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Education Welfare Service

The Education Welfare Service work with parents and children aged 4-16 years old until they cease to be of compulsory school age (last Friday in June in the academic year they are 16), schools and other agencies to make sure that all children receive an education and that they attend regularly and punctually at school. Local Authority schools can refer to the Education Welfare Service for support regarding a pupils absence from school. The Education Welfare Officer can give advice and support to the parent and child and provide liaison between the home and school so that the child’s attendance improves. Where the child’s attendance continues to be a concern the Local Authority may instigate legal proceedings with the aim of bringing about an improvement in the child’s attendance at school or where a child is not in receipt of a suitable education.

The Education Welfare Service work on a referral basis. The school your child attends may make a referral to the service or a referral maybe made by other agencies including School Admissions, Special Education Needs Disability Information Service (SENDIS) Social Care or Children Missing Education Officers.

The Education Welfare Service is also responsible for children missing education, elective home education, children in entertainment, child employment and chaperone licensing. For information on these services please contact education.welfare@merton.gov.uk  or 0208 545 4021.

Elective Home Education

You can choose to teach your child or children at home instead of them going to school. Choosing to home educate is a big undertaking as you are taking responsibility for providing the education for your child (no funding from the Local Authority is available to support this and you have to plan and implement your own curriculum). Before taking your child out of school we would suggest that you contact your child's school to address any issues, contact the Education Welfare Office for your child's school for advice or contact the Elective Home Education Advisor at Merton Council for more information about what is involved in home education on 0208 545 3974 or by e-mail to education.welfare@merton.gov.uk  For further information the current elective home education policy can be found on the Merton website.

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