Part time homeschooling - is it allowed?

[Lostinouterspace]

My DD is struggling to achieve at school. She didn't meet expected levels at KS1 in English. She met those levels in Maths but only on the basis of teacher assessment - she didn't meet the level in the test itself.

In her class there are four children with complex additional needs. There are also a handful of very distruptive boys - think regular suspension. I think this means it's hard for her to get attention when she needs it and to concentrate.

I don't want to remove her from the school - as other parents have done with their DCs. Partly this is because she is happy there even if she isn't doing very well. Partly this is because there are no spaces left in neighbouring schools and her results at KS1 rules out the private sector.

I work part time and wonder if she could stay home with me part of the time and concentrate on the basics.

One final thing she's already got a tutor but an hour a week isn't making much difference.

Does anyone know if it's permitted to part time home school?

[DonkeyOaty]

I don't know much but have a dig about using the term "flexi schooling".

[Lostinouterspace]

Thanks Donkey that's very helpful. Using the term on google it looks like it would be very difficult to get the head's consent following recent changes. I'll continue looking to see if I confined any better news.

[DonkeyOaty]

I am having trouble linking so google home-education.org.uk and look at /faq-carers.htm#flexi_schooling
Scroll down for the bit about flexi schooling.
There's a pdf or whatever it's called on a link in that bit. Seems to indicate the HT does have final say.

I hope some flexi schoolers see this thread and can offer more concrete advice.

[BunniesInHoney]

Essentially you're using the school as a child minder and hoping to achieve better academic results at home. Do you have experience teaching?

[DonkeyOaty]

Just putting it out there that flexi schooling is a thing though quite rare.

[Ambonsai]

How would that be managed?
So you wouldn't cover things twice or not at all?

[lils888]

Sound complicated. When ds1 fell behind in maths we implemented a strict homework schedule.

2 hours every evening. 1 hour on mathletics which he loved, dinner and then half and hour of studying and then a quiz after. Also did times tables every night. The teacher gave us a whole bunch of resources.

It’s sounds like a lot but after 4 months he was ahead in maths and it’s now his strongest core subject. He’s gone back to half an hour of school work each night now.

This was in year 5, he’s now in year 6.

[ribbonsister]

Parenting Science Gang had a Q&A about flexischooling the other week - some useful info here:

parentingsciencegang.org.uk/web-chats/exploring-flexischooling-qna/

[Lostinouterspace]

Bunnies I'm not a teacher but my DM taught SEN for twenty years and is able to help. I'm not using the school as a child minder. Just because I don't think my DC is reaching her potential doesn't mean I don't think the school has anything to offer. It's just having helped out at the school I can see how a child who is easily distracted - like mine - would learn slowly. I often visited my mum's school and despite the fact that the children had more complex needs the high teacher to child ratio meant there was a greater degree of calm.
Ribbon - thanks for the link.
Ambonsai - I'm not worried about overlap. In my experience with my other DC duplication reinforces learning

[Lostinouterspace]

Lils that sounds great if your DC had the energy for this but my DC is exhausted at the end of the school day. The classroom environment is really quite stressful and it takes it out of her. I don't think she could cope with hours of home work on top.

[lils888]

How comes the classroom is such a stressful place for your DD?

Have the school actually given you any advice or help? DS hated me for making him do so much out of school at the very beginning as it took up his free time but he did get used to it.

I think you need to have a serious discussion with the school, Home schooling part time seems very complicated and I can’t imagine many schools agreeing to it

[gillybeanz]

If you flexi School, you are still registered as a pupil at the school, hence the LA if state school.
It's down to the head if they allow this, they have a final say.
I'm not sure what you would have to do ito teaching the curriculum as obviously the school would still need to show the same stats for ofsted as all the other children in the system.
H.ed doesn't necessitate following the curriculum and teaching, you can do what you like as long as the children are receiving an education.
Speak to the head and ask if they'd give permission.

[Lostinouterspace]

Lils school is stressful because there is a lot of challenging behaviour. One child has autism and can get very angry when he is upset. Another has global delay and sometimes hisses and spits. Another with global delay appears very badly behaved but isn't because he can't help it iyswim. Unfortunately these three children - whose behaviour is understandable to an adult - seem to give licence to other children to behave badly. So, for example, on a school trip one of the children with global delay was unsettled by a train passing and started to scream which set off a number of children.

[lils888]

Oh that does sound stressful for your DD. I hope the school help you solve this in some way, whether that’s flexi schooling or something else. Obviously it’s a sensitive issue as the they children have disabilities/disorders but this really shouldn’t be allowed to impact your child’s education so negatively

[gillybeanz]

Aw, your poor dd, it must be hard for her and of course the other children.
If I was in your position I'd leave the school and just H.ed, that is if I thought we could manage it between us, of course.

The amazing thing about H.ed is receiving an education at a pace that suits. You can't really beat 1 to 1.
I know that's easy for me to say Im not You or your Mum

[HonestTeacher]

I would be surprised if a LA school would allow this. A child being in only half the week would impact negatively on the school's attendance.

The biggest problem for me would be that when she is at school she will have missed half of what has been going on. Most lessons taught are not stand alone lessons; they link and follow on from each other. Your daughter would be missing the prior knowledge to help her in her work on the days she is at school. The only way it would work would be weekly meetings with the class teacher to ensure that you are teaching the same things at the same time which is unlikely. I have zero time as it is so no chance of me lesson planning on a weekly basis with a parent!

If a parent in my class had worries their child was behind, I would give them a basic outline of what is being taught over the term and ask them to go over these skills with their child in the evening. Pulling a child out of school to be taught by somebody with no teacher training I fear would do more harm than good.

[DoublyTroubly]

I would definitely recommend talking to the head. Try and think about any questions he may have and have an answer ready. For example - is he worried about attendance records? If so, could you pick her up after afternoon registration a few times a week so she won’t be marked absent at all?

[AtSea1979]

Why are you keeping her at that school at all? If the school were regularly suspending such young children then they are clearly srruggling. Is she at least on the waiting list at the other schools? How far is the nearest school with a place?

[RicottaPancakes]

She'd be marked as educated off site, should not be a problem.

[SuburbanRhonda]

If so, could you pick her up after afternoon registration a few times a week so she won’t be marked absent at all?

That would be something you’d have to have agreed with the head teacher too.

[RueDeWakening]

It's definitely possible to home educate part time, and some schools are quite encouraging of it, eg a school a friend's youngest attend has a number of flexi-schooled kids on roll: loxley.schools.uk.com/ (just in case you're anywhere nearby!).

[SuburbanRhonda]

Flexi-schooling agreements aren’t a long-term solution for anything. They’re normally put in place for a fixed period when there are other issues to be sorted out.

I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for the child to be constantly switching between a structured, national curriculum-led programme to a child-led, structure-free arrangement. It might be convenient for a parent, though.

[Hoppinggreen]

Are you sure her results rule out Private?
In this area not all are selective at that age

[Lostinouterspace]

Thanks for all your comments.
We're going to an open day at a private school next week so will see how this goes. I'm also trying to see the head asap.
The nearest state school with a place is miles away and has a similar reputation. One of the reasons there are no spaces at good schools is the number of children from her class who have left already and taken them. As each well-behaved child leaves they seem to be replaced by badly behaved ones. I think this is because it is fairly obvious the class is quite challenging so when parents are shown round those who can avoid it do. The number of children with the special needs has remained constant.