Can a home educated child return to school in a lower year?

[Repeatingschool]

Can a child ever return to school from being home educated in a lower year than they should be ?

DS is 16 and was home educated from year 5 as couldn’t cope at all. Initially it went well and we had tutors but at age 12 he started to refuse totally much as he had school refused prior to deregistering. What followed was years of him being in burnout. He’s now coming out of that but is devastated and wishes he had gone to school. Is there any way of managing this ? Would a school take a child and put them back a year or two ?

Sorry I should add he has ASD.

No

I don’t think so, at what point would he then leave? If at 16 he is in with age 14, 18 then age 16 and 20 with 18 yos?
would he prefer mixed age group of college? What age is he working at?

I’m not sure that you’d be able to do this. Perhaps an online provider might work. Is he motivated enough to work towards exams now, could you try tutors again? If he’s motivated he can probably catch up quite fast as he’s older and more focused. But there’s no age limit on when you do your GCSE’s so he’s still got time.

Look at local colleges that offer GCSE courses. I have only twice taught kids who were older than the year and both due to missing school for medical reasons.

I don’t think a 16 year old would be put in a class of 14 year olds. Does he have an EHCP as special school or a resource base may be a good option although he’s really aging out of that? Colleges offer GCSEs and equivalents to people who don’t have them. Could you look at private tutoring again? Maybe a private online school and then do the exams privately.

Could he do a 14-19 study programme?? The classes are generally smaller and more helpful.

Would they even do 1 year back ? Hes just desperate to go to school again

It's certainly possible for a child to be educated out of year group and I do know of a couple of children who've started a new school in a lower year for various reasons.

But, the issue you will have with a 16 year old is presumably he will at the end of compulsory school age now.
Practically I don't think a school would be able to take him two years below when he is already 16.

I would look now at your local college - lots will have programmes for children with SEN who haven't passed any GCSEs to do a vocational course alongside maths & English GCSEs.

I’ll try to look into this thankyou

I was thinking just one year he’s very clever so the academic side would likely be ok but I don’t know if it’s even possible or how to even go about it

Sorry to hear that your DS had had these difficulties. However I think it’s really unlikely he will be able to attend a school below his age at this point. It is much more likely that he will be able to get a college place. Where he could take courses at the correct level- perhaps looking at functional skills.

There are colleges offering special courses for young people who have been out of education for simmilar reasons - a year of supported study skills before moving onto academic areas.

Additional courses are also available to students who are eligible for an EHCP ( these can be for ASD related anxiety as well as academic needs)

He doesn’t have an ehcp

If you stick a 16yo in a lower year in school I guarantee he’ll be bullied to the point his life won’t be worth living. You failed at home schooling, I’m not sure what the years of burnout in if he’s refused to do anything at all for so long (I get he has asd but that sounds like a cop out, he shouldn’t have been given the choice to leave). He should have been returned to proper education years ago. There 100% will be resources available for him though, depending on your area. I’d start contacting your local colleges and youth services

He wouldn't be able to start school in Year 11 as that is mid way through the GCSE course.

@Repeatingschool 🫂💐

Education wise he’s been ok and always worked hard he just wouldn’t go to tutoring anymore. Also how would the other students know his date of birth ?

Oh I didn’t realise that I thought children can join at any year

You need two years to cover the gcse curriculum - it is really difficult to even move schools in years 10 and 11 as a result. Your son has seemingly missed that boat as no way would they let him do both years. Of course he is entitled to a school place but he would just get put into year 11. But other options remain, especially at college. Some colleges offer GCSEs - you might as well start looking into that. Also look at your local authority website under 'local offer' to see what is available. Much of it will require an ehc but not all of it.

Apart from age, very few schools will take an unknown child at the start of Year 11 as there isn't enough time to cover the GCSE courses, even if they might have agreed to start Year 10 even though he was 15.
An online school like Kings Interhigh or MVA might possibly still let him start Year 10 in September if you apply right now and explain the situation, they tend to be more flexible (partly because you are paying for it!) - but I appreciate that it isn't the school experience that he wants.

They start GCSEs in Year 10, by Year 11 they're really just finishing off the course and revising, doing mocks.

As he's no longer compulsory school age, I would explain to him that school isn't a realistic option any more and you will need to look at college courses.

I would have thought that physically and emotionally it’ll be quite clear he’s a lot older.
does he want a much younger peer group? Is the plan to hide his age?

He’s very small for his age (was very premature and has just never caught up) so I doubt he would look out of place at all. Would he need to hide being a year older now that many children defer of summer born ? (Although I’m unsure when that scheme started)

He's no longer school age so it's not an issue.
He doesn't have any entitlement to a school place in September.

I work in an FE College in Careers , we have lots of kids who have been home schooled and return to us. We have been told they can’t go back to school to re do GCSEs due to funding ( but I don’t know if this is true) All FE colleges will do Maths and English GCSE retakes , some may offer a 5 GCSE retake programme ( but may require courses taken before ) . Would suggest you contact now to see what options are . In my college we see potential students and parents ( most should do ) to look at options and put you in touch with support teams to help the transition ( even without an EHCP )There are three free years funding for FE studies , and then Access to Higher Education courses from 19+ if he is thinking about uni study