Home-ed · Oxfordshire and Reading

Home education, the practical bits.

Sessions and discounts near you, what your council asks of you, where to sit exams, and how to find your people. Every page shows when we last checked it.

Sessions and discounts

Daytime sessions and home-ed prices, taken from each provider's own website and dated.

Coming as we check them: pools, climbing walls, trampoline parks, museums, farms, forest schools, drama, art, science.

None checked yet.

All home-ed sessions and discounts

Your council

How each council handles taking a child off a school roll, what its yearly check-in involves, and where it stands on flexi-schooling. Taken from the council's own published policy.

Oxfordshire County CouncilOxford, Henley and the rest of OxfordshireDeregisteringThe yearly check-inFlexi-schoolingWho to contactLast checked 24 October 2026 Reading Borough CouncilReading (home education is run for the council by Brighter Futures for Children)DeregisteringThe yearly check-inFlexi-schoolingWho to contactLast checked 24 October 2026 Wokingham Borough CouncilWokingham borough, next to ReadingDeregisteringThe yearly check-inFlexi-schoolingWho to contactLast checked 24 October 2026

New law, explained

The "children not in school" register

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 brings in council registers of children who are not in school. Here is what applies today and what is still to come.

In force now

The Act became law on 29 April 2026.
For the home education parts (sections 37 to 42), only the powers for the government to write regulations are in force. Those came in on the day the Act was passed.
None of the duties on councils or parents has started yet, in England or in Wales. Nothing changes for your family today.
The commencement regulations made so far (2026/551, 2026/803 and 2026/933) start other parts of the Act, not the register.

Coming later

Councils must keep a register of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not registered at a school.
Parents will have to tell the council that their child is not in school, give some details within 15 days, and keep them up to date. That includes who is educating the child, roughly how many hours, and the main outside providers.
Councils will send a check-in request at least once a year and no more often than every three months, and parents will have to answer it.
Some out-of-school providers will have to give information too, and councils will have to offer support to families on the register.
There will be money penalties for not complying.
For some children, for example those placed at a special school by the council, parents will need the council's consent before taking them out of school to home educate.
A new school attendance order process will replace the current one.
No start date has been announced on gov.uk yet.

Checked against legislation.gov.uk on 24 October 2026.

Read the explainer

Guides

Getting startedThe first few weeks: what the law asks of you, and what it does not.Read the guide Deregistering, step by stepTaking your child off a school roll, from the letter to what happens next.Read the guide How to find home-ed groups near youMost groups live on WhatsApp and Facebook. Here is how to find them.Read the guide

Exam centres for private candidates

Centres around Oxfordshire and Reading that take home-educated candidates for GCSEs and IGCSEs. 2 listed so far.

See exam centres

This is not legal advice.

We are a home-educating family sharing what we have checked. For help with your own situation, talk to an established home-education charity such as Education Otherwise or Home Education Advisory Service (HEAS).