Deregistering before transition to high school

[Ilovetea13]

My child is currently in year 6 at primary.
The pressure of SATs and just being in year 6 is getting too much for them
School refusal is becoming more frequent.
My child wants me to homeschool but is half and half right now due to wanting to do the fun things at the end of primary.
I'm getting my head around the idea of homeschool and the more I think about it the more for it I am.
Problem is we're in that transition stage, we will find out what high school we have in March.
My child has autism(no ehcp) and a medical issue too.
I'm not sure what to do, do I leave the idea of high school open incase she changes her mind?
Also how would I go around deregistering before even starting in year 7 but having completed year 6?
Would the school likely want to see us as it looks like I'm not giving the school a chance? Literally deregistering before day 1.
I think personally I'd be happy to do it now in year 6 if she chooses to.

Complete primary
Have them start high school in September and review after a few weeks or at half term
Things can change in a few months.

My approach was to home ed for Year 6, to make sure it suits us and my daughter, with the option of secondary after that if she wants. She'd be halfway through Year 6 now, absolutely loves being home educated and we have not put an application for secondary in. Don't forge that you can deregister/refuse a school place at any time - whether that's the last few weeks of Year 6, the first few weeks of Year 7, or right now. Have a good chat as a family and see where the land lies.

Thanks for the answers guys, it's a whole world I barely know anything about and I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing right now.
She cried again today about going to school but somehow went in.
I feel awful sending her in knowing she doesn't like it and is so anxious.
I'm not sure if she will hold out for the rest of this year..
Just didn't really know how I would go around it if it was to happen during that transition between leaving primary but not yet starting secondary, like which school do I even tell?
I feel like I should accept the high school place just incase she has a change of heart too.
It's so difficult, I worry alot too and worry how the school will react n it just doesn't seem right not finishing this year off when we have been there for 6 and a half years.

If she’s miserable, take her out. Y6 is an excellent time to try home education. If it doesn’t suit, your daughter can go to high school alongside all the other new starters, and it won’t really matter that she missed the end of Y6. Seeing out the rest of the year - six more months of tears - just for the sake of a few leavers’ events seems kinda crazy to me. Likewise, half a year of suffering would be a high price to pay just to see it through to the end of primary and get a sense of completeness. She deserves to be happy, and to learn, which she probably is not doing while under such stress.

If your daughter leaves primary school now, you deregister from her current school. High school is entirely separate. If you’ve secured a school place for the autumn, you either accept it or decline it - there is no deregistration involved if she has never attended, because she is not registered there.

Legally, home education is the default position. You don’t have to prove that you gave school your best shot in order to be “allowed” to home educate, any more than you’d have to submit to a grilling if you wanted to withdraw your child from state school and send her to private school instead. So no, the primary school cannot demand a meeting with you when you decide to take your daughter out, nor would the secondary school require a meeting if you tell them that the offered place is not required. It’s your decision.

If you’re unsure whether your child will want to go to secondary, I’d accept the place in order to keep her options open. There are no drawbacks to doing that, really, as you can tell the school at any point before her first day that she won’t be going after all.

If she does decide that she’s definitely not going, I personally think it would be considerate to tell the school. If her year is oversubscribed, there will be another family on the waiting list who will be very anxious to learn whether their child can start at their desired school, so they can attend transition days, buy uniform and so on. You’d be doing them a kindness if you relinquish a place you are quite sure you don’t want. But only if you definitely don’t want it, of course.