Working at home.

Under new Government guidance announced this month, ill children will be entitled to at least five hours a week home tuition if they are off school for more than three weeks.

But, says Dr Carolyn Skilling, director of Present, the national association for the education of sick children, "many children are missing out on what little education they should be having now" and she fears it will be a long time before the situation gets any better. 

Present has recognised that, though nobody would deny that human contact is important, the computer can play a big part in helping children stuck at home or in hospitals because of illness. 

Recently it has set up the Satellite School, a charitable company, offering a wide range of courses which follow the national curriculum over the internet. It offers "a bridge between home and school or compensatory and extension programmes", says Dr Skilling. 

The service is available through education authorities, but parents can also buy courses for their children. For more information go to: www.sickchildren.org.uk or: www.satelliteschool.org.uk 

Other sites providing advice and tuition to children at home include: www.einsteinonline.co.uk - delivers interactive education to primary children. 

www.schoolfriend.co.uk - exercises and course work for children aged four to 13. 

www.ayme.org.uk - this site of the Association of Youth with ME doesn’t provide courses, but includes advice to teachers and others on helping pupils with ME, a condition which means that sufferers are unable to sustain mental and physical activity because of fatigue. 

Carolyn O'Grady