Year 6 summer term - Home ed or not?

[GardeningMummy]

I realise this is a very, very last minute question so therefore I don’t have enough time to go into detail why this has come about but, to summarise….
DD has ASD and has a ton of (mostly social) issues at school. This ramped right up before the Easter holidays and so as you can imagine, she’s dreading going back and is giving herself stomach issues from the worry.
So my question: what kind of activities (other than SATs of course) would she be missing out on, if I home educated her for the remainder of the school year? I mean, I’m presuming year 6 is vaguely similar in all state primaries, is it not?
She’s all set to go to high school in September but my worry is that home educating her, whilst it may help her now, could potentially make going to high school that much harder for her?? I’m at a loss. I’ve tried talking to the school but the new headteacher just doesn’t listen, says she’ll look into things and get back to you but doesn’t, then when you enquire about it, she has zero clue what you’re referring to…! And, as other parents have also said, she seems completely clueless to all matters SEN.
Moving her is not an option for a few reasons.
What would you do??

Please go easy on me if I’m missing the obvious, my head is in a spin 😵‍💫 Thanks

*what kind of activities (other than SATs of course) would she be missing out on if I home educated her for the remainder of the school year? I mean, I’m presuming year 6 is vaguely similar in all state primaries, is it not?

This very much depends on the school. Not all do the same things. Most schools do lots of fun things in the summer term, but the precise nature of them will vary from school to school. Or rather, what most consider fun. The activities aren’t always fun for all. Also leaver’s events and trips, but again precisely what will depend on the school.

Will lots of the current classmates be moving to the same secondary school?

Have you spoken to the SENCO?

When you speak to the HT, do you follow up with an email to create a paper trail?

Have you also spoken to the secondary school’s SENCO?

At my children's school- they had a " SATs breakfast" for the children. Really just a way to make sure children are in. But my children enjoyed it. I think lots of schools have these. They also had a picnic after the SATs.
You are able to remove your child from the SATs, they don't have to sit them.
Some schools have a residential for Y6 after SATs and there are often leavers' parties etc.
Might be worth asking the school what events there are and weighing up if youe daughter would enjoy them.

Our school SENCO has just left at Easter and our new one doesn’t start until September so we won’t meet her but even the one who left, I’ve never met! I didn’t realise we even had one until it was announced she had left! DD doesn’t have an EHCP and they just expect none-EHCP SEN kids to ‘get on with it’ it seems.
I haven’t spoken to anyone at her new school.

SATS, fun end of year things like leavers assemblies and parties, transition days to secondary school if these are arranged through school. How will she find going to secondary after summer if she’s missed out on a lot and the other children are there?

High school transfer will be a lot harder if she’s home schooled this term. I get your concerns, my dd has asd but I found if I allowed any deviation from the norm eg I allowed her a day off because she was physically sick from anxiety, the next day was worse, I learned she went in daily even though she frequently didn’t make it to lunch

Ask who is taking on the responsibility for SEN this term. That may be the HT or it may not. If it is someone else, speak to them. It doesn’t matter that DD doesn’t have an EHCP.

Parents cannot withdraw their child from the SATs (ETA: if they are on the roll of the school. Obviously, if you EHE DC don’t do SATs then). To ensure DC didn’t sit SATs, parents would have to keep DC off during the SATs (and potentially the whole timetable variation period) which may result in unauthorised absences and subsequently a fine. The final decision on who is disapplied lies with the headteacher who must follow the government’s rules on who should be registered for the SATs.

They don’t do transition days during year 6, they’re at the end of August for her particular high school

I’m not bothered about her doing SATs? They’re not the issue.

I didn’t say you were. I was pointing it out because a pp said you could remove DD from the SATs.

I think you absolutely need to speak to them new school to see what provision would be in place as they need to be aware and if there is no SENDCO in place where she is currently there will be no handover. This isn’t ideal at all but you could mitigate this by being proactive and speaking to them.
As for home schooling this term - it’s likely to be very difficult to get her back into a routine. I would speak to the headteacher and see
what they can do to help support you.

Parents can refuse their DC from taking SATs. They’re not mandatory at all. The headteacher has said this when I was talking to her, trying to get help for DD. They’re about testing how well the school is doing. But like I said, she’s not struggling with SATs so that wouldn’t help. The issues are social.

Sorry clicked send!!

also if the new school don’t sound like they’re on board with her issues and can provide adequate support you maybe need to review this which is late in the day with offers out, but there may still be other, more Suitable options for her.

Problem is, the headteacher is bloody useless! She’s one of those “Hmmm yeah I know tut It’s hard isn’t it?” Then does absolutely bugger all to try and help. The previous headteacher was utterly, utterly wonderful! She was like a second mum to every child and tbh, every parent! She has an adult son with ASD and just ‘got it!’ The kids loved & respected her and we could guarantee that anything we approached her about would be resolved imminently. She retired though and now everything has gone to shit! A fellow mum’s DD has just been awarded an EHCP and the school are totally ignoring it!

If you deregister her from this school does she get taken out of the state system all together and would she loose her place in her high school? I don’t know the answer but thought I would mention if you haven’t checked!

I haven’t any issues with her secondary, they seem to have good SEN provision. I haven’t spoken to them since we got the offer though as I didn’t know I was meant to contact them?

Oh sh*t I didn’t think of that…..

My dd was barely there in year 6 towards the end, no sen but she had school based anxiety. She missed a day of sats, the end of year trip which was 5 days and she was never going anyway, the school “prom” and a few days of watching films. Teachers weren’t even bothered in the end, the school trip she just had the week at home and no one checked on her.

She started secondary school in September and has been doing really well, a few wobbles here and there but her attendance is currently 94% compared to 80% at primary school.

Parents cannot just decide to withdraw their child from the SATs. The final decision on who is disapplied lies with the HT following the rules. To ensure DC didn’t sit SATs, parents would have to keep DC off during the SATs (and potentially the whole timetable variation period) which may result in unauthorised absences and subsequently a fine.

DD’s secondary place won’t be withdrawn just because you decide to EHE for the summer term of Y6.

You definitely wouldn't lose your secondary place. Your DD might not be keen on going back into the system though...

Do it. Have fun, let her learn what she wants in a way that works for her.

Do you have the time and space to EHE?

Thankfully yes!

I’m so glad your DD is doing better. May I ask what it was that you told school each day that she didn’t go in?

Primary SENCO here. All schools have to have a SENCO and they are the only teacher in school who legally has to hold Qualified Teacher Status. They also have to complete a SENCO qualification within 3 years of being in post (if they haven't already done so). Your school should have something in place SENCO wise between now and September. They can't just let things sit! Also, regarding EHCP of friends child- it is a legally binding document. If children aren't getting what is detailed in the EHCP, parents should speak to the school, and then to EHCP caseworker at LA to get it sorted. Definitely speak to new school SENCO too - get things rolling for September. Needs don't have to just be academic to get support in place.

There's often trips, leaver's plays/assemblies, discos etc after SATs but of course not all children will enjoy those things.

If you and your DD want to, I would just take the summer off and enjoy it!

This maybe needs escalating to the governors and the local education authority to launch an investigation that’s terrible 😞