FAQ Northern Ireland |
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My understanding is:
The law in Northern Ireland appears to be much the
same as that in England and Wales; the legislation is almost identical.
There is nothing in NI law that requires permission for deregistration.
The experiences of individual home educators seems to concur with
this.
There are parents who have deregistered a child from
schools in all five of the Education and Library Board areas without
any difficulty.
Some parents have been told by Board employees that
pupils cannot be legally deregistered in Northern Ireland, but there
appears to be no legal basis for this claim.
NB: do not use my deregistration letter in its
current form as the law referred to applies to England and Wales
only.
However, a word of caution. From my experience of
lawyers in other parts of the UK, should you need a lawyer you should
expect them not to have much idea as to how to represent you. They
will have little idea about the legality of home education. This
will be especially true in Northern Ireland as there have been to
my knowledge no cases brought before the courts within the province.
The Law in Northern Ireland
Education and Libraries Northern Ireland Order 1986 SI 1986/594
Section 45
1. The parent of every child of compulsory school
age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable
to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs
he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
Schedule 13 Enforcement of duty imposed by article 45
Part 1
1(1) Where it appears to a board that a parent of
a child of compulsory school age in its area is failing to perform
the duty imposed on him by article 45(1), the board shall serve on
the parent a notice requiring him, within such period not being less
than fourteen days from the service of the notice, to satisfy the
board that the child is, by regular attendance or otherwise, receiving
efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude
and to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular
attendance at school or otherwise.
2(1) Where, at any time whilst a school attendance
order is in force with respect to a child, the parent of the child
makes an application to the board by whom the order was made requesting
... that the order be revoked on the ground that arrangements have
been made for the child to receive otherwise than at school education
suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational
needs he may have, the board shall amend or revoke the order in compliance
with the request unless it is of the opinion that - ...
(d) no satisfactory arrangements have been made for
the education of the child otherwise than at school.
Further Help
A home education support group for Northern Ireland
can be found here
There is also a Yahoo mailing list here
The Northern Ireland Department of Education Can be
found her
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