Admission to 6th form college, after home-ed, and doing GCSEs early

[roisin]

I know I'm looking way ahead in the future, but I'm looking at the options for secondary education here for ds1 and they are not great.

If we were to home-ed him from age 11 for 3 or 4 years, to do GCSEs when he was 14 or 15; is it at all likely the 6th form college would accept him early? I could actually imagine him doing 3 years at 6th form, and doing a wider variety of courses.

Has anyone been through this, or have any experience of it?

[snailspace]

Message withdrawn

[RTKangaMummy]

When I was at 6th Form college there was a girl in my A level maths that was a year younger cos she had been to private school and had been advanced a year.

But this was in 1982 so many many years ago so not sure of the rules now

Why not ring your local one and ask them

[RTKangaMummy]

I know it is a silly question but how do you home ed chemistry GCSE?

[Janh]

There have been several at the Grammar School here who went up a year at primary and subsequently took GCSEs at 15 (no younger though; within the state system it seems practically impossible to go up more than one year, and that only if the child's birthday falls between Sept 1st and Feb 28th). The most recent one I know of took her A levels at 17 2 or 3 years ago.

Anyway yes, 15-yr-olds can go to 6th form here, though usually with their year-group. Not sure about 14 though, and not sure about home-ed kids either.

[spidermama]

Hi Roisin. I thought I was the only person considering home edding.
I don't have answers for you as am at the early stages of research the subject myself.
I agree with snailspace that Education Otherwise seems to be the orgaisation with the answers. Or you could try these people
I'd be interested to know how you get on.

[SenoraPostrophe]

I would be very wary of doing that simply because he might not be quite as socially advanced as he is academically advanced, and may have problems settling in.

I would be more inclined, in fact, to send him to an FE college - they may not perform as well academically, but they do get a wide range of students of all ages (admitedly usually 16 and up) who probably all went to different schools anyway. He would need very strong self-motivation for that.

Speaking of FE colleges, you may know this already, but i know they take external candidates for exams - practical and written. you just pay about 40 quid odd for each one.

[Rarrie]

At the FE college where I teach, last year I had an 'A' level student who was a home edder and she came a year early. It caused no problems except I had to inform people if she had been away... due to the legal requirement that she was educated.

[spidermama]

Was she OK making the transition into this sort of learning (lots of students, one teacher) rarrie?

I've heard some home edders find it hard as they're not used to waiting their turn so get frustrated in large classes.

[Rarrie]

Although I'm at FE, really its a sixth form college, so she was only in classes of about 15. She did fine and absolutely loved college. No-one knew her age, and cause she was quite mature, she had no problems settling in.

[Littlefish]

Probably completely irrelevant, but before I could start doing teacher training, I had to get Chemistry GCSE. I did it at evening classes and it was taught without seeing/doing any practical work. I think we had one practical session at the end, but that was it. I found it really hard to understand the subject as I'm a really hands on person.

There must be a way to do at least some of the practical work at home - perhaps there are some chemistry teachers lurking here tonight!

[roisin]

Thanks this is all really helpful.

Home-edding for any part of secondary is not my first choice option, not in an ideal world anyway; (and dh thinks it is a dreadful idea). But the more I find out about the schools here the more despondent I become. I just wanted to get some sort of a feel for what is and is not possible as far as opting in or out of the state system goes.

[happymerryberries]

Not a chemistry teacher but biology, I'll post thisvquicky as i am in the middle of marking a load of course work!

We have had external h/e kids take gcses in the school iork in. Remember that you will have to sort out c/w ,the last child i spke to had done this with her tutor.....don't know if you would be allowed to mark your own child's work.

kids can do gcses at night school But may find the choice limiting, for example the n/s i used to work in only offered bi logy,not double science or chem or physics.

you also have far less taught time in night schol, But this would be ofset by time at home.

[happymerryberries]

if you take 6his option cat me for help with relevant websites .

hth

[roisin]

Thanks hmb and others. He's only 8 atm, so has another 3 years at primary. So we have 2 years before we have to make the difficult decisions!

The most likely option is the local private school, but I want to keep myself informed as to the possibilities that are available.

[swedishmum]

From what I know of the little time I taught mine at home, lots of people do gcses then go to 6th form college. There is a very supportive talk site - you don't need to be a member to join but can find it through the eo website. There will be lots of people to answer your questions.

[SenoraPostrophe]

Roisin, do remember that a bright kid with good support at home will usually do well enough in all but the very worst secondary schools.

In the town where I grew up there were two really bad schools - in the first league tables they came bottom and second from bottom in the county when you excluded special needs schools (haven't checked them lately, they probably still are). I had a scholarship to the local private school, but my sis and most of my friends went to those 2 schools. Of all the people I am still in touch with, those who went to those schools are probably doing better than those who went to the private school (which was a good one). I probably got a few extra grades at GCSE than i would otherwise have done, but after university that becomes irrelevant.

I don't mean to be patronising, but the local schools may not be as bad an option as you think.

[roisin]

SenoraPostrophe: I do know what you're saying, and have a similar experience. I got a scholarship to an independent school, db went to the local secondary and we both ended up with very similar A&O level results, and he has gone on to be far more "successful" than me.

However, I work at one of the local secondary schools, and it is not the worst of the bunch. But there is no way I'm sending my kids there, for a whole variety of reasons. It would destroy ds1 completely - I have no doubt about it.

Also the secondary situation in town will probably deteriorate in the next 3 years, as the "sink school" is sinking rapidly, and will almost certainly be closed.

[happymerryberries]

Roisin.

Just realised that I have had a bit of a brain fart!

The science curiculum is going to change quite radicaly next year. children will still be able to study for double science GCSEs but the format is going to change, and there is more continual assessment and I think that the c/w will be surplanted by that. I don't know what the implications for home edded children would be, as I have not seen all the dtails of the new course. But as you said, you have a few years to go on this one

[sunnydelight]

I was seriously considering home educating DS1 last year (year 7) when we were having problems with his school. I joined Education Otherwise who, as others have said, offer a lot of support. They also sent me a book when I joined called "School is not compulsory" which was abvolutely facinating. There is an incredible amount of materials/resources available to help you home educate children of any age, and from what I could see it was fairly straightforward to get study packs for individual GCSE subjects, then arrange to take the exams independently. In the end DS1 wasn't keen on the idea, he said he wanted me to be his mum, not his teacher! and luckily we finally managed to move him to another school where he is doing really well, but home education obviously works for a lot of families.

[leesax]

Hi,
We are just starting to home ed my 12 year old due to pulling him out because if bullying.He is able to do most GCSE's and is still socially active as we have made a point of enrolling him in after school clubs, and to be honest he is doing much better.

You can enrol earlier in some establishments but you would have to approach individually I think to be 100% what they would offer.