I want to flexi school my daughter in Year 5 for one day a week. Asking if anyone else if doing it and if it was approved by the headteacher.
I am a teacher. I can’t do more than one day a week, financially.
The reasons for flexi schooling are a bit more complex.
Daughter is 10, coping less and less in a school environment, even the headteacher said this to me, she has autism and struggles quite a lot with her mental health in school.
She is miserable and upset so often. She gets overwhelmed in school, distressed, she struggles to calm herself down. And when frustrated or dysregulated, it usually goes physical when really bad and she might punch someone.
She often withdraws herself from lessons and does very little work in the school day.
Ive had a lengthy meeting with the headteacher, and despite me throwing lots of SEN code of practice and Keeping children safe in education at them, they just don’t want her there. It’s very sad to see.
It would be easier for them if she’s not there. In that particular class, they already have one with ADHD, one with GLD, definitely 2 with ASD and another two on the pathway.
If money was no object and I had won the lottery, I would take my daughter out full time. Tomorrow. But I haven’t won the lottery. Her dad and I are divorced and I’m working really hard to keep a roof over our heads.
In our case, I can’t see how the headteacher should or can say no to flexi schooling for 1 day a week. It would benefit her quite a lot. Her mental health! And she would almost certainly do more work with me than she does the rest of the week at school.
They might say no if they don’t put her needs first and think about themselves (!!), their attendance figures.
What has the school done for support? They throw risk assessments and behaviour contracts at her, to cover themselves for PEX.
They’ve suspended her for 1.5 days.
The pastoral support is poor.
other options?
Moving schools? I’ve talked at length with a mum of a year 5 child (with an EHCP!) in the neighbouring prrimary school in town, and the support there is even worse, especially in terms of the time that a TA is present in class. She strongly discouraged me to move my child there. Plus my daughter has a really good friend in her school and she would find it hard to move school, coping in a new environment, lots of changes to deal with and no friend.
I can’t see how this school can’t put a TA in the class 100% of the time with a caseload of GLD, ADHD, 2 x ASD, and at least another 2-3 on their way to get diagnosed.
Get an EHCP for my daughter?
In this particular LA schools get NO funding for a child with an EHCP. Absolutely nothing. This creates the perfect scene for a school to reject a child, once they have an EHCP, at consultation phase, because they don’t have the funding to provide the support stipulated for an EHCP in Section F. (I don’t work in this LA and thankfully in the LA where I work, things actually work!)
And being so close to secondary school, I fear having a poorly written EHCP will just put her in a position to be rejected by schools. Because the EHCP will be sent to them and they will be asked if they can meet her needs. So in this LA, you end up with the school
who didn’t reject the child. Or no school
at all. I think it was on the BBC the other day, that 1 in 8 children with ASD are without a school.
What does my daughter think? I’ve asked her and she would like me to home school her for 1 day a week. She would like it very much. Eg, when she was recently suspended for 1.5 days (that’s a whole different thread and I’m furious about it to say the least), we worked really well at home. We got a lot done. I can’t believe how much work she managed to do with me.
What would you do? Are you doing flexi schooling? How is it going? What did the school say?
And drawbacks that I’m not thinking about?