Ohana: A full-time online education pathway
Ohana is a full-time, structured online education pathway for children and young people who need a flexible, accessible and emotionally safe learning environment, while still requiring a rigorous, qualification-led education.
It is not a short-term intervention, tutoring package or holding provision. It is a complete school offer, including live teaching, curriculum pathways, safeguarding, assessment, pastoral support, reporting and structured progression planning.
Ohana is designed for learners who are unable to thrive in traditional settings but still need an ambitious education leading to recognised qualifications, progression and preparation for adulthood.
Alignment with SEND and AP reform
Ohana supports SEND and Alternative Provision reform by enabling earlier access to appropriate education, reducing disengagement and drift, improving evidence-based placement decisions, strengthening local area sufficiency and supporting system sustainability.
It reflects the principle that children should receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time, without unnecessary delay or crisis escalation.
A full-time education offer
Many learners referred through SEND and AP pathways experience disrupted education, anxiety-related absence, neurodivergent barriers, placement breakdown or emotionally based school avoidance.
Existing provision can be fragmented, with limited curriculum progression, qualification planning, subject specialist teaching, assessment, safeguarding oversight or clear outcomes.
Ohana addresses this by providing a coherent online school pathway grounded in the core principles of high-quality education: teaching, curriculum, relationships, assessment and progression.
Qualification-led and outcome-focused
Ohana maintains high expectations and does not lower ambition because provision is flexible.
Learners may work towards GCSEs, International GCSEs, Functional Skills, Entry Level qualifications, vocational and creative pathways, project-based or portfolio routes, employability outcomes and post-16 preparation.
All pathways are personalised but outcome-driven, supporting progression towards recognised achievement and clear next steps.
Right support: understanding the learner
Provision begins with a structured understanding of each learner through referral information, family input, records, onboarding and baseline assessment.
This builds a profile of academic starting points, learning gaps, communication needs, emotional readiness, regulation, executive functioning, interests and progression aims.
This helps tailor provision, improve engagement and reduce the risk of failed placements.
Right place: education without physical barriers
Ohana removes unnecessary physical barriers while maintaining full academic structure.
It supports learners affected by anxiety, EBSA, neurodivergence, medical needs or placement breakdown.
Access may include live lessons, recorded learning, independent tasks, low-demand participation routes, chat or voice engagement, pastoral check-ins and gradual re-entry models.
These are valid routes into full education, not reduced expectations.
Right time: preventing drift
Delays in provision increase disengagement and reduce the chance of successful reintegration.
Ohana provides a structured early pathway: referral review, information gathering, onboarding, baseline assessment, participation planning, teaching and observation, six-week review and confirmed outcomes.
This supports early stabilisation and prevents long-term educational drift.
A stronger alternative to fragmented AP commissioning
Ohana should be considered where Local Authorities are relying on fragmented or high-cost arrangements that do not provide a coherent full-time education pathway.
Existing packages may combine tutoring, mentoring, therapeutic input, online subscriptions or short activity-based sessions.
While valuable, these often provide limited evidence of curriculum progression, qualification planning or sustained outcomes.
Ohana offers a single commissioned school pathway combining curriculum delivery, live teaching, independent learning, pastoral oversight, safeguarding, assessment, progress evidence, family communication, EHCP-linked review, qualification preparation and destination planning.
This gives commissioners clearer oversight of provision, engagement, progress and next steps.
Evidence-rich reporting
Ohana provides structured reporting for EHCP reviews and commissioning oversight, including engagement data, curriculum progress, assessment evidence, qualification readiness, barriers to learning, interventions used, learner and family voice, EHC outcome progress and next-step recommendations.
This supports transparent, evidence-based decision-making beyond attendance metrics.
Safeguarding-led and accountable
Ohana is safeguarding-led and professionally governed.
Digital systems support monitoring, but safeguarding decisions remain human-led.
Concerns are managed through formal safeguarding procedures, ensuring safety and accountability in an online setting.
Family confidence
Ohana prioritises clear, strengths-based communication with families, giving visibility of provision, progress, barriers and next steps.
This builds trust, improves collaboration and supports SEND reform goals around parental confidence.
Local sufficiency and sustainability
Ohana supports local area sufficiency by providing structured provision for learners awaiting placement, experiencing breakdown, unable to attend physical settings, requiring interim education, transitioning back into learning or needing flexible KS4 and post-16 pathways.
It replaces fragmented packages with a single coherent school pathway, improving consistency, efficiency and outcomes.
Preparation for adulthood
Ohana focuses on long-term outcomes including literacy, numeracy, subject knowledge, digital confidence, communication, self-advocacy, regulation, independence, employability and transition planning.
The aim is progression into further education, employment, apprenticeships or supported adulthood pathways.
Optional specialist support
The core offer is education.
Therapeutic input such as SALT, OT, counselling or creative therapies can be commissioned separately and integrated where appropriate, while maintaining clear boundaries between education and clinical services.
Commissioner summary
Ohana provides a full-time, qualification-led online school pathway for learners unable to access traditional settings but who still require structured, ambitious education.
It delivers full-time education rather than fragmented intervention, curriculum-led learning rather than isolated activity, recognised qualifications rather than informal engagement, live teaching rather than passive content, evidence-rich reporting rather than attendance snapshots, safeguarding-led oversight rather than unstructured provision, family partnership rather than crisis management, and clear progression rather than drift.
Ohana is flexible enough to access, structured enough to evidence, ambitious enough to achieve qualifications, safe enough to govern and coherent enough to reduce fragmentation.
It is not an add-on. It is a full education pathway for learners who need school to work differently.
