The Student Support Centre?

jillymit

My son (9) has had a leaflet about them from school today. Apparently it's a home based program with DVD and worksheets. He does struggle with reading and I'm at a point where anything that might help him is of interest. He gets extra help at school and is progressing but I still feel he needs more. I've looked at their web site and cannot find anything about the cost. Which makes me a little nervous. Does anyone have any experience of this company?
I don't have any connection with the company myself and I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by asking this.
Thank you.

kazzymac_2

Several years back we had a leaflet come from the school just before they joined year 6 - I have twins. As their Sats were coming up we took it further and they sent round a tutor to assess the kids to see which level they are at. Basically it is home study ( requires regular commitment from your child) - they watch the DVD and then complete the exercises. When they finish a module they complete a test which gets marked and sent off to student support. If the level is acheived they get a cert and mention in the magazine. From memory I think it goes right up to GSCE level. Costs were around £1400 - not sure if this was for 2 x children or 1 pack (payable monthly 0% over 3 years) interest. You do have to support your child with it and we found it difficult to find time to complete the extra study as well as the extra work they were getting from the school for the Sats. They did well on their Sats but I couldnt say whether or not it was down to this. Three years on the books etc are gathering dust and they are still doing fine at school - however should they need any tutorial support they can still phone the helpline number and refer back to the DVDs. The company did what they said they would but would I have purchased it now? Personally I think not as there are cheaper ways to help your child. Thats just my experience - I hope that helps.

jillymit

Thanks for your prompt reply. I think the cost is going to rule this option out for us.
I thought it would be expensive as there was no clue on their web site as to cost. Going on the old 'if you have to ask, you can't afford it' theory!
Looks like it's back to the library for us, which is still free!:D

kazzymac_2

Like I said that was our personal experience and before my MSE days!:money:

I dont think you can beat the library and its free - yah:j I think that an important thing here is that you are looking to help and support your child which I think goes a long way no matter how you get there or how little it costs. Good luck!

Becles

I phoned up and made enquiries. It was very hard to get a price out of them without committing to someone coming to my home to show me the stuff.

I can't remember what the price was but I can remember it was very expensive and I said no.

Have a look in places like WH Smiths at the workbooks. You can pick and choose which ones are most suitable depending on the areas your child is struggling in.

With the reading - what exactly is he reading at the moment? My youngest son has never really liked reading and always struggled with it. It was a battle of wills to get him to read his school reading books. One teacher suggested letting him read whatever he liked, be that a comic, computer games magazine, non-fiction book about a topic of interest etc. He's come on more by picking things he wanted to read, but he still hates his school reading books :rolleyes:

geordie_joe

Have you seen this, particularly the bit at the end about www.futureschool.com

EDIT: Don't forget to read the bit about the price being elastic, that is it seems to be based on what they think you will pay!

geordie_joe

Becles wrote: »

I phoned up and made enquiries. It was very hard to get a price out of them without committing to someone coming to my home to show me the stuff.

I can't remember what the price was but I can remember it was very expensive and I said no.

I should have read the whole thread before jumping in. Just posted about their price being based on what they think you will pay. This seems to tie in with your experience. They don't want to give a price until they've seen how much money you have and how much you want to help your child.