Help with Home Ed resources GCSEs next summer

[ShingleStreet1]

I'm looking for some advice on how to structure my DD's education, since she left school last November after having seizures which were later diagnosed as epilepsy. She is also diagnosed ASD and has always had school attendance anxiety. She should have taken exams last summer but was not well enough and did not have any formal teaching. We have waited since March for a Hospital School referral, and were finally told that she would have to re-enrol in Year 11 to access Hospital School. She did this at the beginning of term but still no Hospital School. Work sent from school has been patchy and she has no lessons apart from a private maths tutor once a week. Going back to school is not an option as her anxiety would go through the roof and she is not always well enough. We have been refused a EHC assessment (we're appealing) so won't get funding for private online school. We've written to the Mayor, the MP, the Children's Commissioner but no help yet. She has also been referred by her nurse to a social worker just to get her education sorted out but the social worker doesn't seem very confident that she can get anything in place.
Time is running out and we are desperate. We wish we had pushed more last year but she was not in a fit state then to be in school or attend online lessons due to seizures and medication taking their toll. Any advice on resources to get her through this very gratefully received. Thanks

They don't have to do any exams. It's not law.
My youngest spent last two years of high school at home with work being sent to her.
She did do her GCSE's and managed eight.. but she didn't have to if she didn't want to.

Thanks @QueenofTheSlipstreamVM. As she is re-enrolled in school with teachers who are familiar to her, and we won't have to pay for her to take exams, it seems best to get it all over with this year. Maybe we need to change our mindset. Just don't want the whole process to be too drawn out for her.

Hi, you could try Seneca, century teach, bbc bite size, bbc teach, ixl, twinkl for resources, also revision guides, books , past papers to work on around work from school. Some of these are free others you would have to pay for. There are also free lessons on open university on maths and english. Sorry I do not see how a social worker would be able to help organise education as that does not fall with their remit. You mentioned hospital school where I live you only get this if you are poorly in an actual hospital for long periods of time. We have a medical needs team who can help with education at home for other medical conditions and you are to ill to go to school. The school would have to make the referral and it be backed up my medical evidence. However it’s a short term package of 12 weeks and is not seen to replace full time education. Did you get any help/ guidance from your local EHE team while she was EHE?

It sounds infuriating that your daughter hasn't been given the help she needed despite all your pushing. It shouldn't fall to you. However, I you're wise to look at Plan B in which you do some of the organising yourself.

I agree with @QueenofTheSlipstreamVM that you can reduce the pressure on yourself and on your daughter by re-thinking the big picture. Given what you've said about school being able to provide an exam venue etc, it does seem ideal to sit some exams there in the spring. However, the upside of your situation is that you can pick and choose which exams to access there. If eight subjects is too much work and stress, your daughter can do five. Or three. If she doesn't see the point of RE, drop it. Most home educated kids sit fewer GCSEs than school pupils, typically just the minimum to get them onto the next level of education or employment. Five or six is plenty. Schools have targets to meet. They want kids to get as many exams under their belts as humanly possible, even when that isn't in the best interests of the individual child. Also, it is very common for HE kids to spread exams over a longer time period, so if she can only do a few this year, she could do a few more next year - if not at school, then independently.

Reassure her that there are many ways forward. Knowing that will help her weather the stress of sitting exams. Too often at school, teachers go overboard with trying to impress on kids the importance of doing well in their exams. For some children, that is the right approach, but others become paralysed with fear and it just backfires.

Going easy on exams doesn't equate to getting an inferior education. Your daughter can be learning things which don't lead to a qualification but DO achieve the ultimate aim of education. GCSEs are sometimes useful, but they do not equate to a good education.

One of my kids, who had a chronic illness and anyway didn't particularly want to do exams, learned various subjects including art in their teens. They sat English and maths GCSE aged 19/20 and then went straight to university to do an arts subject, where they are excelling. One admissions tutor described them as "the most impressive candidate I have seen in my five years in this department". I actually think that if they'd been dragged through a succession of GCSEs, they might not have had the time to develop the other skills which landed them a place at their top choice uni to study the subject they loved.

Thank you @Whereisthesun99. We have loads of revision books and past papers but motivation is the problem! Some great tips on quality online resources though. Thanks
The Social Worker does have education within her remit and her timeline is faster than the Hospital School which operates at a glacial pace. We were hoping she would be able to pull us out of this Kafkaesque nightmare. I think the problem is with the local authority as the school has told us that neighbouring authorities don't seem to have a problem referring pupils to Hospital School (she was referred by school in March)
We are only just beginning to discover the world of home education and I think we just need to contact our local team and get some advice.

Thank you @Saracen
This will really help me frame things in a different and more positive way for my daughter. It has also helped me to change my way of thinking about the whole process.
Today we had assurance from school that she will sit all exams in a room alone so this has made her much more confident. Small victories are worth celebrating 🙂

The problem with the hospital school is likely to be whilst the LA has the power to make provision for post 16 pupils unable to attend school, they do not have a statutory duty to do so, so most of the time LAs don’t.

For science subjects: https://homeedstem.com/ is free and also has links to various other free resources.

Get the past papers out.

Start with the first section in whatever subject and go through it with text books / on line resources what ever you have, then send this in to school.

Start with English and maths, and then add in a favorite subject and gradually build up until she is doing complete papers with less and less reliance on the resources.

There is no reason why the school cannot mark and return the work with comments.

It is not ideal, in fact it is fairly crap, but should allow her to move towards GCSEs.

Will she sit the exams in school or elsewhere?

If it is in the school get them to make it a different room with you there. You just sit and read a book and do not get involved, you are there for emotional support.