Incoming email:
Hi Brian
My daughter is in her GCSE year and I am confident that she will pass sucsessfully. However, after much discussion it is clear that school is no longer beneficial, and she is becoming increasingly stressed and upset in that environment. If I had been more knowledgeable in the past I would not have sent her to school. I am unsure of the regulations in the UK, maybe you could tell me: can she be homeschooled for the last six months before her GCSEs?
Thank you for your help.
Rebecca Hayes
Rebecca: the only help I can really give you is to put this email up here, and ask those who really are sure of their ground to answer your query by commenting. My thanks in advance to anyone who can do this.
My understanding is that there is no big problem about any of this, but my "understanding" is too much of a guess to be any use. You obviously need to be sure. I hope one of us here is able to help you to be sure.
If it doesn't sound too patronising, Rebecca, it's great to see a parent willing to have "much discussion" with her child. Not all parents have the sense to do this, or they only do after something truly ghastly has already happened. Whether we here can help or not, I wish your daughter and you all the best, and all future educational happiness and educational success.
I think the law is pretty well summarised at http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/regional/UK.htm
it looks as if you just have to write a letter to the school saying you're withdrawing your child, unless I missed something.
It costs a bit of money to get your child entered for exams privately (but it's worth investigating local 'crammers' because they are usually exam centres and will be happy to enter your child for public exams).
If you all could do with a bit of a change of scene (it must have been a stressful couple of months), you could always go to the South West for a holiday at some point and combine it with some intensive tutorials through someone like Cornwall Tutors (that's who my brother teaches for)!
Rebecca,
Emma is correct, all you need to do is to write to the school and inform them that you will be withdrawing your daughter.
Sometimes the Local Education Authority will then write to you asking what you intend to do about her education and offering alternative schools. You might pre-empt this by sending them a copy of your letter. However, you are not obliged to do this, as the school will do it automatically when you deregister; and it may be wise not to, because some LEAs are fussy about homeschoolers and will harass you just at the time you and your daughter do not need harassing. (By the time the information reaches 'take action' stage, your daughter will probably have taken her exams.)
Depending on your relations with the school, they are fairly likely to allow your daughter to sit her exams there in the summer anyway because she was registered at the start of the year; as she wasn't excluded I'd be surprised if they don't allow it. Some of her teachers may be piqued (we teachers have tremendous egos) but others will be willing to help and give you suggested tasks, reading and specimen/past papers that she can do at home, so if you get rebuffed by the head, do contact the subject teachers directly.
Best of luck with the exams!
The most authoritative source I'm aware of:
http://www.education-otherwise.org/
Hi Everyone
Thanks for all the very useful information, it has proved very helpful. Myself and my daughter had a meeting with the school on Monday, and they are behind us 100%. Lara (my daughter), will be able to take her exams there in the summer, which i must say is a relief!
So far so good with the homeschooling, I have seen a big change in her already!
Thanks for all your help,
Rebecca
