Which is the best Y10 online school?

[Elle4444]

Hi Mums,
My daughter (14) has really struggled at school. She's well liked but suffers incredibly bad anxiety with ticking and self harming. She's recently disclosed severe abuse from a 16yo. Ongoing police investigation but she doesn't want to go back to school because everyone is asking what happened.

She super bright and can catch up anything missed, but whilst we wait for a new placement, a teacher friend has said online teaching is a really high standard now. I googled but was overwhelmed with so many companies offering it.

Does anyone use it for gcse years? Is it good?

TIA fellow mum

Rather than you paying for online schooling the LA should be providing provision. That could be online or home tutoring or at a small centre or hospital schooling, whatever meets DD’s needs. And if you haven’t already you should apply for an EHCNA.

The LEA at home thing sounds perfect. It's just until she's back up and running. Thank you 😊

Not a similar situation by any means but our family friend's kid uses a company called Tayberry. They live abroad, but Tayberry are based in the UK.

In which case email the LA’s Director of Children’s Services informing them of the situation and requesting provision under s.19 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure DD receives a suitable, full time education. This provision should have begun once it became clear DD would miss 15 days - the days don’t need to have already been missed or consecutive.

If the LA refuse, delay or ignore you email again reminding them of their statutory duty and telling them if they don’t provide provision you will be forced to begin judicial review proceedings. If that doesn’t work then contact SOSSEN.

In addition to this, request an EHCNA. IPSEA have a model letter on their website you can send to the LA requesting one.

Home educated kids often sit slightly different exams than are done at school. This is because they can't easily access some assessments. The qualifications are fully equivalent, and in fact many are identical to those taken at private schools.

However, the difference between exams means that you can't generally swap back and forth at will between home ed (or online school) and school during Y10 and Y11. Your idea of just keeping your daughter ticking over via online school, and then sending her back to a bricks and mortar school later, may not work. She might be preparing a different syllabus at an online school, working toward a different exam.

Where possible, people usually prefer to choose either home ed or school and stick with it throughout (I)GCSEs. Not everyone has the luxury of doing that, but it's the ideal.

My daughter is in Y10 with Apricot Online Learning. She started with them halfway through year 9 as a short term "something to do" whilst not able to attend school and loved it, so is not with them fulltime funded via her EHCP. It's changed our lives quite literally (probably saved hers).