Latest a child may start school?

**jadavi** · 25-07-2013, 06:47 AM

A child is coming to me for nursery hours and then will home educate. Mum wants him with me as long as possible. Can I legally have him till the term he turns five?

**christine e** · 25-07-2013, 06:50 AM

it is at the start of the term after their fifth birthday

**linzi133** · 25-07-2013, 06:50 AM

School is not compulsory until the term after their 5th birthday
X x. X

**bindy** · 25-07-2013, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by jadavi

A child is coming to me for nursery hours and then will home educate. Mum wants him with me as long as possible. Can I legally have him till the term he turns five?

I don't think it matters if he is being home educated, he will be counted has an under 5 though

**MaffAnna** · 25-07-2013, 08:22 AM

School is not compulsory at all, education is. A home educated child does not have to follow the National Curriculum but the parent may be asked to prove to the EWO how the child is being educated. So, I agree with above, he will count as an under 5 until the August after his fifth birthday but there is not a point at which you couldn't have him.

**jadavi** · 25-07-2013, 09:57 PM

No I was referring to the funded hours.

Thanks that's good news xx

**bunyip** · 26-07-2013, 09:19 AM

Check with your LEA and Ofsted. If he's with you (and not in school) at the end of his EYFS then you may be required to complete his EY Profile. Could be this is the responsibility of the parent as home-educator, but worth checking.

**moggy** · 26-07-2013, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by bunyip

Check with your LEA and Ofsted. If he's with you (and not in school) at the end of his EYFS then you may be required to complete his EY Profile. Could be this is the responsibility of the parent as home-educator, but worth checking.

Parents home-educating do not need to follow EYFS at all and therefore do not need to do EY Profile. If you are child's only Ofsted Registered childcare setting when he is at equivalent to end-of-reception year you may need to do the profile- check with your Local Authority Ed Dept as they may or may not be interested as you are not a school.

For the Free Entitlement hours- speak to your Local Authority/Family Info Service as they can tell you when child is no longer able to claim the hours.

**Anacrusis** · 26-07-2013, 12:08 PM

Childminder's aren't required to complete an Early Years profile for home educated children, however if a child is going on to school from you at the end of EY then you would have to do it. I can't help with the funding question though sorry.

I'm a home educator, and that's what I was told by my local childminding asscociation who weren't sure at first so looked into it for me. I was also told they don't count as EY from the Sept. they would have started school which according to the law is when the home education "begins". I don't know if the rules might be different under different LA's though? I know that different LA's often have different interpretations of the law anyway!

**Ali56** · 26-07-2013, 01:25 PM

Not sure-BUT-I think children are funded until compulsory school age. I think this because once upon a time, a long time ago, when the funding was first introduced, most schools suddenly started 'accepting' children only once a year in september, as they could claim the funding for those who were still entitled. Best to check, and definately don't quote me, but my DS was in that year group! Luckily he is a november born, so they got only one term of funding from him and he was going to school anyway! But for some it would be a whole year......