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Original poster

Homeschooling secondary school age.

17 replies

MrsLark · 04/05/2017 13:45

Hi, I'm thinking of moving my daughter from mainstream school to homeschool her, as she isn't coping very well with the meanness of other girls in her year. The schools is limited in what they do about the bullying and its affecting my daughter's mental health. So my question is, is there support available for homeschooling a secondary school child, support groups, meet ups etc? If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great.
Academically she's doing well, she's bright, clever and enthusiastic to learn.

OP posts:
DiskFix · 04/05/2017 15:03

Try here:
cambshomeed.com/useful-links/

Or just google Home Education Cambridge and you should find a lot of infos.

sarahjlaws · 04/05/2017 21:20

Cambridge Home Educating Families (CHEF) are a busy Yahoo based group, and there are a few Facebook groups with lots of meet ups.

mastertomsmum · 17/05/2017 13:41

Is switching schools an option? Our primary has 3 newish children who were bullied at their prev school.

Snapdrag0n · 17/05/2017 14:42

That's terrible (well, good that they found a place at another school). What school did they come from?

ihatethecold · 17/05/2017 14:45

Following with interest.
My dd is year 8 and the bullying got so bad we had to get the police involved.
The after effects have been dreadful and I do consider home schooling sometimes just to get her away from the causes of her anxiety but i wouldn't have a clue where to start.

Snapdrag0n · 17/05/2017 14:52

It is so sad to read this, both primary and secondary schools should be managing this so much more effectively than they do.

ihatethecold · 17/05/2017 15:42

I have to say my DD's school have really tried to help and support my dd with the after effects of the bullying.
This is still ongoing but sometimes I just want to lift the burden and anxiety of school by saying she doesn't need to go back.

MrsGrowbag · 19/05/2017 06:36

Is switchibg schoools something you've considered? Some schooks tackle bullying better than others.

My friend's son was bullied at secondary, the school (Comberton Village College) dealer with it very seriously once they were made aware of the situation.

We moved our son from one primary to another because of bullying. The head in the first primary was very weak and reluctant to stand up to parents. The primary we moved him to had a brilliant head who was very clear with strong boundaries about acceptable behaviour. My son was much happier in the new school.

It might be worth talking to parents of pupils at other secondaries and seeing if thee is one which might suit your daughter more before you definitely go for the home school option.

Good luck.

ihatethecold · 19/05/2017 09:15

My DD is at Comberton and the pastoral care and support has been excellent.
we did look into moving her to another local secondary but my DD decided to stay at CVC

MrsGrowbag · 20/05/2017 06:53

My son also received excellent pastoral care for his mental.health problems (nothing to do with bullying) at Comberton.

OP, I would strongly consider looking at different secondary schools and seeing if one of them might suit your dd better before opting to home school. Home schooling is a huge commitment, especially at secondary level.

ihatethecold · 20/05/2017 07:35

Op. Just a suggestion.
Cambourne vc is a really lovely small secondary school.
Depending on what year your child is I know they have space in year 8

It's like a big primary school. We had a place for my dd to transfer there. I was very impressed with the school and the staff when we went a few times to look round.
It's no my catchment school but they really wanted to accept my dd and support her.

Fenlandmum · 20/05/2017 20:16

Watching this thread with interest...

I also have a dd in Yr 8 who is very very miserable and begging to leave her current school in Cambridge. She isn't being bullied but finds the atmosphere at her school to be extremely bitchy and unpleasant. I would remove her in an instant if I could find another school where I knew she would be thrive. However, our options seem to be very limited. We've identified a couple of school which may have places for next year, but I have no idea whether she'll be any happier there than she is at her current school.

I've thought about whether she would be happier if she was home schooled but she is very sociable so I'm not sure this would be the best solution - she just wants to find a school where she has a nice group of friends as opposed to one where her so called friends are constantly undermining her and each other.

ihatethecold · 20/05/2017 20:51

I hate to say it but I think most schools have this especially at this age range.

Fenlandmum · 20/05/2017 20:57

Yes, this is what I tell dd on a daily basis, but she seems to think that it's particularly bad at her school....

ChestertonCharley · 23/05/2017 12:43

You could also look at www.redballoonlearner.org/RB-Cambridge.

Is anyone prepared to say at which secondaries their children have particularly suffered?

Scrumble · 23/05/2017 18:11

I'm about to move to Cambridge...with an 11 year old... all this talk of bullying is a bit worrying - is it really rife in all the schools?? If so I'd like to know which ones to avoid...

ihatethecold · 23/05/2017 22:26

You can't avoid it but some schools will deal with it better than others.
Comberton have been very good dealing with bullying on my dd and the after effects.

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