Please read our latest news and this article on the Correspondence School and the homeschooling allowance
The following is a helpful guide to enrolling at the Correspondence School :Caregivers who homeschool under the Ministry of Education can purchase courses provided by the Correspondence School as part of their child’s education programme. (see also here )
NCHENZ has had feedback that a number of homeschooled students this year have been told that they have to give up their exemption if they enrol in classes at TCS in the young adult category.
Homeschooled students do not have to give up their exemption. They are not enrolling in TCS, just as an adult student is not enrolling, because they are not eligible to enrol. The adult and the young adult student are purchasing tuition. The following explains:
Assume that my husband goes to (adult) evening classes at our local high school (hypothetically called Puke High School, “PHS”). On Monday nights, he learns Thai Cooking, say. Is he “at” PHS? – The answer is No. Let’s says that he attends evening classes there 5 evenings per week (Thai Cooking, Public Speaking, Woodwork, Programming for Beginners, and Intro Spanish). – Is he “at” PHS? – The answer is still “No”. – Does he have to give up his daytime job? – The answer is [again] No.
Now, how about if our 17 year old daughter goes with him to all those (adult, evening) classes. (She’s allowed to, as she is over 16.) Is she “at” PHS? – No. Does she need to give up her daytime job (ie homeschooling cert)? – No.
What about if I phoned PHS (or the MoE) before enrolling her in the evening classes & I said, “Can she – “go” – to the school?” – What would they think? – They would think that I am asking if she can put on a school uniform and attend the daytime classes – and they might say – “Send back her homeschool cert before we can enrol her.” Same thing if I phoned the MoE & said that my daughter wants to “go” to PHS. They would say, “First send back your homeschool cert.” Your student wants to enrol in some adult classes with TCS. He/she is not “going to” TCS nor will he/she be “at” TCS.
Our suggestion is to enrol without phoning anybody first, as it will just confuse everyone concerned. Simply enrol online at: The Correspondence School’sEnrolment Wizard
Click on “Young Adults”.
There is a question “Are you 16 – 19 years of age (or 15 and hold an early release exemption from the Ministry of Education)?” -The answer is Yes.
The next question is “Are you attending a local secondary school full-time?” The answer is No.
Then click on “enrol online now”.
On the next web page it says that one of the documents which may be required to support a person’s enrolment as an adult student is …. “a copy of your Ministry of Education Exemption from enrolment in school “ - (ie TCS understands that adult enrolment is NOT “going to” or being “at” the school, like a kid would be. Your student’s exemption certificate is proof that your 16+yo has “left” school.). To reiterate, an exemption cert supports your 16+ yo’s eligibility to enrol in TCS’s adult classes. Click on “Next” and complete the enrolment online.
Overview of The Correspondence School
The Correspondence School (TCS) is a registered school – if your under 16 yo student is accepted for enrolment with them you are not homeschooling and you do not need an exemption from the MoE.
TCS has programmes at early childhood, primary and secondary level, and are funded by the MoE.
To qualify for enrolment under 16 yrs old you must meet certain criteria. TCS students will have various reasons why they cannot attend a regular school, i.e. living in an isolated area, itinerant family, illness, special needs, training commitments, be a young parent or have been excluded from their local school.
You may ask the Moe (if expelled), GSE (if special needs), CYFS, NETS (Non-Enrolled Truancy Service, if student alienated and unwilling to attend) or Regional Health School (if unwell) to refer your student. The student should be motivated to complete the course as they will be withdrawn from the roll for failure to hand in course work. Students are given the same work as they would be at a State school, and cannot choose their own subjects and levels.
Parents are paid a supervisory allowance (identical to the homeschool allowance) of $743 per year for one student.
Schools may enrol students for one or two subjects that the school doesn’t teach, as long as they have a service level agreement with TCS.
Home educated students under 16 may purchase subjects from TCS but must pay full fees (from about $800 per subject). For this reason homeschooled students usually wait until they are eligible for adult enrolment.
Under 16 yo homeschooled students paying full fees for subjects can choose their own subjects and level and do not give up their exemptions, and their parents receive the homeschool supervisory allowance rather than the TCS allowance.
Commencing in 2008, there is a free new young adult category (16 -19 years), (or 15y with an early release exemption from the MoE). This is the option homeschoolers usually take. There is a school donation of $70 per student or$100 per family. Details of this option come up as you work through theenrolment wizard on the site.
Young adult students can also choose their own subjects and levels eg they can take a subject at NCEA level 3 without having to do levels 1 and 2 first as they would be if enrolled as a full time under 16 yo student.
Homeschooled students keep their exemptions as they are not enrolled in the school, they are purchasing curriculum, and their parents are still eligible for the homeschool supervisory allowance.
We recommend you keep your exemption active as long as possible, since new exemptions are not granted to students over 15 yrs, and once it lapses it will not be reactivated.
Adult students ( 20 years or older ) pay a subsidized fee which starts at $100 per subject. Some may qualify for WINZ assistance.
TCS Parents’ and Supervisors’ Association has support groups for health and special needs, large families, and itinerant and overseas families.
NCHENZ meeting with TCS 2006 Report on The Correspondence School and its relationship with home educators
