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 ?

This is what I wasn’t clear on as when I try to google it’s confusing as some sources say if SEN is involved you can go back a year

You need a sixth form college that does a GCSE resit program. He would be sitting them for the first time rather than resitting but it would solve the age issue, and they’ll probably be better at knowing what to do with a 16year old with an atypical educational history.

I very much doubt he will be able to start school in a lower year. The education system is seriously inflexible these days regarding doing things out of year (for secondary anyway).

Best to look at colleges. My DC will be starting a fast-track GCSE course in September at our local college where they study for 3 GCSES in one year, specifically for those who have not managed to take their GCSEs at the right age for whatever reason. They can then progress onto certain A levels or other courses.

The college also offers vocational courses, while also studying maths and English GCSE if you don't have them yet.

Not if you aren't school age.

A school age child can be delayed or go back a year with the agreement of the school, but your child isn't entitled to a school place if they aren't school age.

Thankyou yes that makes sense I just feel so confused as wasn’t expecting this issue.

I would email your local colleges and ask them what options are available for a 16 year old without GCSEs, there will be something.

There will be lots of colleges who will take him to do level 2/GCSE courses.

But returning to school will not be possible at his age unfortunately. No school will take him on roll.

Hopefully you can get him to understand that college could be great for him. He's older now, he would fit in better with peers the same age.

My daughter went to a sen school and for post 16 she attended a small, specialist provision for people like her - she is high functioning autistic and couldn't manage mainstream college. But it also covered kids who had been home educated, those with significant medical problems, trans and autistic kids.

You didn't need an ehc for it, though plenty did, though not all.

This is why I suggest you look up 'local offer' on your LA website as you need to know what is available and it can be difficult to find out if you are not in the loop.

That tends to be more in lower years where there is a feeling that an extra year to sort out all the foundation skills in literacy and numeracy or to emotionally mature might be beneficial - not right at the end.

I've read through and seen that your DS hasn't been in a school since Y5 and out of education since he was 12, which would have been Y7. Am I right in thinking you don't have an idea of his current levels? I think you need to investigate mainstream college options. The mainstream college might be able to assess him and recommend a suitable course. The units mentioned by Arran2024 might also be a good fit, but you might struggle to gain evidence to support entry as demand for these will be high.

No state school would do this, no. He must be year 11. Honestly - it will be impossible at this point with GCSE’s. From memory, I don’t think the year 11s even go back after Easter? They’re revising, and might come in for odd study session plus exams. Apply for a Level 1 course at the nearest college to start in September, won’t need any GCSE’s to start. Then he can do level 2, and level 3 and beyond if he likes. It’ll be a much more relaxed place and actually possible for him.

I think you should look at colleges too. There will be something he can do. He will probably have to do his maths GCSE and English language gcse is he doesn’t pass them in the summer though. One of my DD’s friends bailed both and she did maths in year twelve and English in year 13.

It’s not appropriate for sixteen year olds to be in the same class as fourteen years olds. I really think he should be able to find something he wants to do at college though.

You would need the school to agree to 'backclassing' which is totally up to the school to decide they will allow and would then mean him starting year 11 in September, this in itself could lead a school to refuse to consider it as it's half way through GCSE courses. IF you could get a school to back class into year 11 then yes they would offer a place. I work in Fair Access and have come across this a few times, for example when a young person arrives in the UK from overseas or has come from a different education system, but as I say the school has to agree to do it. Ring your local authority admissions department and ask them for advice. Look at any colleges that offer a 14-19 programme, or colleges that offer Level 1 courses, it wouldn't be 'school' as such but would possibly satisfy his desire to learn. Some colleges also offer GCSE level BTEC courses (basically because it's only the actual school system that requires strict rules on age in any particular year) Also look at on line providers with the idea he could do essential GCSEs and then join college later.
The only other alternative is to look at private schools as they sometimes have a different perspective on it. I recently placed a young person back in state school who was 2 years out of year group in an independent school, but had to go back into the correct year group in state.

Yes do this - he won't be the only one. I hope you can find something suitable.

You actually could still apply for an ECHNA (needs assessment for EHCP) if you wanted. They run to age 25. All the info you need is on the IPSEA website.

Your local council should have a careers, education and employment service for teens. I would book an appointment to discuss options.

Also I know this isn’t the point of the thread. My earlier post is more helpful… BUT - he has not been in education since age 12? I’m just wondering what the heck the council did about it? Did you try to get support from them?

This is why it isn't always the best idea to withdraw completely from mainstream - it can throw up problems later on. It may seem like the best option at the time of course. Local authorities have no right to intervene if a parent chooses to home educate. I guess one of the issues is why this home educated child is not taking his GCSEs this year - home education is a bit of a red herring here tbh, the issue is more that he hasn't been aiming for gcses.

I spotted kings Canterbury have a gcse in a year in their international department- which is open to uk kids too. I suspect it’s too academic and would cost but such programmes do exist.

also some football club foundations used to have programmes that may fit.

Can you look into options and describe them as "looking at schools" to him for the moment. Colleges aren't the same as schools, but they're still groups of young people in a classroom learning a subject. If it's the group/social/in person part he's after, college will give him that.

If it's qualifications and he can take or leave the social aspect, an online school would be worth looking at as pp suggested. Kings Interhigh and Minerva Academy are two options.

Yes but he wasn’t actually home educated (I completely support this done properly). He was actually not in education and surely should’ve been referred to them by the home ed team or OP should’ve contacted. Then he wouldn’t be in this pickle.
How can a child not be in education (school or home) since age 12?
I’m just confused as to how this happened to begin with.

he has been educated !

No idea why that was crossed through and cut short

he has been educated ! We’ve done work and stuck to a timetable and curriculum for the whole time. He just refused all his tutoring and wouldn’t leave the house and was quite unwell mentally

We are under the LA team they have a yearly report, samples of work and we have a yearly home visit they have been happy with his progress.

My DS wasn't home educated, but he changed schools at the start of year 11 and then dropped back and repeated year 10. "We" (the schools did it not me) had to put forward a case to the LEA as to why this was beneficial. It was the best decision we ever made.

We had no choice but to deregister as he was hospitalised at the end of year 4 with ARFID was tube fed for a while and school was triggering the eating disorder it was the consultant who advised us to consider it