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Ok, I am just about ready to throw the towel in :-(

27 replies

Ineedmorepatience · 17/02/2014 22:49

I am beginning to think that we may be forced to HE Dd3 in September!!

I have been getting some stuff together for tribunal and am more concerned than ever about the ridiculous situation going on with her NC levels.

Her teacher told me at parents eve that she has to get level 5's because she got 3's in yr 2!!

We got some samples of her work dont ask how and I got the assessment guidelines online and her work doesnt even come close to level 5.

I told the school when she moved in yr 3 that her yr2 sats scores were inflated and I thought they had listened but obviously not!

I am already worried that she isnt going to cope at secondary due to her anxiety and if she goes in with inflated levels she is going to be under massive pressure academically too.

So obviously as someone on the primary board made clear, the secondary school will test her again and if she is in the wrong sets they will move her! Which will be more trauma for her!

But, why the hell cant the primary just let her score the correct marks instead of making her write and rewrite her writing assessments and send her up with the correct levels!!

We are in the ridiculous situation where one important staff member is going to come to tribunal for us and another is going for the LA. The Indie EP say she needs to be formally assessed immediately and so does the Paed but we are still being pushed down the tribunal route!

In the meantime Dd3 is already saying that she doesnt want to go back to school on the first day of the holiday and is asking if she can stay at home forever, she says she can learn more at home.

Oh gee, I am fed up with it Sad

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zzzzz · 17/02/2014 22:54

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bochead · 17/02/2014 22:58

We need collectively on this board a standardised set of tests and free/very cheap way of getting them independently administered.


Grade inflation is rampant in primary schools, and it does so much damage it's stupid. Secondary unions have asked to invigilate primary tests and it's become common place for secondaries to ignore them and to put off setting on entry until they have had time to perform their own assessments. It's worth ringing the secondary SENCO to see if yours is one of the schools that only sets after half term in year 7. Depending on the particular school you may be fretting for no good reason at all.

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bochead · 17/02/2014 22:58

Interhigh or briteschool - they are slightly different in ethos.

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Ineedmorepatience · 17/02/2014 23:05

Thanks zzzzz and bochead

I looked at a link for Interhigh today funnily enough.

I would ring the senco at the new school except that since I appealed the refusal to assess thing she has stopped replying to my emails! Now I know that I can be a tad paranoid at times especially when it comes to fighting to make sure my child's needs are being met but I am wondering if she has been got at by the LA! Same applies for the Autism lead at the school Sad

I know loads of people whose kids go to the school though so can ask someone if they set straight away or not.

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lougle · 17/02/2014 23:14

Oh Ineed Sad it's such a web of destruction, isn't it?

DD2 thought this half-term was the summer holiday and told me she was glad because she'd get some size 13 shoes ready for being a junior.

I had to break it to her that she's got 3 whole half-terms before the summer holidays.

I have no wise words. None at all. HE doesn't sound like the worst option, though.

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bjkmummy · 17/02/2014 23:16

Im in the exact same position - last week daughter made to stay in over lunch and rewrite a paragraph which took her about an hour and when she had finished teacher gleefully told her that she had now gone up to a 3b in handwriting - she is year 5 - her writing is awful - thankfully her school book comes home so ive photocopied it and for some reason I have her school books from year 1 which show now improvement in her writing but I just don't know why schools do it so completely share your frustration - they are doing the child no favours whatsoever by inflating their levels. if only they spent so much effort helping us to get the child the help in the first place rather than fighting us every single step of the way.

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Ineedmorepatience · 17/02/2014 23:22

In theory we could just about manage to HE lougle but its not really what I want to do because she is already over reliant on me and I am worried she will suffocate me and we will end up fighting. I also love my job and dont really want to give it up without a fight.

I know I see things in a black and white way but I just cannot understand the logic of inflating the results.

Am going to bed before my head explodes, will be back.

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Ineedmorepatience · 17/02/2014 23:24

bjkmummy Its a nightmare isnt it and you are so right! Just help her and I will stop being a pain!

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bjkmummy · 17/02/2014 23:34

bought it home to me how much as parents we have to fight last weekend when I was away and I took my code of practice to read if I had some spare time! my friends went mad at me and then whilst we were chatting I realised that on nearly every holiday ive been on for the past 3 years the blooming book has gone with me as that's how may years ive been fighting - its been up and down the country in our caravan, its been to centre parcs - my code of practice must be the most travelled copy ever!

I don't know what to suggest on a practical level - all we can hope is that the tribunal see the truth and the games schools and LA play - that's all I have left to hold onto, my daughter is year 5 and I don't know where my journey will end but im resigned that it will mean she will be changing school at some point as the teachers behaviour at my school over all of this means I cant leave her there to the end of primary as I have lost all faith in them

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zzzzz · 18/02/2014 00:03

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bochead · 18/02/2014 00:37


bjk MY lad is also year 5, and I've lost the will to fight any more major Primary school battles. It's easier just to get on with it at home, where at least I know what progress is/isn't being made. At least this way DS stands a chance of learning to read before secondary hits.
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HoleySocksBatman · 18/02/2014 08:07

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Ineedmorepatience · 18/02/2014 08:30

Lol thanks holey I guess at least that means I can put paranoia (sp) out of my head.

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OneInEight · 18/02/2014 08:39

No suggestions but sending positive vibes. I have come close to throwing in the towel many times but fortunately / unfortunately (delete as appropriate) dh is adamant (can't think where the boys get there rigid thinking from) that we stay in the system. On rational days I think he is probably right for our family and our circumstances but it is hard to know what is the right thing to do. However, strongly I feel that the LA's should not push families into home education to save them money it is so difficult to see your own children suffering.

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saintlyjimjams · 18/02/2014 08:45

Sorry OT - bit how are interhigh & briteschool different in ethos (on list for ds3 - albeit he's more likely to go to school at secondary)

OP I think you have come up against planet Gove where children have to show a certain amount of progress or the school gets its knuckles rapped. Secondary schools do know that SATS are often inflated so you could ask them to be careful where they place her (many secondaries pay no attention to SATS & set after tests a few weeks into term).

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Ineedmorepatience · 18/02/2014 09:01

Thanks one and Grin @ your dh and his rigid thinking. My oh generally just goes along with whatever I suggest in terms of education stuff but even he is fed up with the system now.

saintly I think part of the problem is that Dd2 went through the same secondary and although she had some great teachers who didnt give up on her we had a game getting her dyslexia recognised (in fact it never was) and there are a few issues with the management team not always backing the SEN team who are fairly brilliant.

I will ask the question about setting.

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Ineedmorepatience · 18/02/2014 09:03

Oh and saintly you are right about planet gove Hmm

He needs putting on another planet for all our sakes !!

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saintlyjimjams · 18/02/2014 09:26

How would you feel about having Internet school as a back up? I know that if ds2 or ds3 were unhappy at school that's what we would do. The aspect of your OP that worries me most is that your dd is unhappy :(

Yes Gove definitely needs to be on his own planet!!

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bochead · 18/02/2014 10:04

Interhigh tries to replicate a modern comprehensive and has lots of online extra-curricular activities so short courses in Mandarin/drama and double science for GCSE. Interhigh has got quite big and has close links with some LA's now. Some children taught out of year group. Parents deal with a child's tutor. Does not record lessons for viewing later to the same extent. Most iGCSE's done together in one block in year 11.

briteschool is more traditional in it's approach (think grammar style old school) and tells you straight you need to organise lots of face to face interaction for your child as online school can't do it all. briteschool records all live lessons so children can access them later (major brownie points here for DS and his literacy issues). It does the three separate sciences, prepares children for the common entrance exam at 13+ etc. Briteschool is smaller scale and totally independent of LA influences. Very common to have children taught out of year group at the subject level. Parents deal with the HT direct. Very common to stagger iGCSE's across several years as and when the child is ready to take them.

First College is more nuturing and woo woo in it's approach. I've not done too much research on this one as "fluffy" is an approach despised by DS and I wanted teachers with QTS.

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zzzzz · 18/02/2014 11:46

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saintlyjimjams · 18/02/2014 12:37

Oh I thought all interhigh lessons went into a lesson library for later viewing. And I hadn't clocked that interhigh wasn't 3 separate sciences.

Can I ask about the school day. Interhigh literature seems to contradict itself - - one lesson of 2 hours a day vs a full timetable carrying on until early afternoon. How does that compare with brite?

Thanks for the insight . Nothing like asking people using these schools.

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bochead · 18/02/2014 12:59

briteschool has 2-4 teaching hours per day, (depending on how many subjects you choose to do/year group etc). You can log into the common room if the mood takes you in the evening for a gossip with your fellow students or for homework help.

Interhigh's day can be longer as they run more extra-curricular activies but the core curriculum is still 2-4 hours with the same variation depending on number of subjects you choose to do & year group. Interhigh has marketed itself to LA's well and is set up to try and replace conventional school in their eyes. They are the best known British online school brand.

I opted for briteschool as DS has audio processing/receptive language issues and being able to listen to literacy lessons and class discussions again in his own time is immensely helpful to him. All lesson recordings from the beginning of the school year are instantly accessible to him. I also liked the fact that the HT "gets" ASD,and has extensive experience of teaching kids like DS and that the school is small enough that this knowledge can be shared quickly with any specialist subject teachers that come on board. Also the HT takes science and that's DS's forte. Like most schools it helps if the child has a good personal relationship with the top dog.

The lady who runs first college is a white witch and talked like a caring carrot on the phone. I have nothing against white witches but run a mile from caring carrot types nowadays unless forced to endure their company. I wholly own this extreme predjudice, but can't just seem to shake it. This school does have an excellent reputation for bringing on & nurturing children who have experienced being bullied in normal schools.

Several of the experienced teachers at all three have worked at more than one of the schools at one point, before settling on the school with whom they felt most comfortable with.

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bochead · 18/02/2014 13:13

Interhigh save the slides from lessons for revision but not the audio. It's the live audio DS needs to listen repeatedly to sometimes in order to continue to make progress with his general receptive language skills.

I actually think they are all pretty similar and that like brick schools or houses built to the same spec, it's more a question of which flavour you feel would best suit your child than any fundamental differences in price or service offerings. Like most things the devil is in the detail. However I can categorically state online school is like marmite, some kids will love it, others will hate it as it's very different to attending a mainstream school.

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saintlyjimjams · 18/02/2014 13:13

Thanks - that's really really helpful.

Lol at caring carrot white witch. I'd discounted that anyway because of the text only approach.

I'm hoping ds3 will go to school (he's NT albeit quite black & white & self contained). We have a great first choice school for him but am struggling on second choice.

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bjkmummy · 18/02/2014 13:20

bochead - how does you child find it not socialising with the other children. I have never thought about home educating but now looking at the websites I can see the appeal. how would it work with a child so far behind academically such as my daughter who is 10 but working at best at age 7? she does lots of out of school things so in that sense im not too worried but just wondered how it all pans out in the end - do they come out with qualifications etc?

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