back to school for Year 6

[soontobeExHomeEdder]

have name changed as I'm identifiable to anyone who knows me IRL, and I'd like to keep my main ID separate IYSWIM.

Anyway, DD2 has been home educated for a couple of years. She wants to go to secondary school next year, but they've just changed the admission criteria to a feeder primary system, whcih puts us right down at the bottom of priorities. So we're looking at primary school for Year 6.

We have a meeting with a possible school on Friday, but I'm not sure exactly what I want to know, and what they might ask me about DD. What are some potential issues with Year 6, and if you were the Head, what would be your concerns about DD? Obviously I need to ask about SATS, homework, bullying; and explain why she came out of school. Anything else?

primary for this school year (ie now) or next, in Sept?

starting Year 6 in September (we need the extra months to make sure she knows her times tables/has covered the NC work/etc )

If she is going to do all of year 6, ask about SATs. dd is in year 6 atm and spends a lot of time doing practice papers.

Do they group kids by ability within the class, and how long will it take them to assess your dd. If put in the 'wrong group' how soo will they be able to shift her.
What specific goals would they have for your dd.....if there has been an issue of bullying in the past, and posible lack of self confidence as a result, what would they put in place to ensure this isn't a problem a second time around.

Do you feel that your dd will need any specific help getting back into the school education sytem? (open question, not loaded) if so you should raise that with the school ASAP

are there any SEN issues.....the sooner they are brought up the better

no specific help or SEN, will ask about the self-confidence thing, as that's a potential issue. I'm going to be upfront about the fact we're only there becasue of needing to get into the secondary school (as everyone will be speculating that anyway), so I don't feel I can be too pushy about what would they be doing specifically for DD2. Also I suppose I'd better not bitch too much about the last school (as it's in the same "cluster" ).
Thanks MB

I wouldn't go into too much detail about anything, you don't have to. Simply explain that you've been home-educating for a while but that your daughter wants to go to secondary school and so you both feel a year re-integrating her into school at primary level would be beneficial.

Then ask about the class and ability grouping structure in Year 6. You can also ask how they integrate new children - do they have a buddy system or assign a 'minder' or two to any new child. Then if you think there is anything specific you need to ask with regard to moving from home-educating to a school environment, ask that too.

"a year re-integrating her into school at primary level would be beneficial"

Good phrase ecoworrier, I shall use that one.

Make sure she can start in September because the cut-off point for secondary applications is mid-October I think