Is this even possible?

Good luck! I hope he enjoys it.

Hope it works out well for you @LostFrog

Also if your parents enjoy their grandson's company, that could form one piece of the home ed puzzle: perhaps he could spend one afternoon a week with them for some variety. He might be able to learn from them about gardening or carpentry or whatever they know about, do a family history project based on their lives, or sit with them and watch some documentaries about subjects he and they are both interested in.

I'm a teacher and have some reservations about home schooling in certain situations, but in your place it sounds like the best plan tbh. It would be more doable because it's for a shorter amount of time because of the fact you're in a 3-tier system. I think living separately all week sounds like a really bad plan. Are you happy with the local secondaries on offer?

Could you get tutors in to your home rather than teach him yourself?

What happens in Year 9 - presumably it would be the same children moving up to high school? So he wouldn't necessarily escape them.

Posters saying to you to sort the school out are making it sound as if one parent alone can sort out what happens in classrooms - despite not being on site. That's an impossible task!

In your setup it seems to me that you could make home education work well. The fact that you could consider renting an additional property suggests you have quite a significant budget available. Your DH is around the house much of the time to provide supervision and some company even if he can't pay much attention to your DS.

If you have money then there are various ways to home educate, even with both parents working full-time. You'd want to consider your son's academic needs, for which you could use an online school (many home educators dislike these because they can be expensive and inflexible, but they suit some kids) or individual pick-and-mix online group lessons. You could hire some tutors in, which does not have to be for a huge number of hours per week because one-to-one teaching is so effective. You could educate your son yourselves during the hours when you aren't working; again, this is very efficient and would need far less than the 30 hours per week which school requires.

It would be good to get him out of the house to go places and see people rather than being stuck at home all day every day. If your jobs aren't flexible enough for you to fit in some outings, you could probably find a local home ed parent to act as a babysitter for a few sessions a week, taking him along with their own children to home ed activities, museums, tennis sessions or whatever. Many home ed parents would be eager to make some money doing a job which is compatible with looking after their own kids. Depending on your son's maturity and the availability of public transport and local amenities, he might take himself off out swimming or to the library or to meet friends or to an afterschool club for a change of scene; my eldest (a social butterfly) was often out doing things under their own steam at that age, having taken it easy at home up until 3pm and then going out to all sorts of clubs after school.

There's a home ed board here at Mumsnet if you want to chat about how it could look, or you might go along to a local home ed group to find out what is available in your area.

We are considering option 3 for sixth form. It's a bit of an extreme situation involving SEN.

Taking him away from his home and his social connections here is a pretty nuclear option though.

I certainly think it's possible, you just need any school with spaces and be prepared to travel. Are there any other options like splitting the difference on the journey, being a bit further from extended family but within commuting distance of school? If the next nearest school is 40 mins away you must be very remote - is there a school bus network that helps?

Just to say again - catchment is irrelevant except at the start of the school.

It will affect waiting list position if there are no spaces, but if there is a space, it is yours even if you live 500 miles away, as long as you can start quickly.

Once a school gets graded RI or Inadequate, support comes flooding in. Our primary was absolutely transformed as a result - new leadership team, strong focus on pastoral care, overhaul of the curriculum. It was honestly the best thing that could have happened. So you might find that the school gets a lot better post-Ofsted and that the issues resolve.

I agree with @cantkeepawayforever - you need to try to find out if there are spaces in acceptable schools near your DH's workplace. If you are moving mid-year, then there is only a space if there is a space, IYSWIM - even if you lived next door, you won't get in if there is no space. Equally, if there were a space, you would get it from 100 miles away if no one else needed it.

The catchment thing is a total red herring unless you are applying at a usual point - so in year 6 for most areas with no middle school.

What may be worth trying (tho I would not be keen tbf) is asking schools you like if they have a space. I certainly wouldn't take on a rental with no certainty of getting a space.

Before all of those options I'd apply for a place in any school you think would be suitable. Every one of them.

Then if you get a place work out how to get him there.

Surely it would cost a fortune to run two homes. All your options are very drastic.

Interhigh is 4.5k pa, so more affordable than private or a flat, unless renting is incredibly cheap where you are. If your DS could sit in a room near your DH to log on, that might be the best home ed option.

You can ask the council where there are places in your DS’s year locally (or ring the schools, especially if they are academies who administer their own waiting lists) to see if there are any acceptable places available for an immediate move. May be unlikely if others think the same about your middle school, but you may get lucky?

As you are not applying at a normal transition point via normal admissions, you don’t have to live in catchment to be given a place if there is one.

On the other hand, if there is a waiting list and ‘in catchment’ is something that gives priority, then moving into catchment will move you up the waiting list, but not give you a place.

To give you an example, when we moved a while ago, there was a space in DS’s year which we applied for, and got, from about 50 miles away. I applied for a place for DD to start Reception, but as she was not an on time application, she was placed on the waiting list, way down because of the distance.

DS had 2 weeks to take the place up, and we moved into a rented house on the day he started. On the day he started, DD became a sibling, and took a huge step up the waiting list.

Our new address was verified by the Council, and then DD moved almost to the top of the waiting list, as a sibling very close to the school.

3 days before the end if the Summer term, the waiting list moved and she got her place.

So you may not need your ds / dh to move IF there is a place available in his year at a better school anywhere. If there isn’t, you can improve the chances if a waiting list place by moving BUT this is not guaranteed because nobody may leave or others (siblings, LAC, those with EHCPs) may leapfrog him in the waiting list.

How about using something like interhigh , especially if your husband is at home to check he’s up and at the computer , it works out cheaper than independent schools .

It would be ridiculous to uproot your whole family for these reasons.

1. Deal with the bullying.
2. Try not to over react to the Ofsted.
3. If you think he needs more work or challenge, get a tutor.