Online School

[SpringleDingle]

My DD13 has been diagnosed with ASD and told she potentially also has ADHD back in May of this year. She was starting to struggle with secondary school and was obviously finding making peer friends very hard (unless they were also SEN kids). We have limped on and school have tried to help a little tiny bit (they let her have the code to the disabled loo so she could wee as she wouldn't go in the main toilets) but I think we are reaching the end with mainstream education.

Anyone got a kid doing online schooling. Would love to hear how it has gone for your child, postivies and negatives.

I don’t have firsthand experience of online school with my own DC, but I have helped others achieve online schooling via an EHCP or section 19 provision. It works for some and is disastrous for others. You should also look carefully at the online schools. Not all are the same and some suit DC better than others.

The school needs to be offering more support. Have you spoken to the SENCO? Does DD have an EHCP? Is DD attending school at the moment?

Moving schools without further support in place could be jumping out of the frying pan and in to the fire.

We are currently at an online school (Minerva) and dc is overall pretty content. They loved primary but found secondary school in equal measures very stressful because of the sensory challenges and boring (not challenging enough academically and they lost patience with all the time consuming and high sensory but in their eyes unnecesary stuff like school uniform, assemblies, plays, away matches incl. long cramped minibus trips, socials, woodwork, art, trips etc). At home, they can devote much more time to the subjects they like and to their special interests, and more or less sprint through the subjects they need to tick off, and they have more energy to do so as there are no sensory stressors. Our online school has only 1x30min lesson per subject, plus individual work before and after, so leaves a lot of time for further interests/self let study/time to decompress. The theoretical downside is that it could be isolating or boring, but our dc doesn't seem to think so. They also made online friends. I'm of course worried how to reintegrate at some point into uni/work, but I reason it's best to arrive at that point with some reserves and chilled rather than with burnout from an unsuitable secondary physical school environment. Most parents seem very happy about the school and for majority of pupils it seems to work better than physical school, but it's not for everyone. I personally would go stirr crazy, high school has been the best (party) time of my life, but horses for courses.

This is incredibly interesting and reassuring to read, NellyBarney. We’re about to start our journey with Minerva for very similar reasons as your dc. Since May, our child has been unable to attend any lessons, even at a small independent school, due to overwhelming sensory issues, years of masking that were exacerbated in secondary school and developed in chronic anxiety.
Now that we’ve chosen an environment that better suits his needs, we’ve already seen a noticeable improvement, he’s much more relaxed at home without the daily struggle of commuting to school. It’s a relief to no longer feel like we’re forcing a situation that leaves everyone—us, the school staff, and most importantly, our child—feeling like a failure.
I can only hope this new approach proves successful. Like you, I worry more about his social skills in the long term than he does. He genuinely enjoys playing, chatting, and having a great time gaming with his former friends, and he hasn’t missed the playdates I used to try to organise.

@paluya I hope you both have a great time at Minerva! Are you on Classlist? Many people are trying to meet up locally, and your ds might also enjoy the trips. My dd really enjoyed the activities day last year.

Not yet! have heard good things about the community there. Currently dual enrolled. Starting with Minerva in two weeks.

Really interested to read about Minerva's as I've started to question whether it might be worth exploring for my DD. She is autistic and really struggling with the sensory demands of her large MS secondary, currently Y9.

@NellyBarney @paluya Do your DC have EHCPs and how does the school support their needs?

DD doesn't want to socialise at all if she can help it, but I worry that she could become even more cut off if she leaves physical school. OTOH she's so worn out from the effort it takes her to get through most school days that MS might be doing more harm than good.

@EndlessLight Would getting an online school provided in an EHCP mean appealing section I or asking for eotas? Could it be added to a current content appeal?

no EHCP that works for him. It’s been time-consuming and emotionally draining for us. The frustration asking for a level of support that is not available, we decided to self funded with much effort (our savings. No holidays. No non essentials) Our son’s mental health is priority.
We are about to start the home schooling route with Minerva, they have a big SEND department, a 1:1 weekly mentoring, a ND community. Wish us luck!

@chillberry online schooling can be part of an EOTAS/EOTIS package. A good package would include more than just the online schooling.

IMO, it is worth going down the EOTAS/EOTIS route because the vast majority of parents cannot afford the provision a good package will contain.

Many have to appeal BFI to get it.

You could send (don’t forget to seek the LA’s views first) a SEND7 to ask to amend the grounds of the current appeal.

@chillberry We don't have an EHCP, but are trying for one. Still on the waiting list for NHS autism assessment for last 3 years (we have a private diagnosis and it's very much textbook presentation, but endless wait times)! Online school in itself has removed pretty much all obstacles to learning for my dd - the noise, smells, social interactions and unpredictability of school. Also no need for school uniform, which always has been a major issue. It takes up much less time, so more time to decompress and do stuff she actually enjoys, which for her is music. Every pupil at Minerva has a mentor with whom they meet weekly who acts as an advocate for any worries or needs they have, who will e.g. talk to a teacher on their behalf and also encourages and guides them to self-advocate for their needs. E.g. once a week our local bellringers practice in the evening and it disturbes my dd's eating and sleeping routine, so she goes to bed late that evening and then misses the first lesson but can catch up with it later in the day as it gets recorded. Minerva is aware of how difficult autistic pupils find change so they make an effort to provide them with a lesson plan and content of each of their lessons well before term starts, so they can familiarise themselves. They'll also send personal emails in advance to inform of any changes to the lesson plan, so it's not like in school when you arrive and they tell you you have a supply teacher today or have to go to a different classroom. Pupils are encouraged to contribute in class via microphone or chat, and to join in with group work, but if it's too much for anyone, they can switch off camera and microphone and work on their own, no EHCP or anything needed. They just listen to what you feel you need and it's OK! Which is rather refreshing. You now can also sit all GCSE exams at home, so no stress with unknown exam centre. There is also a social group for neurodiverse pupils to join if they like. Several pupils have an EHCP, and we are working on it, too, but for us it was essential to move her somewhere quickly where she'd be happy.

@NellyBarney That sounds very positive. How long has your child been with MVA? I had an info call last week and felt it could be a good option for DD. Not sure how well DS (Y7) would handle independent learning though. Did you feel MVA supported your child to settle into the new way of doing things? Are you happy with the quality of teaching? About how many hours/week do you reckon DC is spending in school?

@chillberry I'm pretty much hands off with my dd so can't say too much about the quality of teaching as I don't sit in and watch the lessons, but I wouldn't know at a physical school either. My dd has been with MVA for a year now. When she started, there were a couple of introductory online sessions, explaining how the platform works and the first task was for every pupil to create their timetable. In KS3, there are ca 2x30min lesson per subject (maths, English, history, science, global perspectives, computer science (elective), foreign language) and 30min each for digital literacy, mentor session, PSHE, and a couple of assemblies. So about 10 hours of lessons a week. The pupils then have about 2x30min worth of independent 'Canvas Work' to do for each subject (usually one before the lessons and one after), and are expected to allocate each independent Canvas Work session a fixed place in their timetable. So there are about 15 to 20 hours in total of school work each week. The fortnightly mentor report tells parents if all Canvas Work has been completed and handed in, and attendance at live lessons is monitored and if a pupil fails to attend register a safeguarding email is sent the same day to the parent asking for reason for unauthorised abscence. For my dd it works very well, I assume her younger brother will need more encouragement to do all the work, though. My dd does most of her Canvas work on the weekends to get it all out of the way, and I think I'll do similar with her brother when he starts, so I can supervise him on the weekend and all he needs to do then during the week while I'm working is to log on to the live lessons. My dd is very independent, so it works fine, but ds is highly motivated to get out of physical school, so I hope the motivation to do what is asked of him comes from knowing that if he doesn't keep up, he's going back to physical school. And to be fair, they get a lot of time off, their previous school week at prep/senior school was 45/55 hours/week, and now it's down to 20 hours.

We were at Wolsey Hall Oxford and I thought it was well run and would recommend it to others looking at home schooling.