has a reading age of seven. We suspect that (s)he may be dyslexic. (S)he was no longer being given the special needs help (s)he needed, despite our efforts to work closely with the school. (S)he became very unhappy, and dealt with it by becoming the class clown, and truanting from certain lessons to avoid teachers who were unpleasant to him/her. We supervised his/her attendance carefully, taking him/her to school each day and handing him/her over to the year head or the head of inclusion. The school failed to inform us when (s)he went missing. To our knowledge their attendance records are inaccurate. When we attended meetings, the school had nothing to offer him/her except more of the same.

X is now learning happily at home at a level appropriate to his/her abilities, with total co-operation.

Our letter was photocopied by Mr ---, the EWO, who was also present, so that he could pass a copy to --- LA.

We enclose a leaflet detailing the legal position on deregistration. Although she has had a copy of this leaflet, and although she has been advised by the EWO that she must deregister X immediately, Ms –- has stated in writing that she will not do so until 'the LA informs me that this can be done.' She is also refusing to give us X's coursework until she receives reports on us from the EWO and LA.

We should be grateful if you would ensure that our son/daughter is deregistered and that his/her coursework is returned to us immediately.

We also ask you to ensure that parents who deregister their children in the future are treated in accordance both with legal requirements and with good practice.

Yours sincerely

In two parent families, both parents should sign.