Grandson who has lost his way

So, he's just been abandoned by the education authorities? That's diabolical.

You can't just accept that surely? Get onto your MP. It sounds as though you have already done a lot of fighting for his rights, but I would encourage you to not give up.

How can you possibly be a expected to provide the full secondary education he is entitled to?

It is wrong to give up on these kids. Don't let them get away with it.

"Inspections" are optional in England and most opt out

But it is location specific

There are no rules re how you home school if you are in England.

Many people "unschool" which is no formal teaching at all, and that is perfectly legal. The idea is to take all the pressure off and let the childs interests take the lead.

My daughter home educates my four grandchildren. The eldest is 12. They all have autism or ADHD. The school system was failing them so she withdrew them from school.
The only thing I can suggest is do lots of research. There are loads of resources out there. My daughter has course studies in maths and geography from Australia, English language from the USA, literature, she has made up herself. She spends hours during the evenings looking for material on the internet.
She does not have a job, but a good degree in Anthropology. Teaching the children is her job.
At her last inspection the lady from the LEA was so impressed that she took down websites for other parents to look at.
I sound a bit boastful, I'm sorry about that, but there is plenty of teaching material out there if you are prepared to search for it.
Good luck, I hope you can turn your grandson round, he has potential, it's just finding out what he is really interested in.

I have no knowledge of 'homeschooling', but I wish you and your Grandson all the best.

Try looking up homeschooling on the internet and see if you can find some local help. Many children seem to be home schooled these days. Hopefully someone with more knowledge and advice will be along soon.

An alternative route is to approach a private school and see if THEY allow independent candidates to sit exams.

If so, he could do IGCSEs (international). Private schools do these because they are a HELL of a lot easier to pass. GCSE D = IGCSE B in English.

I can only give advice about my subject, English.

Will he be sitting GCSEs? If so, find a school that will let him sit exams as an independent candidate. I'd just phone the school office and ask to speak to the exams officer.

THEN, when you know which exams he's sitting (I advise at the minimum GCSE English, English Literature and Maths - those are legal requirements) and which exam board he will sit the exams with, you can go on the exam board website and find examples of past exam papers. Which will give you a vague idea of what to teach him.

As a very general start, he will need to be able to write descriptively. He will need to be able to read 2 extracts (per exam) of about 400 words and to write about them. For GCSE English, there are 2 papers and for GCSE English Literature, there are also 2 papers.