Supporting Your Home-Educated Child: What The Community Schools Can Offer You
Home educating a child through secondary school is one of the most committed things a parent can do. The flexibility, the creativity, the sheer dedication it takes — I see it every single week in the families we work with, and I have enormous respect for it.
But I also know that even the most capable, committed home-educating parent reaches points where they need specialist support alongside them. Not because they’re failing — quite the opposite. Because they care deeply about getting it right, and they’re honest enough to recognise where expert subject knowledge, structured group learning, or specialist SEN experience would make a real difference to their child.
That’s exactly what The Community Schools Home Education Hub was built for. And, I want to tell you clearly what we offer, how it works, and whether it might be the right fit for your family.
Who we are
The Community Schools is a Community Interest Company (CIC) founded over 15 years ago in Suffolk. We have 50+ employed specialist tutors — real teachers with real classroom experience in their subjects, many of whom also have extensive experience supporting children with Special Educational Needs.
We support 300+ families per week across online and in-person formats, and we work in partnership with local schools as well as directly with families. Our approach is rooted in one simple belief: students make the strongest progress when they feel safe, understood, and genuinely capable. Confidence before curriculum — always.
What began around my kitchen table on a Saturday morning has grown into something much bigger. But the values have never changed.
The Home Education Hub: what it is and how it works
We launched the Community Home Ed Hub quietly and carefully — starting with eight student sessions a week, making sure we got it right before we grew it.
This term, we added a third weekly session dedicated entirely to Science. We now run 20 student sessions every single week, and the growth has come entirely from families trusting us and telling other families. That means more to us than any marketing campaign ever could.
Here is exactly what the Hub provides:
Subjects covered KS3 and KS4 Maths, English, and Science — all curriculum-aligned and adapted to the individual child. Sessions follow the national curriculum framework but are flexible enough to meet your child where they are, not where a timetable says they should be.
Session formats We offer small groups (maximum six students) and one-to-one support. Most families find that small groups work brilliantly for the social learning element, with one-to-one sessions used for targeted catch-up or deeper focus on a specific topic.
How often Sessions run twice weekly, structured and consistent. That regularity matters enormously for home-educated children who thrive with routine and clear expectations.
Online or in-person We offer both. Online sessions are delivered via our interactive platform, with live tutors, real feedback, and small groups that feel genuinely engaged — not passive. In-person sessions are available at our Bury St Edmunds Learning Centre (Block C, via Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre) and at our Bury St Edmunds hub.
Our tutors All of our tutors are employed specialist teachers — not freelancers picked from a directory. Many have extensive experience supporting children with SEND, including autism, dyslexia, anxiety, and difficulties with working memory. They understand that academic ability and learning differences are not mutually exclusive — and they never assume otherwise.
Safeguarding and compliance All tutors are DBS checked (daily updated). We have a full safeguarding policy, a named Designated Safeguarding Lead, and are fully GDPR compliant. If you need documentation for any reason, we can provide it.
What makes us different for home-educating families
We’re not a generic tutoring agency. We don’t match your child with the first available tutor and leave you to it. From the very first conversation, we take time to understand your child — their learning style, their subject gaps, their confidence levels, any additional needs — and we match them carefully with the right tutor and the right format.
We never make that assumption. Every child who comes to us deserves to be treated as the capable, curious learner they are — whatever their learning profile looks like.
A note on GCSE entry for home-educated students
This is the question I’m asked most often by families approaching KS4, and it’s an important one — so I want to give you a clear, honest answer.
Home-educated students in England can absolutely sit GCSEs. They do so as private candidates, which means they register independently rather than through a school. Here’s what that involves in practice:
Finding an exam centre. You’ll need to find a centre that accepts private candidates. This might be a local school that has capacity, a Further Education college, or a specialist private exam centre such as www.tutorsandexams.uk. Availability varies significantly by area, so it’s worth starting this search earlier than you think — ideally at least a year before your child’s planned exam sitting, and sometimes longer.
Choosing an exam board. The main GCSE exam boards in England are AQA, Edexcel (Pearson), and OCR. Each has slightly different specification content and assessment styles. Our tutors are experienced across all three and can tailor sessions specifically to whichever board your child is entered with. If you’re unsure which board to choose, that’s a conversation worth having early — and one we’re happy to help with.
The costs. As a private candidate, your child will pay exam entry fees directly to the centre. These vary by subject and centre but are typically in the range of £200 per subject. Some centres also charge an administration or invigilation fee. It’s worth budgeting for this and confirming costs with your chosen centre well in advance.
Coursework subjects. Some GCSE subjects include a coursework or non-exam assessment component. As a private candidate, accessing these can be more complex — some centres facilitate them, others don’t. If your child is interested in subjects with coursework elements, it’s worth raising this early and checking what your chosen centre can accommodate.
Our role in all of this. We work with home-educated students from KS3 through to their GCSE sittings, preparing them thoroughly for the specific exam board and format they’ll be assessed on. We provide clear progress updates so you always know where your child stands, and our tutors are experienced in the particular demands of GCSE exam technique — not just subject content, but how to translate knowledge into marks.
Is the Community Home Ed Hub right for your child?
It might be worth getting in touch if your child is home educated and any of the following feel familiar:
- You’re approaching KS4 and want specialist subject support alongside your home education
- Your child has tried tutoring before and found it too rigid, too one-size-fits-all, or not SEN-aware enough
- Your child would benefit from small-group learning with peers in a low-pressure, welcoming environment
- You want more structure and consistency to complement what you’re already doing at home
- Your child is bright and capable, but their confidence needs rebuilding before their ability can show up fully
- You’re starting to think about GCSE entry and want expert guidance on how to approach it
Getting started
The first step is always a free 20-minute planning call with me. We’ll talk about where your child is, what they need, and whether the Hub — or another format we offer — is the right fit. There’s no pressure and no commitment. Just an honest conversation about how we can help.
September Hub places are available now. Given the growth we’ve seen this year, I’d encourage you to get in touch sooner rather than later.
👉 Book a free 20-minute planning call with Claire: