Secondry school return

[fruitbat2008]

My dd is due to return to year 11 next week and has been having a lot of anxiety about this for some time, she wants to be home schooled, however the la have said she can only take english and maths gcse exams at her school. After looking at other gcse's Ive realised its quite expensive, and one I can't afford. So just wondering if their are any home schoolers out there who might have any ideas. Any replies gratefully received.

To be frank, Year 11 is probably the worst time to start home education. It is not easy to make arrangements to sit exams. Often it isn't possible to continue with exactly the same ones the young person was doing at school, so you may need to change to a different syllabus, which means extra work.

Having said that, home education still might be the best choice for your daughter. It all depends how unhappy she is at school and what arrangements you can make for her. There is no point keeping her at school if it is destroying her mental health. If you can't provide a great education for her outside of school, you can at least help her to be happier and plan to address her education later on.

the la have said she can only take english and maths gcse exams at her school
Can you explain more about this arrangement? LAs don't usually help electively home educated (EHE) teens in any way, not even by arranging for them to sit exams at a local school. Are they proposing that she stay on roll and they provide some tuition and exam access? That is often called Education Other Than At School (EOTAS), but some LAs have other names for it. If they have accepted she is too ill to attend school then they should be giving her the full package of whatever is appropriate to her needs, not just two subjects. But I understand that it's very hard to force LAs to meet their obligations, and with the clock ticking toward exam time you may not have time to engage in battle to make them provide for her.

Thanks for your reply I agree its the worst time to home educate, however my daughter has ASD which causes her anxiety and she has not been happy since year 7. I have been to school too many times count but she just can't settle there. The LA has said she can sit her Maths and English at school but I have to organise it and her school have said she can't do part time school as they don't provide that. I have been in touch with the school just before the holidays but as expected not much help.

I'm still not clear - does the LA agree that your daughter is too ill to attend? Are they saying you can keep her on roll at her school and the absences will be authorised?

school have said she can't do part time school as they don't provide that
If they agree she is too ill to attend full-time then they (or the LA) have to provide what she needs, whether that is part time or some other arrangement. They can't just wash their hands of her.

If she has missed (or is likely to miss) at least 15 days of school in total due to illness then the school must inform the LA. There must be a named contact at the LA responsible for arranging your daughter's education and you should be told who it is. This person should then liaise with the school to ensure your daughter is getting what she needs from them, or if the school can't provide it then the LA might make other arrangements such as providing home tutoring. Has this happened?

The sticking point in many cases is if the school/LA don't agree that the child's anxiety prevents her attendance or means that attending is harmful to her. They may say that the parent is exaggerating the problems or that the problem will be solved by forcing the child to school so she will "get used to it". Do you have any professionals on board who would support your stance that your daughter's anxiety prevents her from attending school?

The Special Needs board here at Mumsnet might be a good support if you are pushing for the LA to provide EOTAS. I don't know much about how it works. If that doesn't look likely then you may decide it is easier to deregister for elective home education and do it all yourself. You shouldn't have to, but if you are banging your head against a birck wall with the LA then you might feel it's a battle not worth having at this late stage.

See links here: www.gov.uk/illness-child-education

Hi the school and the local LA have not said she is too ill to attend and even though her attendance was only 86% when the schools closed the most they would do is call me in for a meeting. They seem deaf to the fact she finds school difficult even though they have proof that she does have ASD and anxiety. I feel that if we continue with school she will end up missing so much school that she will fail her GCSE's anyway.

Hi I am just going through the same issue. My child was diagnosed with asd last summer as she went into yr 10....long suspected but not tested until it became a huge issue in yr 9. Last years attendance before lockdown was 46%. My attendance there was higher!
Anyhow I have a meeting with the school next week but don't think I will be sending her back in and will home school her. She has become the child I knew before her anxiety hit the roof last year. She now wants to go out and join in with life again.
I am just at the beginning of this so will contact my LA but just wanted to follow this thread and let you know you are not alone...yr 11 is not the best time to be doing this but I don’t think I have any other option if I want my child to have any education!

@fruitbat2008

Hi the school and the local LA have not said she is too ill to attend and even though her attendance was only 86% when the schools closed the most they would do is call me in for a meeting. They seem deaf to the fact she finds school difficult even though they have proof that she does have ASD and anxiety. I feel that if we continue with school she will end up missing so much school that she will fail her GCSE's anyway.

This could be me...everything I say falls on deaf ears.