working with school to accommodate EBSA

[KeepingTrying]

Hi,

I wondered if I could ask for advice to help me work collaboratively with our secondary school?

DS is ASD and is in crisis and has dropped out of school. It's a long story, but he can't cope with screen-based learning any more, and the school learning is entirely screen based. DS can't cope with emotional material, or pictures or videos except very bland ones, and only if I personally check them first for triggers. Basically he would have been fine in a 1980s school before they had screens and the internet, but 2023 school with screens has finished him.

We're working from CGP textbooks and he is happy with that. DH and I between us have university level education in all the subects he needs except French and Music, in which we are educated to AS level. I don't work and am happy to home school him. DH can teach him physics, maths and computer science by doing lessons before and after work.

The thing is, we would like DS to stay on roll at the school so he can sit his exams there, but the school feel they need to have control of his education in order to allow that. But they can't have control of his education because he is so sensitive, that outside tutors just can't work with his level of need, and he can't engage with online learning.

The person we're talking to at school says she's certain that we can find a way to make it work, and I just wish I could figure out what the options are, so I could talk positively with her about how to do it.

What we need is:

• An idea of how fast to go in order to cover 7 GCSEs in 2.5 years. For this, it would work for us just to have access to the school powerpoint files so I can cover the same topics at home. (We already have this).
• Access to school tests on paper to do at home, so DS can have his progress monitored by the school. (They are already giving us this).
• The knowledge organisers that the school use so we can be sure of covering the right material when we have to diverge from the school lessons a long way, as with reading different books in English.
• Weekly safeguarding teams meeting (We already have this)
• An undertaking from school that DS will be allowed to sit his exams in school without being forced to return. (We do not have this because they say DS can't stay on unless they control the teaching. They also acknowledge that they can't and won't offroll him, so we and the school are in a bind.)

I wondered if anybody might know what the way forward is? I know the school want more control. I'm not sure what more they have when DS cannot currently tolerate being taught by adults other than us, and can't engage with screen-based learning.

We have both school and home ECHP applications submitted. One was turned down and sent to tribunal and one is yet to come to panel. We have a good private MH person working with DS over zoom and he is great. He says DS needs to home school until his GCSEs and ideally we need to stay on roll at the school to get support and access to exams.

I looked into King's interhigh and Wolsley Hall and neither is suitable. King's is screen-based and and the Wolsley is Cambridge exam board. The Cambridge books would not work for DS as they are full of the wrong kind of pictures (it is that bad).

I thought about private access exams but it is hard as DS wants to study two languages and the exam centre that does that is far away. Ds doesn't travel well and going to a completely strange place far away to sit exams would be very hard.

The main thing we need to do is get DS better, and the golden road to that is having a peaceful collaborative relationship with school so we can't get on with helping DS heal.

I would be grateful for any thoughts on it.

Thanks!

My dd has been out of school since April.

Your ds is entitled to education other than at school after 15 days non consecutive absence.

You could pay for him to sit his exams at his school. This is what private candidates do.

The school could supply a tutor but probably won’t. I would phone council inclusion officer and find out the next steps.

It was only when inclusion got involved that we made any progress at all.

My Dd is now fully out of school although on roll and we are waiting on an EHCP decision. Shes 17 though and got through GCSE.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow that's really encouraging to know that you managed to stay on roll. We have an inclusion officer involved but she hasn't helped much. I asked if I could be signed up as a LA approved tutor but she said I couldn't and the conversation ended there. We did your inclusion officer do to help move things forward?

The honest answer will be that a school don’t want him on roll and sitting exams without them controlling his education because he will be included in their data and, if he bombs them all, could tank their statistics.

if you want him to sit the GCSE’s there then I imagine that won’t be a problem but you will have to pay for him to enter as a private candidate.

If the EHCP names Education other than at school (EOTAS) then it can fund private entry for the exams. You’d need professional evidence in the form of reports that this was required.

The involvement of inclusion pushed the EHCP application better. There was talk of hospital schools. But you neeed an EHCP. However, the meeting addressed other issues and we had the minutes c to submit to LEA.

Inclusion is the next stage.

I think it is probably not possible for the school to have a student being home educated by parents accessing the school's teaching materials and safeguarding team whilst on roll on a permanent basis. Your best bet is to get an EOTAS package and include the fees for taking exams as a private candidate.

The school won’t release teaching materials. They wouldn’t for my dd.

I second you wanting EOTAS via the EHCP when you get it. You won’t remain on the school’s roll (because section I must be blank if the child won’t be attending the school) but the LA remain responsible for ensuring the provision is provided, including exam entries and home invigilation if necessary.

Whatever you do don’t deregsiter. You need to be careful of the language used. You are not wanting to homeschool. If you EHE you will not stay on roll and the LA will not have responsibility to provide education.

In the meantime, it is the LA rather than the school with the duty to provide education to those unable to attend school. This should begin once it becomes clear 15 days will be missed. The days don’t need to have already been missed or consecutive and an EHCP is not required. The provision provided must be suitable.

You could pay for him to sit his exams at his school.

This would only be possible if the school agree.

I did wonder about EOTAS but our MH professional says it would take another year at the minimum to get him to that and no guarantee that he will get an EHCP at all. He is at core a pretty well child, and just the school environment seems to be wrong for him.

Do you know what I need to do to enable the school to keep him on roll while we await an EHCP?

The private exam thing is difficult. Ds's chosen GCSE options are Japanese, music, french and computer science. None of these can be done locally as a private candidate.

We can do music via ABRSM/Trinity and french via Alliance Francaise.

We can do most of the other exams at a local school but not computer science, or japanese. Those exams would both be a long journey and an overnight stay. Ds currently cannot reliably manage 20 minutes in the car and a lunch out. Also eating away from home is hard due to dietary issues.

DS is very good academically and would be a credit to the school if they let him sit the exams. I just can't work out how to meet the school's needs and DSs at the same time.

I think they need us to accept home tutors, and I would be happy to be coached myself by home tutors, but they want the tutors to see DS directly and he can't manage that.

Thank you for all the advice. It's so fiddly to get this to work. I found Naomi Fisher's online courses very helpful. https://www.naomifisher.co.uk/

It may take appealing, potentially more than once, but you will get an EHCP if DS’s SEN means he can’t attend school. And in the meantime, the LA has a duty to ensure DS receives a suitable, full-time education under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. If having tutors doesn’t meet DS’s needs then it isn’t suitable.

You don’t need to do anything to keep DS on roll whilst awaiting an EHCP. The school must not off-roll.

Thanks @KeepGoingThomas. I suppose I just need to keep saying that what they are offering is not suitable and gradually they will come to understand what needs to happen. It's a very strange process.

Have a look at Spectrum Space boxes. They work quite well for DC who can’t manage traditional tuition.

@KeepGoingThomas thank you for that, but we're honestly doing just fine with CGP textbooks. The science and maths books are brilliant and the information in them is really accurate and beautifully presented, and DS is loving them. In that respect we're really doing fine. It's just that the school can't get their head around the idea that a child living in this century can learn from a textbook. Which I find a bit bonkers tbh.

For English we're doing Pride and Prejudice, which DS loves. He's only read the book and not seen the film and he atill gets it completely. We have two textbooks about it and they are really very interesting and give us lots to talk about. He's also read The Importance of Being Earnest. He loves that too, and constantly compares the two texts, and has the quotes memorised, so he's all good there.

We follow the school lessons on Geography, because so much of it is updated minute by minute practically because of climate change, and that is going really well. We don't use the powerpoint files, but just the knowledge organisers, which are all text and no pictures. They are fine though.

History is good because the teacher just tells me "do WWI" and I do that from the textbook and it is fine.

Music we are doing at the moment from the ABRSM musicianship curriculum because DS has some gaps that are best addressed by that set of work. That is also going really well.

Japanese we are doing from textbooks, and manga books and a dictionary and online resources, with a little help from DHs Japanese friend at work.

The actual learning is going extraordinarily well. It's just knowing how to fit into the administrative world that is hard. And finding out how to access exams.

It's these that we're using:
https://tinyurl.com/yph737md

I'm just doing what we did when we were under lockdown and it's working fine.

Your ds sounds a lot like my dd who crashed out of school at the start of year ten but tbf we had limped through year nine. She found school traumatising because she is really hyper sensitive and hyper empath. She couldn't cope with many of the topics covered in secondary and her anxiety around what might be covered added to her difficulty attending.
Dd has always had SSEN then EHCP since she started nursery. She is really intelligent and has never been behind at any point. When she crashed out of school the LA provided a tutor as is their responsibility under section 19 and I searched for a school that could meet her needs and appealed to SENDIST.
She then attended an independent specialist school which was a Steiner school. It suited her down to the ground. The crafts helped her relax and they were able to teach the subjects that were of interest in a way that didn't trigger her anxiety because she was taught 1 to 1 or 1 to 2. She passed the six GCSEs and now has an EOTAS programme where she is studying Textiles,French and Art. She also has OT and SALT and a support worker for life and independence skills and accessing the community and a specialist careers adviser alongside tutors and TAs. The LA funds everything through the EHCP including all resources and exams.
You should appeal any refusals and ask the LA to commission SALT and OT assessments. Dd's sensory difficulties contribute greatly to her anxiety.

@hiredandsqueak what Textiles course is she doing? My Dd wants to do it, but you can’t do A level Textiles at home..

@hiredandsqueak Thank you very much for explaining about your DDs experience. She really sounds very much like my DS. He is thriving on 1-2-1 teaching at home just he did during the lockdowns and it sounds as though the steiner schooling was very similar for your DD.

It sounds as though I really need to try hard on the EHCP route.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow She's going to be doing Btec level 3.

What you’re asking for is to be able to home school your child but for an actual school to provide you with all the materials to do so. That’s a big ask.

@hiredandsqueak who’s the provider/organiser?

He sounds far too ill to take all this on. I would take him out of school, put GCSEs to the back of your minds and focus on getting him well. An EHCP would only be able to provide support within a school setting I believe.

She's actually independent because LA couldn't find anybody from all their approved providers. They have since commissioned her for another EOTAS student.

Interesting. Thank you. Did they find her or did you?

This isn’t correct. A growing number of pupils have EOTAS packages. Deregistering would be the wrong thing to do. If OP EHE the LA will say she is making suitable alternative arrangements thereby relieving the LA of their duties.

@Soontobe60 The EHCP can fund an education to meet needs completely outside of school It's called education other than at school. Dd has tutors,TA, mentor,support worker,SALT, OT,specialist careers adviser, all tech,materials,resources and exams funded through hers. She has no school or college named they come to her here. In time LA will fund a room in the community centre and they will see her there.