I am flexischooling AMA

[flexischooler]

My 5 year old started school this year and I am flexischooling him. I know that this is not at all common if even heard of by most parents and schools in England so feel free to AMA 😁

Why?

You are right that I haven't heard of it! Could you explain how it works for you?

What does it mean?

Does this mean you are just reducing the timetable by one day?
what does your child’s week look like? What do you do on the days at home? Do you plan to felxischool for your child’s whole education (if school allows)?

Up until about a month before he was due to start school we had no idea if he would be going to school at all as he has autism and is still in nappies which unfortunately meant that a lot of schools said that they couldn’t meet his needs and we had to look at a lot of schools before we finally found one that could. The flexischooling part is half because we didn’t think he would be able to cope with full days 5 days a week (he used to go to nursery 2 days a week and was always absolutely exhausted afterwards) and half wanting to keep some of his routine (a weekly SEN group) and also because he won’t be this little forever and I want us to still have more than 2 full days a week together 🥰

He is currently going to school 3 days a week - Mondays are half days with gymnastics in the afternoon and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are full days. From October he will be going to school full days Monday-Wednesday.

On Thursdays we go to a SEN group and he has a swimming lesson. We also go to a Home Ed group some weeks.
Fridays are a bit less structured/planned at the moment but we went to a Number Train class last week which I think we will probably continue, soft play and he also has a trampolining class.
On both of his home days we have also been doing worksheets/arts and crafts/science experiments/practical learning.

On weekends he has a drama class and gymnastics.

At the moment he is going to school for 2 and a half days a week and from October he will be going for 3 full days a week and has 2 days at home.

On Thursdays we go to a SEN group and he has a swimming lesson. We also go to a Home Ed group some weeks.
Fridays are a bit less structured/planned at the moment but we went to a Number Train class last week which I think we will probably continue, soft play and he also has a trampolining class.
On both of his home days we have also been doing worksheets/arts and crafts/science experiments/practical learning.
On weekends he has a drama class and gymnastics.

I am not sure if we will flexischool for the whole of school as I would need to learn some stuff myself for the later years but I could definitely do at least the first 3 years I think and if possible I would like to do so for the whole of reception and year one. It will all depend on what he wants and needs though!

Flexischooling means that a child goes to school but not full time. It is most commonly done as half days every day or as just Fridays off but can also be done as 3 days in school at 2 days at home (which is what we’re doing) or even as 2 days in school and 3 days at home in some cases (I follow someone on Instagram with this arrangement!)

How did you go about getting this arrangement set up?

We do this (Scotland though). DD1 is off on a Friday. We really like it, she goes to a STEM workshop in the morning for an hour or so and then we just decide what to do for the rest of the day, could be visiting a National Trust place, going out to the forest, rockpooling, pond-dipping, creative writing, cooking, going for a long bike ride, just whatever her interests are that week. School have been really supportive and it was easy to get it approved (within 24 hours!).

I just realised I forgot to ask my question!

Do you have any older or younger children? And if so, will you now flexischool them?

My 4yo will start school next year and considering whether to flexi her from start or do a couple of months of five days while they’re all getting to know each other and the school routine etc and then do so.

Is it hard from an income point of view, as you can’t work full time?

It took a long time! We initially found a school that was willing to do flexischooling (but probably not long term) but when we applied our child didn’t get a place. After the school he was given told me that they couldn’t meet his needs I emailed a lot of schools and set up phone calls and meetings with the ones that were open to flexischooling. Most of these schools then said that they would only do it as 5 mornings or 5 afternoons which wouldn’t have worked for us or that it would only be a temporary thing whilst he settled in which isn’t what we were looking for. A lot of the schools had never heard of it and/or said no straight away. We ended up finding the school he is at now just before the summer holidays and they thankfully agreed that they could meet his needs and despite never having heard of it before the head teacher was willing to try flexischooling with 3 days in school and 2 days not at school which is what we wanted ♥️ We will be having termly (or half termly I can’t remember) meetings to make sure it is working but I’m keeping track of all of his work and emailing photos to his teacher too so I think it should be fine 🤞

Is she under CSA or is it just easier in Scotland? They’re only little for so long so it’s great that you get to make the most of it!! 🤗🥰

I don’t have any other children but I do hope to have another one at some point and would love to do the same although I guess it will depend on how laws change in next few years 🤔

Did you not flexischool your first from the start?

It’s rare because it’s disruptive for the rest of the class. It is used for reasonable adjustments for Sen but as an on demand alternative to full time it would be a nightmare for teachers - imagine 30 kids all with different schedules, how would they fit in key learning?

Our LA has default acceptance for one day a week for primary at least, not sure about secondary. So it was just a case of send an email, they replied within 24 hours to say fine. It’s a set day, has to be Friday, and only one day a week but that’s all we wanted.

We weren’t aware of it from the start or we probably would have, but she was in P2 when we found out and so we’ve started relatively recently from P3. Two others in DD’s class that I’m aware of also flexischool on Fridays.

DD2 is a very different type of personality, so it’s hard to know!

I am not working and haven’t since he was born as I’ve always had him every day and then when he went to nursery it was only 2 days a week. I was thinking that I would get a part time job once he started school but there is always that fear that he could need me during the school day and I’d have to go and pick him up. He is doing amazingly well so far though so I do hope to start volunteering one or 2 days a week in the near future but it all just depends how things go 🤷‍♀️ I could only do school hours either way 🤔

Is this your choice or due to lack of appropriate education setting?

I guess that’s the difference too as here it’s not an individual school decision, the local authority has a set policy that schools all follow and decisions are made at LA level and communicated to the school leadership. So our LA policy is that one day a week flexi school should generally always be approved unless there are issues re: safeguarding or involvement with social services.

I asked for this arrangement on health grounds but was refused, and instead we have a reduced timetable, doing 9-1:30 daily. Any longer and she would be fast asleep at her desk (she’s 14), and they literally cannot move her. Flexi schooling is incredibly rare but there is a very helpful facebook page called Flexi schooling families uk where the list of schools currently registered can be found. It’s interesting to see on what grounds the arrangement has been granted. There’s quite a high profile TikTok person who has it granted for the purpose of going away in her touring caravan. The children have every Friday and Monday off so the family can travel. So don’t just assume it’s something which can be granted for health reasons alone.

Why would it be disruptive? My child does have SEN but it isn’t used for SEN, that’s a part time timetable which is different. There’s quite a few schools in other places who advertise that they flexischool and encourage it.

As for the learning, the teacher doesn’t have to fit it in. The teacher teaches their planned lessons and it is the parents responsibility to fill in the gaps/teach the rest. It also means that children at different levels of learning can work on those things more at home so it actually works out quite well 😊

There are a couple of schools local to me that offer it to all pupils - core days are Tues/weds/Thurs where all children are in, and parents can choose if they also attend Monday & Friday.

That’s amazing!! It should be that easy everywhere!!

Is she enjoying it? 😊

It is our choice partly because we didn’t think full time would be best for him, partly because we wanted to keep some of his routine and partly because he’s growing up so fast and I don’t want 5 days a week of his childhood to be spent at school ♥️