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 ?

I reported that post so Mumsnet can decide if it's OK or not.

I think that unless you've experienced these kind of issues with an autistic child it's easy to think you should "just" whatever. People think there is help and support out there. Often there isn't.

There are around 50,000 kids out of education in the UK: a large fraction autistic and not out of school by choice.

The OP sounds like she has been let down by health and education.

She's being responsible to see what's possible now.

But he has no gcses - most 6th forms won't take someone with no gcses.

I’ve worked FT the whole time working from home PT in the day and then evenings when DH home to make up to 40 hours

An environment like a college where he has more autonomy and flexibility might be exactly what he needs.

I wouldn't want my 14 year old child in class with a 16 year old who hadn't been in school since year 5.

She and you have done so well but that is awful to have to pay so much. I understand how it happened though. I have paid for lots of things when they were needed urgently.

Did you not appeal the EHCP though? I will post a link to the EHCP support thread in a second in case it helps anyone else.

Talk to your local FE college about their level 2 provision. Many won’t offer the full range of gcse subjects but should be sympathetic to him attending for up to three years to include level 3/A level and have different pathways. If he had an EHCP that funding could be available until 25 and give access to support.

You don't have to justify your actions.

You came on here to ask a perfectly reasonable question.

You need to look at what local colleges can offer. He could go and do a lower level course alongside English and maths GCSE or functional skilsl(depending what is available). Go to open days and chat to them.
I home ed and have found going to the open days very useful in terms of looking at the next steps available.

Other than doing his work, what else has he been doing if not leaving the house?
How much gaming has he been doing?

He can go to a post 16 college and do his GCSEs no problem. He can't have the school experience he has missed, sadly. Home education misses the point that going through secondary school with peers is a hugely important experience

Did you appeal? Was it refusal to assess or refusal to issue?

You didn’t need the school to support tutoring or other provision. It is ultimately the LA who is responsible for providing provision for those unable to attend school. If they refuse, you can force them via JR if necessary.

its sad that he regrets being out of school, and he’ll never get that chance again now 😞
Am trying not to judge without all the facts but…. Am struggling a bit! It doesn’t sound like implications were thought through. A bit of a cautionary tale really.
its too late for school but the good news is that it’s never too late really for GCSEs at college. I hope your son can turn things around.

@Repeatingschool I get that he's turned a corner regarding wanting to go to school, and that's great, but I don't understand why he studied the national curriculum and GCSE syllabus but you didn't enter him into any GCSEs.

I am not a fan of private education but at this point I would really look at that as a possibility for the next 3 years.

So what happens to all the kids who fail their CCSEs but who are still required to be in education until 18?

I very much doubt any school would take him in Year 11, when he’ll be almost 2 years older than the youngest children in that year. In addition, a school would not take him midway through his GCSEs if he’s not completed the first year of them in Year 10. Whether the other children know his date of birth or not is irrelevant. The school will know, the LA will know and the funding providers will know.
Your DS has been badly let down by all who were supposed to support him in his educational journey I’m afraid. I’d suggest speaking to your local FE college to see what avenues they can suggest.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/5484488-ehcp-support-thread-no-6?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

This may be of help to the OP and possibly other people. There have been a lot of us struggling with the system over the years and knowledge is power.

Many of them go to a further education college, or do an apprenticeship where they can retake the key GCSEs.

It’s a shame it’s taken so long to decide he wants to go back to school, as I have worked in a few SEN schools and they are grouped on ability/emotional maturity rather than age, which I think would work well for him.

If he’s only just turned 16 then you could speak to the LA to see if he could join year 10 but honestly there would be no point in going year 11 now as many schools allow them to study from home from the Easter holidays onwards.

I also think he’d struggle with school considering he struggled before and he’s been out of it so long.

I would focus on finding him a smaller college and going in at a lower level.
You’ll be surprised how many different ages and different experiences a lot of college groups have.

Although there are still expectations of attendance etc they are a bit more laid back than school and so he may find it easier to adjust to college rather than a secondary school.

They can resit Maths and English while starting other courses. Probably at college.

So who exactly was overseeing his education?

If he’s 16 I’m guessing he’d be In year 11 now and they all finish around May!!!! It would be absolutely pointless to join year 11 now as he’d stand no chance making friends or doing the exams.

Do you have a social worker for
your child???

if you do maybe seek some advice from them or alternatively contact the local education authority and explain the situation.

Ideally if it was a school he’d need to go into year 10 to do the GCSE years 10 & 11 - I’m guessing this would be down to an individual school discretion and whether they had spaces??? And also if they were happy for a nearly 17 year old to be with 14-15 year olds which could be an issue.

Alternatively he could go to college at 16 in September and there would be a wider range of options in terms of traditional GCSEs and vocational qualifications

There are also some specialist provision options that are a little bit more flexible but then the places are massively sought after as there aren’t as many as the class sizes are smaller but they tend to offer places in their 6th form years from 16-19 giving scope for an extra year, if he met the criteria for this.

I hope you can come up with a workable solution.

He is presumably year 11 but about to be year 12 in September? GCSEs are 2 year courses so year 10 and 11, so he would need to go into year 10 to catch the two years of GCSEs before he did his exams. I doubt schools would have him in year 10-11 because that would mean he was 16-18 in with a bunch of 14-16 year olds. Apart from anything (unless his birthday is in late July/August) that would mean an 18 year old in classes with potentially 14-15 year olds, this would be a big safe guarding issue!

However I would look at local colleges. Many do GCSE re-sit programs over 1 or 2 years, and would have lower level courses available too, if he was not up to the level of starting GCSE in some subjects. These courses are aimed at year 12 up so 16-18 or 18+ and could take him a year or longer. He could also fit them in around other courses that would be more traditional for 16+ after GCSEs depending on what he wants to do later on.

I did appeal, and got the certificate from the mediation people when the LEA didn't respond, but the process was taking so long, if I didn't take matters into my own hands and pay for the tuition myself rom last July, there's no way she would have had enough time to get the learning done that she needed to to sit her GCSE's at 16 and I'd probably be where the poor OP is now. A 16 year old willing and able to learn but not being given the right environment to do so.

College would be a better option . My ASD grandson goes and copes reasonably well . I think Home Ed is a very bad idea , my son ASD would have school refused but I didn't give him a choice , often I'd have to carry him the fivr minutes to school while he screamed his head off ! The head used to take him off me outside school .. he was fine once inside and stopped doing it once he knew he was going regardless of how much he protested . Different times and attitudes .

If he joined year 10 now in september then by year 11 there could be safeguarding issues around an adult 18 year old ..because he is classed adult at 18 ... being in a class with potential 15 year olds (year 11 with late birthday) . School 2 years behind age group is just not going to work. Look at other options colleges.