How My Three are Getting on at School in 2022

Wow, can you believe I’ve had kids in school for 30 years now! My older kids had left school before the younger ones started but they were still in college. Now, it looks like the end is near and I thought I would recap on how my three are getting on at school in 2022. Star has left school and is currently looking for a new college. Boo has one year left and is doing her GCSEs next year and hopefully applying for college. But then there is the Little Man who has four years of school left but no school to go to!

Star and College

We really thought we had found the perfect course for Star doing animal welfare. And as she didn’t do very well in her GCSEs thanks to Covid spoiling her last two school years, the college were helping her gain some extra qualifications. However, it’s all gone pear shaped and she’s decided she doesn’t want to go back in September.
it’s mostly down to her declining health. She is so poorly a lot of the time and even though we have had hospital appointments they don’t seem to want to actually do anything. She got referred to the adult hospital who wouldn’t see her because she was still under the Children’s hospital. The Children’s Hospital said she didn’t need to be seen because her last tests (Which were four years ago) came back okay. Now, I have to start again and kick up a fuss until somebody does see her.

As for education, we have found a great program called Bright Futures UK Star is about to start learning online with them tomorrow. Hopefully she will be able to progress to meeting other’s like her that are too sick to live a normal life but want more than just sitting at home every day.

Boo and her Final Year at School.

After a tricky return to school following the pandemic, things are finally looking up for Boo. She’s way behind in all her work, but she is trying so hard to catch up and get the best results possible in her GCSEs. She doesn’t quite know what she wants to do after school yet, but she does have ideas that might develop into something more concrete.

We have just joined an online education program for a little extra help. It’s called Edplace (affiliate link) and we have used it before for Star. I’m hoping that Boo will make full use of the program and I’ll be writing up about it soon.

Boo’s mental health has been really bad but she seems to be coping a little better now. She has counselling at school and we are waiting for a MH assessment. She has some really good friends who help her, which is why her school attendance has improved. The school seems to working for her too, despite all the problems she has had this term she has lost just one day sick.

The Little Man and Home Schooling (Again)

Sadly, things are not working out with the Little Man. I had to remove him from his school, he didn’t feel safe and I didn’t feel right sending him to a place every day where he was being bullied. The last incident was not a bad one and the school may have been able to deal with it eventually, but as the Little Man told me, the only way for it to end would be to take away the bullies. The school was not prepared to permanently exclude several of their students that have been there for years, even though I know my Little Man is not the only child bullied by them. I guess if the school had a serious ‘no bullying’ policy this would have been the appropriate option. I wanted to stick it out and pressure the school into doing the right thing, but that meant putting my child at risk of harm and mental torment every single day. Even moving classes and allowing him to spend lunch and break somewhere else did not stop him from meeting with the bullies in the corridor/toilets/gym. The only way was to get rid of the bullies or get rid of my son and I caved first.

I have sent in applications for year 8 to all the local school but so far we haven’t heard back. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed but in the meantime it looks like that in September we will starting Home Education again.

Sometimes you are faced with having to tell Ofsted what you think of your child’s school. Collette has a really good guide on her blog which may help.

I love this post I wrote in 2019 about the School Run. It brought back many memories.

Things I will forever Miss about school:

• Making Easter bonnets
• School Plays and Nativities
• Reading Days
• Christmas Fetes
• Sports Days
• Parents Evenings
• Meeting other parents
• Concerts (The kids secondary school do band musicianship)