Home Education Groups by UK Region: Finding Your Local Community

The first question most home-educating parents have, once the deregistration paperwork is sorted, is a deceptively simple one: where are the other families? Home education groups are rarely advertised through official channels — the most active networks exist almost entirely on Facebook, invisible unless you know exactly what to search for.

This guide covers how to find home education communities in specific UK regions, and how to approach building one if you are new to an area.

How UK Home Education Communities Are Organised

Home education in the UK is almost entirely self-organised by parents. Local Authorities do not run social groups. The primary infrastructure is Facebook — large national groups that funnel families into hyper-local county and town-specific groups where the real activity happens.

National starting points: - HEFA UK (Home Educated Families Association UK) — the most active national Facebook group - Educational Freedom — maintains a local group directory at educationalfreedom.org.uk - Education Otherwise — longest-established UK charity with a regional group directory - home-ed.info — searchable list of local groups across all UK regions

Start with these and drill down into your county or town. The regional groups are where event announcements, co-op invites, park meets, and resource sharing actually happen.

Home Education in Devon

Devon has a well-established community, supported partly by the county's rural geography — families have long had to be intentional about connecting rather than assuming proximity creates community.

Search Facebook for: - Cornwall and Devon Home Educators - North Devon Christian Home Educators - Exmoor Home Educators - South Devon Home Education

Okehampton, Exeter, and Plymouth each have their own clusters. If you are in a rural part of Devon, cast a wide geographical net — your nearest active group may technically be in a different district, and that is normal.

Home Education in Gloucestershire

The community here is centred primarily around Cheltenham and Gloucester, with smaller clusters in the Cotswolds and Forest of Dean.

Search for: - Gloucestershire Home Educators - Cheltenham Home Education - Forest of Dean Home Education (straddles Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, so often has cross-border membership)

Pittville Leisure Centre in Cheltenham and GL1 in Gloucester both offer home educator daytime sessions — contact them directly about term-time programming and group rates.

Home Education in Nottingham

Nottingham has one of the more organised urban communities in the East Midlands. Non-School Nottingham has been running for many years and is the most established network in the region. Search alongside: - Nottinghamshire Home Educators - Home Education Nottingham and Surrounding Areas

Wollaton Hall (free natural history museum) and Nottingham Castle are popular home ed field trip venues. Several city leisure centres run term-time daytime sessions — contact Sport Nottingham for current availability.

Home Education in Hampshire

A large county with substantial activity across multiple distinct communities — Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester, Basingstoke, and the New Forest each have their own character.

Search for: - Hampshire Home Educators - Fareham and Gosport Education at Home - Home Education in the New Forest - Southampton Home Educators

Hampshire County Council's EHE pages are more detailed than most and include useful overviews of parental rights. The Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium runs home educator days that fill quickly during term time — advance booking is essential.

Home Education in Milton Keynes

MK is a planned city with a relatively mobile population, so home education communities tend to be energetic but shift composition as families move in and out.

Search for: - Milton Keynes Home Educators - MK Home Education - Bucks and MK Home Educators (MK is geographically surrounded by Buckinghamshire despite being administratively separate)

Bletchley Park has strong home educator provisions — guided tours and workshop sessions aligned to KS2–KS4. The National Museum of Computing, also at Bletchley, runs computing and history of technology sessions. Active MK runs leisure facilities across the city; contact them about home education session availability.

Home Education in West Sussex

Active communities particularly around Chichester, Worthing, Crawley, and the South Downs.

Search for: - West Sussex Home Educators - Chichester Home Educators - Worthing Home Educators - Surrey HELP (covers some cross-border families in the east of the county)

Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester is one of the best outdoor museum resources in the south of England and runs specific home education events. Fishbourne Roman Palace and Arundel Castle both offer educational visits.

A Note on National and Hybrid Networks

Regardless of where you live, some networks operate nationally and provide virtual community alongside in-person events. HEFF (Home Educating Families Festival) is a major week-long annual event held at Newark Showground in August — families travel from across the UK and it is one of the most reliable ways to make connections that then continue locally. HEWFEST in Wales runs each April. These festivals serve as jumping-off points: families who meet at a national event often go on to co-ordinate local meet-ups throughout the year.

The Eequ platform aggregates home education activities nationally and is worth bookmarking regardless of your region — providers list sessions there that may not appear anywhere else.

If There Is No Active Group Near You

In some areas — particularly rural pockets — there may not be an active group that meets regularly. This is common and does not mean permanent isolation.

Post in the national groups: State your location in HEFA UK or your county-level group and ask if anyone nearby wants to connect. You may find several families within driving distance who have been waiting for someone else to initiate.

Start small: A monthly park meet — a date, a park, an open invitation — is enough to establish a nucleus. No organisation, no insurance (outdoor public spaces), no commitment. Families who meet in person a few times naturally move towards something more structured.

Approach your local library: Many libraries are actively looking for term-time uses for their spaces and will host a home education group free of charge if asked.

Use Eequ: Eequ aggregates forest school and outdoor learning sessions that attract home educators from a wider area — natural meeting points for families who cannot yet find local peers.

Building community takes time, but the initial investment pays dividends for years. If you want a structured approach to organising your local community alongside a full year-planning framework for activities, the UK Socialization & Extracurricular Playbook covers both — from first park meet to functioning co-op.

See more United Kingdom homeschool guides →