Teaching your child at home and preparing for exams
What to teach
You don’t have to follow the national curriculum but you need to make sure what you’re teaching is suitable for your child’s age and ability and is helping them to make progress with their learning.
Taking examinations
There is no specified approach to elective home education, no set curriculum that parents are expected to follow or requirement on parents to arrange for their child to sit public examinations.
Where parents are keen for their child to sit public examinations (for example, GCSEs), then it is advisable that they cover the relevant curriculum to enable their child to have the best possible chances of success in such examinations.
Where parents are hoping for their child to engage in further education,(for example, at a sixth form college or college of further education), they should seek advice from their chosen college on the subjects that may need to be covered and any entry requirements that may be in place, in respect of their child’s preferred course options. Details of GCSE examination boards can be found on our page, Thinking about the future: after your child turns 16.
There is no financial support available, via Essex County Council, for home educating parents who are seeking to have their child sit public examinations. Parents are advised to contact the various examination boards who will be able to advise on the availability of local examination centres where their child could sit their public examinations and also to seek advice about the potential cost implications.
You can arrange and pay for your child to take examinations as external candidates with an examination centre such as colleges.