Do home educators have to follow the National Curriculum?

No. There is no legal requirement for home-educating families to follow the National Curriculum in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The NC applies to state-funded schools. You need to provide a suitable education, but the shape of that education is yours to decide. This table exists to help you translate what you are already doing, not to suggest you should be doing something different.

Does this table prove we are covering everything?

It shows that the work your child does in Montessori areas maps to NC subject areas. It is not a compliance certificate. Most local authorities are looking for evidence that education is happening in a broad, balanced way over time. This table helps you describe your provision in their vocabulary.

What about subjects Montessori does not cover directly?

Computing, modern foreign languages (at KS2) and some aspects of Design and Technology are not core Montessori areas. The table flags these and gives practical suggestions for how home-educating families cover them. Most families find they are already doing more than they realise.

Can I send this table to the council?

You could, but it is a reference tool for you, not a submission document. Use it to translate what your child has been doing into the council's vocabulary when you write your reply. A short, specific letter describing your provision is more effective than a blank table.

Is this table just for Montessori families?

It is written from the Montessori side because that is what Willowfolio supports. If you use an eclectic approach with some Montessori elements, the table will still help with the parts of your provision that draw on Montessori methods.

Printable

Montessori to National Curriculum crosswalk table

A printable reference table showing how Montessori work translates into the National Curriculum vocabulary your council expects to see. You are not behind. You are doing more than the curriculum, in a different shape. This table helps you prove it.

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Pages: 2
Format: A4 PDF
Updated: 10 May 2026

Pairs with our guide: read the article.

A note on use

“We don’t mind what you do with it. Print it, edit it, cross out the bits that don’t fit your family. The licence is: use freely, don’t resell.”

About this template

What this template does

Your child has been working with golden beads (a Montessori material representing units, tens, hundreds and thousands as physical quantities) all term and you know she understands place value better than most Year 2 children. But the council's letter asks about "Mathematics" and "Number", and you are staring at a blank reply wondering how to say that without sounding like you are making it up.

This table does the translating for you. It takes the five Montessori areas (Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cosmic Education, which covers science, history, geography and cultural studies as one interconnected whole) and maps them across to the National Curriculum subject areas that local authorities expect to see in a report: English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Art and Design, Design and Technology, PE, PSHE, Computing and Languages. Each cell in the table contains plain-English examples of what counts, so you can point to something your child has actually done and see where it sits in the curriculum's vocabulary.

The scope is EYFS (the Early Years Foundation Stage, covering children up to age five), Key Stage 1 (ages five to seven) and Key Stage 2 (ages seven to eleven). KS3 and beyond are out of scope. Secondary-age home education is its own conversation and the Montessori crosswalk at that stage looks very different.

You are not behind. You are doing more than the curriculum, in a different shape. This table helps you see that.

For the full picture on whether you need to follow the National Curriculum at all (you do not), see Do home educators follow the National Curriculum?. For a worked example of what a council report looks like in practice, see Home education council report example.

Frequently asked.

Do home educators have to follow the National Curriculum?: No. There is no legal requirement for home-educating families to follow the National Curriculum in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The NC applies to state-funded schools. You need to provide a suitable education, but the shape of that education is yours to decide. This table exists to help you translate what you are already doing, not to suggest you should be doing something different.
Does this table prove we are covering everything?: It shows that the work your child does in Montessori areas maps to NC subject areas. It is not a compliance certificate. Most local authorities are looking for evidence that education is happening in a broad, balanced way over time. This table helps you describe your provision in their vocabulary.
What about subjects Montessori does not cover directly?: Computing, modern foreign languages (at KS2) and some aspects of Design and Technology are not core Montessori areas. The table flags these and gives practical suggestions for how home-educating families cover them. Most families find they are already doing more than they realise.
Can I send this table to the council?: You could, but it is a reference tool for you, not a submission document. Use it to translate what your child has been doing into the council's vocabulary when you write your reply. A short, specific letter describing your provision is more effective than a blank table.
Is this table just for Montessori families?: It is written from the Montessori side because that is what Willowfolio supports. If you use an eclectic approach with some Montessori elements, the table will still help with the parts of your provision that draw on Montessori methods.

What is inside

A cover note explaining what the table is and how to use it with your local authority.
The crosswalk table, with Montessori areas as the rows and NC subjects as the columns. Each cell contains concrete, plain-English examples of what a child working in that Montessori area is doing that maps to that NC subject.
Plain-English glosses for every Montessori material and concept referenced in the table. You do not need any Montessori training to read it.
Coverage across EYFS, KS1 and KS2, with a note on where KS3 begins and why it is out of scope.
A "How to use this with your LA" section explaining how to lift examples from the table into your written reply.
A "What this is NOT" sidebar making clear that this is a reference, not a checklist, a tracker or a curriculum.

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Keep reading

Companion guides from the knowledge base.

The app does this without paper

Or you can keep using the printables. Both work.

The activity log fills the year-at-a-glance sheet for you, and the council report draft writes itself from your records. The demo is real, the data is fictional.

Try the demo Browse all printables

Montessori to National Curriculum crosswalk table

What this template does

Frequently asked.

Companion guides from the knowledge base.

Do home educators have to follow the National Curriculum?

Do I have to follow the National Curriculum when home educating?

What to actually show the council: a worked home-education report

For Local Authority reviewers: how to read a Montessori home-education report

Or you can keep using the printables. Both work.