GOING IT ALONE 'THE SCHOOL WAS NOT WILLING TO WORK WITH ME SO I

HER CHILD'S education was more important than her career as a restaurant manager for Jennifer Laing. So eight months ago she went part-time and took eight-year-old Nicholas out of the state system. Neither have any regrets.

Ms Laing, 33, from Edinburgh, felt the only way to help her son's educational needs was to accept responsibility herself. "Nicholas has difficulty with writing and I tried to explore ways in which he could learn at school without having to constantly do repetitive work- sheets, but eventually it came to a point where the school was not willing to work with me so I withdrew him," she said.

"We have been doing it for eight months now and I can see there has been a terrific improvement already, not just in what he's learning - which is much more suited to his ability and interest levels - but it is also more advanced than what he was doing at school, without him having to sit and do lots of written work."

Ms Laing said Nicholas, her only child, was so much happier, as though he were different person.

"We don't have a set structure such as a starting time. Instead we sit down and discuss how we are going to plan our day, which may involve working on the computer, reading a book or going to a museum.

"We do bits of maths and bits of English but it is very informal and possibly not what the local authority would regard as proper education, regardless of whether Nicky retains the knowledge or not.

"When I first said I wanted to take Nicky out of school they were very intimidatory, demanding to know details of qualifications, timetable, curriculum and access to the child and home. It took eight weeks to de- register him, which was very stressful," she said.

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