Year 11 DD has struggled in education since year 7 for a number of reasons, mainly to do with her mental health but recently there was a serious issue with another student involving the police. Because DD was not well enough to push ahead with prosecution this student is still at the school. Since then her attendance and mental well being has plummeted.
Last Thursday she told me the new set-up in school made her feel suicidal. She was on an attendance plan prior to this which also had a massive negative effect on her mental health.
This week I made the decision to allow to study from home. I felt that was my only option if I wanted to keep my child alive. Initially the school were supportive and said they would allow her to do flex-school. They would send work home for her, she could attend school to check in with teachers out of hours and they would still enter her for her exams. They've now decided this is not possible.
I've spoken to the HE department of our local LA who have said because DD hasn't been in school this year I can't officially HE for the rest of year 11. I can off-roll her and teach her at school but as far as child tax credits, child benefit and council tax is concerned she would be an unemployed adult and I would receive no money for her. This is going to make things financially difficult for us but my child's mental health has to come above money. I work full time on NMW so we'll survive but it will be a massive struggle.
I've spoken to the local private school who have said I ca pay for her to sit iGCSE at their school to the tune of £93 per exam. This is manageable, only just considering my sudden loss of income. There is no way I can afford to lose my child benefit and child tax credit and pay for online schooling. It's simply not an option.
My questions are;
Is this allowed? Can I fight this? (the benefits and/or the lack of support from her current school)
Are there any good resources for home studying for iGCSE (Edexcel) besides Khan Academy and BBC Bitesize which I've already found?
Has anyone managed to get their child through iGCSE with no support?
Does anyone have any Edexcel/Pearson iGCSE revision guides or textbooks they would be willing to sell? I've looked online but they're all quite expensive and considering I am facing a loss of around £100 per week on top of a £700 exam bill I am trying to make things as cheap as possible.
I'm taking her to the local FE later this afternoon to ask if there are any evening courses she could take with them. She doesn't want to start college in Sept without her exams. She is determined to sither GCSEs. She is considering taking an extra year (doing some exams this July and some next year. She has until Feb to decide if she ready to sit any in July)
Is there any other options for us that I have not yet mentioned?
TIA.