Home Schooling

Homeschooling or Home Education; is there a difference?

Homeschooling and home education are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. In this blog post, we…

The STEM home educator’s guide to navigating Biology Week and World Space Week

STEM educational weeks are only marginally better than buses: you wait for one and then suddenly it’s both Biology Week and World Space Week…

Many students leave school due to ill health. Is distance learning the answer?

Many students who have had to drop out of school due to illness find that distance learning works for them as a flexible alternative…

Working together for our students

In 2016 the National Extension College became Tutors & Exams‘ first learning partner. Since then we have been working together to make booking exams…

Bouncing back and moving forwards: how NEC can help with home education in an uncertain world

The National Extension College was founded by Michael Young and Brian Jackson as an educational charity in 1963 to widen participation in education, and…

A home educator’s journey – Part 10: “You have nothing to lose and everything to gain”

In part 10 of our ‘home educator’s journey’ series, Lucy discusses how the self study skills she developed through NEC prepared her well for…

My experience with GCSE Maths

Rebecca studied GCSE Maths, Psychology and English Language with NEC.  In Year 8 I was hospitalised with Crohn’s Disease along with my twin sister….

A home educator’s journey – Part 8: Studying GCSE Maths

Anna and Lucy are a mother and daughter who are sharing their experiences of online distance learning and home education. In this edition of…

A home educator’s journey – Part 7: GCSE Revision at home

This post was originally published on April 17th 2019 and updated on March 23rd 2020. Anna and Lucy are a mother and daughter who…

A home-educator’s journey, part 6: Using learn@nec and Tutor Support

This post was originally published on February 22nd 2019 and updated on March 23rd 2020. This is the sixth in the series of ‘A…

Other articles...

Why study A level Geography?

To celebrate the launch of NEC’s online interactive A level Geography, we spoke to lead tutor Alison Leadbetter about why she loves the subject…

Tribute to Hilary Perraton

Hilary Perraton, one of the first members of staff of the National Extension College (NEC), sadly died of cancer on 15th November 2021. (Obituary…

Tina enrolled with NEC to pursue a teaching career. She enrolled her teenage son for GCSEs.

Tina chose to enrol with NEC in 2016 in order to gain the qualifications needed to access a career in teaching. “I wanted to…

Vita gained an offer from the University of Oxford after gaining an A level online with NEC

Motivated by her desire to study chemistry at undergraduate level, Vita realised that she would need to take A level Maths, particularly if she…

Try something new this year!

Throughout NEC’s history, many retired people have chosen to spend some of their new-found leisure time studying a subject that they’ve always been passionate…

[Closed] Save 15% off all courses until midnight 31st January

It’s the beginning of a new year and time to start work on your New Year’s resolution. So, have you decided to stop doing…

Season’s greetings from NEC!

A message from our CEO Esther Chesterman: “I have been immensely humbled by the collective efforts of our staff, students and college community over…

Reaching for the stars with flexible online learning

Holly took the decision to leave mainstream education in Year 10 after struggling to cope in school. She has autism and suffered from anxiety…

A gift from NEC this December

Win back your course fee – up to £2,225. Be in with a chance to win back your full course fee when you enrol…

Online A levels with NEC leads to BSc Political Science at University of Amsterdam

Mina started the International Baccalaureate but found that it didn’t afford her a lot of subject choice. Fitting the study schedule around her social…