Question 1

How Does Orchard Training Work?

Accepted Answer

I am a qualified teacher with a DBS certificate (please ask if you would like to see the documentation), using the home page you can book appointments. However, if life happens, then we rearrange. I don't charge a cancellation fee and if I can do the next requested date I will. Weekly set times are available.

Question 2

What Can I Get Help With?

Accepted Answer

Orchard Training offers tuition in Primary Maths and English, Secondary Maths and English. Dyslexic Support for students in Secondary school struggling with English. I cater for infants to adults, providing NVQ Functional Skills for adults in both English and Maths. I have plenty of experience and have specialised in each subject and level.

Question 3

How Do We Provide Evidence For The Education Welfare Officer?

Accepted Answer

Each invoice will identify the date and the subjects taught during the session. Although we use worksheets sparingly, these can be kept for evidence. The Maths and English website that the learner logs in to correlates dates, times and subjects which can be printed off and given to the Educational Welfare Officer. The diary you keep will also show what you have been working on. Outside of the taught sessions, it is the responsibility of the learner/parent/carer to access the website to accrue the required hours. 
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We have a selection of projects which in themselves provide the evidence. The number of hours spent on the project activities generates evidence in itself. These projects are designed to be used without a teacher present. However, once finished feedback can be requested.

Question 4

How Do I Book A Session?

Accepted Answer

Book a free 15 minute consultation and we will book the appointments from there.

Question 5

Can I Review My Previous Sessions?

Accepted Answer

Orchard Training cares about every learner’s learning and we want to ensure that you receive the best service possible. You can call me or email me and I am are always here to help with any queries you might have, to ensure that you have the best experience possible and achieve your personal goals.

Question 6

What Do I Need To Bring To The Session?

Accepted Answer

For every session you should come prepare you will need:    
 
- A diary to keep a record of what we have worked on
- Something to write with
- A folder to put any evidence in
- Reading material for Reading for Pleasure
- Any project you working on 
- Be ready to start the session with a spelling test.

Question 7

How Frequently Do I Have To Book Sessions?

Accepted Answer

Ideally, two sessions a week, one for Maths and one for English for home schooling and experience has shown this works well. Home work is then left and there is an expectation that the learner works on this.
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We plan around your family holidays and so sessions are held all year round and we don't break around the school holidays. I do take time off for Christmas and Easter but we carry on over the summer holidays.
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If you book weekly sessions then these happen regulaly at set times and days. However, if your home life is a little hectic then the opportunity to book one off sessions each week is available, be ware that times and days may change weekly depending upon our commitments.

Question 8

How Do I Pay?

Accepted Answer

There are a number of ways to pay. Booking adhock session can be done through our Book on Line page. You may buy a single lesson or a plan which will cover the half term. Payment is taken on line at the tie of the booking.
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Life happens! If a session needs to be moved an alternative date or time will be offered.

Question 9

What Happens If I Need To Cancel A Booking?

Accepted Answer

As a consumer, you can cancel the course booking within 14 calendar days of receiving your order confirmation without giving any reason, you are entitled to a full refund of the price paid. 
 
You may join a course at any time during the year, and the length of the course will start from the commencement of the first session. 
 
Cancellations and refunds in circumstances outside those described above, and/or following the expiry of the 14-day cancellation period, are subject to the terms and conditions set out in this Information and Refund policy. For the avoidance of doubt, the cancellation period will expire 14 days after the date of the Order Confirmation.
 
Orchard Training will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction unless you have expressly agreed otherwise. In any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of this reimbursement.
 
If you start to use our services during the cancellation period (i.e. if the course commences during the 14-day cancellation period) or if you access the course materials via our online spaces), and you cancel your Contract, you shall pay us an amount that is in proportion to what has been performed up until you have communicated to us your cancellation from this Contract, in comparison to full coverage of the Contract.
 
Express request to start the Services within the cancellation period – if you wish to start our services during the cancellation period, you must make an express request to do so in writing, e.g. email. If you subsequently decide to cancel the Contract, you will be liable to pay us an amount that is in proportion to the Services performed until you have communicated your decision to cancel, in comparison to full coverage of the Contract.
 
You will not have the right to cancel a Contract where the Services have been fully performed.

Cancellations are subject to the policies detailed in the cancellation and refunds information for each course of study at the bottom of this page.
 
Cancellation by Orchard Training
Whilst every effort is made to avoid changes to our programme Orchard Training reserves the right to withdraw or cancel any course. If for any reason, Orchard Training cancels a course, all course fees will be returned in full.
 
Fees outstanding
Where payment by instalment is chosen, subsequent payments will be attempted automatically as per the payment schedule using the card specified. Note: the card used for such payments can be changed at any time via our website or by contacting the Admissions team for the course.
 
If any fee payments, whether by credit/debit card, remain outstanding without explanation, the following procedure will be set in motion:
 
An invoice will be issued from the Orchard Training Office, payable immediately.
If the invoice is not paid within 14 days and contact has not been made with the Admissions team (+44 (07464942152), info@orchardtraining.org) the learner will be withdrawn from the course.
 
Learners will not be able to continue study on a course or enrol on another Orchard Training course if there is an outstanding debt to the Orchard Training.
 
Fees and Payment
Fees are either paid in instalments or in full depending on the length of the course.  Courses less than 12 weeks will be paid up in full in advance. Courses over 12 weeks can be either paid in full or in monthly instalments.  
 
Cancellations
To cancel a course booking, you must inform us by contacting the Admissions team by email info@orchardtraining.org giving 30 days’ notice in advance.
 
You may use the model cancellation form, although it is not obligatory. Once completed, submit it electronically to the email address above, marked for Refund and Cancellation. 
If you do not use the model cancellation form you must clearly state your intention to cancel the booking. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning exercising the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.
 
Refunds
Cancellations received within 14 days of booking your place on the course will receive a full refund.
 
Booked Appointments 
As with all families with children “life happens” and it can suddenly become difficult to keep a booked appointment time. While we understand that emergencies by their very nature are unplanned and can happen at any time please give 24-hour notice where ever possible.
If an appointment is postponed for any reason (including, but not limited to Bank Holidays, illness and personal circumstances on either side), Orchard training will reschedule the date. We will attempt to reschedule the appointment for a date which is most convenient for both parties.  However, if this is not possible within the agreed time frame of the course, a partial refund will not be will offered.

Question 10

How Many Hours Do I Need to Teach My Child?

Accepted Answer

As the parent, you will need to show that you are providing 1000 hours of quality education over the year. 
 
By 'quality' the government means that it is age (the child's age appropriate), stage (the Year Group and Key Stage they would have been in if attending school) and developmental appropriate (if your child has Special Educational Needs that the material is adjusted to meet their needs).
 
This 1000 hours can be split into:
 
1) 40 weeks across the year, in other words 25 hours per week or 5 hours a day.
2) 50 weeks across the year, 20 hours per week or 4 hours a day.
 
Those hours can be split into neat parcels of English, Maths, Science, Health Education etc. just like in schools. However, you don't have to teach the National Curriculum, you can follow the child's interests. Therefore, a whole day at the National Art Gallery counts as Art, a visit to Dover Castle counts as history or competing in sport at the club level counts as P.E as long as it is age, stage and developmental appropriate. 
 
Our charity bike ride for example, over the course of 12 weeks covers 64 hours of Physical Education and Nutrition (4 hours Health Education), as we learn about bike up keep (6 hours of Design and Technology), we also learn about the role of Action for Carers (2 hours of PSHE and Citizenship). That’s 76 hours of education - just going for a rather long bike ride!

Question 11

Can I Leave The Setting While The Lesson Takes Place?

Accepted Answer

No, safeguarding is very important and safeguarding goes both ways. There must be an adult (over 18-year-old) around at all times. This stops any misunderstandings happening.
 
The door to the room should not be closed and members of the family should feel free to come in and out of the room as normal.
 
Obliviously, very young children wanting to join may be inappropriate and it is down to the adult present to take them away and distract them.
 
However, siblings are welcome to join the 'learning through playing games' section of the lesson but this is at the learners invite only. Some learners feel intimidated when their siblings join their session, while others like the competition.

Question 12

Do We Need to Settle into a Routine?

Accepted Answer

Most families think of this just like school Monday to Friday leaning weekends off. Once you have decided upon how many weeks you want to work for 50 weeks (20 hours a week) or 40 (25 hours a week) so you cover the full 1000 hours of the year, you need to look at how the week ahead is planned. Sunday, it is a great time to get all the family together and look ahead at what is coming in the next week. 
So, every day (Monday to Friday) you have either 4 or 5 hours of dedicated learning time to manage. 
Occasionally, appointments like the dentists etc. happen - but try not to book them during the designated learning time. Most families do 2, 2 and half or 3 hours before lunch, stopping for lunch and some physical activity, followed by 2 or 2 and half hours before going with their parent to pick up their sibling from school. After 3.00pm its normal club activities or sports.
As you get older you can manage the time a little differently. Let’s say there is an important event on during the week and this takes out two of your days. This means that you have to adjust the time and for 3 days that week you will need to do 7 hours a day learning. If that is too heavy going for you - then do six hours and put the last free in to the following week. 
Use your diary to record what you are doing every day and how much time it takes to do and you will know where you are and that you are not falling behind.
Learners - don't get grumpy if your parent checks up on how much you are doing - that is part of their responsibility. If you plan the week together, everyone will know where they stand and it will reduce the arguements.

Question 13

How and When Will The Homework Be Marked?

Accepted Answer

Homeschooling is often an expensive option for a family and often depending upon the age of the learner and or the reason why the learner left mainstream education, it may mean one of the parents has had to leave work too. Mindful of this, we plan for parents not to pay for our time marking homework. If you think about homework in school - often the teacher spends a lot of time marking it and the student doesn’t even look at it. Many of our learners are dyslexic and so writing endless answers is not the way forward.
 
So, it is not something we want to charge parents for.
 
Therefore, homework is set in a number of ways. It is either self-marking or it complements the work in the sessions and we discuss it then. Making something or doing something is easy to record on your phone. Often, we try to set tasks where you can photograph the evidence, showing that you have done it and this it is your responsibility to store it electronically and safely, to show the Education Welfare Officers.

Question 14

When Can My Child Start Homeschooling?

Accepted Answer

If your child is still in school: we suggest that you wait to try it out over one of the longer holidays, Christmas, Easter but better over the summer holidays. This will determine if your child is really suitable for homeschooling without you losing their place in school.
 
Homeschooling for some children appears as the greener grass on the other side. It is not it is a tough option and one not to be take likely. Not everyone can cope with the isolation, others find the problem-solving nature does not come easy because they really do prefer to get their education via full time contact with teachers.
 
Home schooling is not the easy option for either the child or the parent.
 
There are some who have opted for the 40-week option and taking the school holidays with their siblings and meeting up with their friends. They thought they could get away with doing very little homeschooling and that they could do the minimal effort. It came as a huge shock to when the parents insisted that they catch up, with the adjustment to the hours and output and they have had to work over the summer holidays. It is the parents’ role to keep the learner on track and then to back us up if they learner falls behind.
 
If the learner has already crashed out of school and at home when you contact Orchard Training we will do all we can to get you started that week.

Question 15

When Can My Child Take Their Exams?

Accepted Answer

It really depends on why you left school. If your child is ill and this includes mental health illnesses (the effects of bulling can take some time to recover from) it will depend upon the hospital and the management of that illness.
 
We have routes back in to free main stream education where learners can take thier exams for free. If you want General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs) as proof that your child has passed through the education system and taken exams, then returning back in to the free system is the best way forward for most learners.
 
For older learners, the NVQ qualifications will require you to take the English and Maths but at least you will be earning while you are on an apprenticeship.
 
There are routes in to college for dyslexic and those on the autisitic spectrum learners that will help.
 
Otherwise it is a very expensive option as a home schooler and best discussed in person.

Question 16

Will Orchard Training Give a Reference?

Accepted Answer

We do college references for learners who have been with us for some considerable time, where we have got to know the learner and are able to give a true and faithful account of them as homeschoolers. 
 
If you are unsure please contact us.

Orchard Training

Learning Through Work & Caring

Frequently Asked Questions