There are currently 255 children registered as being home educated in the Isle of Man, according to figures provided to Tynwald.

Education, Sport and Culture Minister Daphne Caine gave the figures in response to a written question from Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse.

Mr Moorhouse asked how many students are home educated, how many were first registered as such in the last 12 months, how many of these had arrived in the island in the last 12 months, and if they had previously attended an off-island school.

The minister said 62 children had been registered or re-registered for home education in the 12 months from July 31 last year.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture records registrations by academic year rather than calendar year, meaning the figures cover parts of both the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years.

Of the 62 children registered or re-registered during that period, 14 had not previously attended a Department of Education school.

However, the Department said it could not establish how many of those children had arrived in the island within the previous 12 months.

‘The Home and Private Education registration form does not collect information regarding a child's date of arrival in the island,’ Mrs Caine said.

The 14 children who had not previously attended a department school included those who had previously been home educated, either on or off the island, as well as children who had previously received private education.

Mrs Caine added: ‘While the department can identify the number of children who had not previously attended a department school, it is not possible from the data held to determine whether any of those children were recent arrivals to the island.’