Best places to choose IGCSE courses from

[CramptonHodnet]

I posted a few months ago about DS coming out of school. That's going quite well.

However, now DD (12) is coming out of Secondary. She gave it her best shot but, with ASD, it was always going to be difficult for her to fit in. There was so much she couldn't cope with, with tears and stress all round. So we've decided to HE her too. She's very happy about it but wants to dive into iGCSE courses as soon as possible.

She wants to do computer science, maths, geography, french and english. Has anyone got any recommendations for the best places to do these? We've looked at Wolsey Hall, NEC, Oxford Homeschooling. Where's best? Who provides the best support? And work materials? Have we missed any out that would be a good fit for DD?

She doesn't want to go down the InterHigh route.

I've not heard good things about Oxford Homeschooling Key Stage 3 - maybe their GCSE courses are better. I know someone who supplemented with NEC for French and found it was OK (but not great).

We looked at doing Geography but my plan was just to get the IGCSE Edexcel coursebook and work through that, supplementing where necessary. (DS2 didn't do geography in the end but we would probably have sorted out a tutor for a while just to work on exam technique).

Maths and English the boys did in years 10/11 (in that order) at evening classes at the local sixth form - I think there are quite a few options for evening classes for Maths/English/Science and they are usually cheap as govt want everyone to have GCSE level in these subjects.

my eldest is doing a history IGCSE with www.myonlineschooling.co.uk

I think its possibly the only one that I could see that lets you do as many or as few as you want - a lot of the others you had to do a minimum of 5, and they also didnt mind that he is 17. Hes still gone into a year 10 class and they seem to be fairly supportive, although history IS his special interest, so havent really tested their support levels yet. Will see how it is next year as he might needmore preparing for exams (he has ASD and was in a SEN school before)

he-exams.wikia.com/wiki/CorrespondenceCourses

Ok. So perhaps not Oxford Homeschooling then. I think DD could be self motivated enough to study some by herself but will need online tutorial help/assignments etc.

We don't have any colleges anywhere near us - we're very rural, so not possible to do evening classes. Otherwise, that would have been a really good suggestion

Wolsey Hall - is that any good? Their website looks full of useful information. But they didn't appear to offer all the subjects she wants.

We are going to have to work to a smallish budget so can't afford to make wrong choices. Whilst DS is home educated at the moment, he is undecided about secondary when the time comes. So we may need to be prepared to do the same for him.

Thanks for the link to the H-E correspondence courses review page, NKetc. That's useful to hang onto but what I'm looking for is recommendations for our specific subjects - is the French course from Wolsey Hall a good one? Can DD wing it through Geography and Maths using textbooks only, is the Computer Science course from NEC a good one. Are we about to waste our money on something which is either no good or not necessary?

DH says he can help DD through her maths gcse/igcse coursework, perhaps not needing a tutor and we could maybe do the same with geography.

Is it difficult getting a place as an external candidate to sit the exams? Some of the online providers say they have links to exam centres but can we do this ourselves? We are, as I said above, a long way from big towns and colleges. Our nearest cities are Salisbury and Exeter - roughly mid point between the two.

A lot of them will offer trial lessons/sessions.

Im pretty sure interhigh have got some special offer to trial happening and the one i linked to (MOS) generally offers a couple of trial lessons for free. Im pretty sure briteschool offers a free lesson to trial too

If you feel like you can support your child quite a lot or they are particularly self motivated, there is also cloudlearn

Regarding exam centres, with DSs we used private schools as they are more likely to do IGCSEs anyway. DD just sat her French GCSE last week at a state school, who were so helpful with my 3 candidates. The Head of Languages did a mock speaking exam with them a few weeks before the actual speaking so that they knew how it would be and she marked them as well (is an examiner as well).

GCSEs are a lot more accessible now because they are mostly final exams with no controlled assessment/coursework.

I would definitely find an exam centre first before you choose whether to do IGCSE or GCSE and which exam board - they are far more likely to take a private candidate who is sitting the same exam/board as their own pupils.

Hi ,

My dd have been studying with wolsey halls for one year , and she was extremely behind .

They only give you tasks to do , but they don’t tell you how long you have to take , how many hours , when to do it , or even tell you to do it !! you have to open it yourself and do the tasks given , they don’t provide anymore info and just tell you do do exercises from books which was extremely hard for my dd . if your dd is extremely self motivated i would recommend wolsey halls .

kind regards

wolsley hall sounds a lot like cloudlearn which is much cheaper
My ds couldnt get to grips with the lack of input, progression or motivation.

My daughter did both Igcse English and English literature with Catherine Mooney. She was extremely involved and approachable, and it felt quite a personal relationship. I paid for both courses together on a monthly basis over a period of a year. She sat one in Year 10 and the other in Year 11. In the end she got an A for both despite struggling with some dyslexic type difficulties. She got a lot of very positive feedback, as Catherine seems very keen to promote confidence. She went on to do A level English at local grammar where she did very well and is now at Cambridge.
I believe she got a lot of confidence from that A. Her previous teacher had predicted a B if she continued working hard

www.catherinemooneytutoring.co.uk

I think she also does a pre- GCSE course which might be helpful for you DD to start with, given her young age. I believe that English requires a bit more emotional maturity and is not as easy as maths to do early.

If I remember she started in about the November and sat the exam in June. There was quite a bit of exam practice and I think I paid a bit more for an extra paper to be marked. We sent off assignments through the post and they came back marked this way which I think she enjoyed.

By ringing round I found a local school which let her sit them for the cost of the exam board entry fee. The examination officer had a thing about HE students, not in good way, so he wanted to be sure they had the opportunity to sit GCSEs. Despite his obvious impatience with me he invited my Dd to come to see the exam hall on a separate day beforehand and sat her at the front of the hall so she wouldn't be nervous in a room full of strangers. Not that she was an anxious child. I sent him a present and card afterwards in the hope he would continue with his goodwill towards HE pupils.

We did not have a good experience with Catherine Mooney.

Can I ask what why it was a bad experience please? I was thinking of using her for my DS.