Cloud learn opinions

[Ritasdaughter1969]

Hi all
I'm struggling at the moment with my youngest daughter and school. She has always been very bright - top sets for everything but for the last couple of years her attendance has been less than 50% due to chronic pain syndrome and anxiety. School are not set up to deal with educating her, it has been a battle to get them to send work home with them saying that if she is ill she shouldn't be working. It is more a case of school being uncomfortable so the pain takes over and she can't concentrate. We now have the added problem of both children and teachers making reference to her absences and making her even more anxious. In essence she has taught herself for the last 2 years and still manages to score at the top of her classes in tests. But she is in year 10 now and I want to be sure she is getting the education she needs and is entitled to. In light of all this I am considering withdrawing her from school and registering in a distance learning. I have been reading up about cloud learn and wondered if any of you has any experience of them or the type of situation we are in and could offer any thoughts.

Many thanks

There are a number of distance learning providers which tend to sound like they'll be the answer to everyone's prayers, but the reality doesn't always match up. You can read some reviews of various providers on the Home education exams wiki page on distance learning. There are other options which work well for some subjects, eg for maths many kids get on better with a textbook or an automated online course like Conquer Maths.

It can be hard to find an exam centre for a specific syllabus and distance learning providers don't usually arrange that for you. You'd still need to sort out exam entries, at a cost usually of around £180 per GCSE or IGCSE.

This page about Considering home education for qualifications will also be relevant. As your DD has a medical condition you may be able to negotiate for home tuition or online school via the LA, although she may not meet the criteria. If a child is off school for 15 consecutive days due to health reasons (including mental health) then the LA or school has a legal duty to make alternative arrangements.

Don’t get me started on the ‘15 day’ legislation. It is an absolute farce. Funny how education authorities are hot on the heels of parents who don’t fulfil their obligations, yet seem to know nothing about their own obligations towards educating a child who can’t attend full-time due to illness, and when pointed out to them what their obligations are, do absolutely nothing about it. It exists in principle and paper only.

Tell me about it. They want her to try to go into school as much as she can manage but then that means that we can't actually access the tracks tutoring that we were granted for 5 hours per week as she isn't at home all the time. And because the school has a 2 weekly timetable it's not like we can arrange it for when she should have pe or dance lessons, ( that she can't actually do anyway) , because they aren't at the same time everyweek, and of course the tracks tutors only work school hours. So by abiding by the schools instruction to attend on the days she feels able she is actually ruling herself out of an education, and of course if she attends even for half a day it rules out the 15 day window. It's so frustrating. Feel like that was a rant, I hope it makes sense

Some LAs are absolute sods about evading their responsibilities. Excellent point @Mumto2two - what's sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. @Ritasdaughter1969 sounds like a catch 22 situation and I can see why you're frustrated. As the LA has offered tutoring before, you might be able to negotiate Internet school for her. There are several families in the home education exams group who have Red Balloon Of The Air or Nisai online schools provided by the LA, and both are very good. You can phone these organisations for advice on how best to negotiate with your LA - some people have found the advice helpful.

Thanks for the information I have chased up the GPs re social service and CAHMS referrals and enquired at a number of on line educators. I guess it's just a case now of keeping my foot on the peddle and seeing where it takes us.