Can I legally take my child out of school for a few times a week for private tutoring?

[givemesomewineplease]

We have a messy situation in my child’s class. A disruptive few years of teachers for short periods, then supply teachers filling in holes. Currently yr 5 (state, 1 form entry school). The latest teacher just left so we are going through it again. We are all sick of it and our children are suffering in their work and mental health. What legal grounds do I - and other parents (potentially a group of up to 8 of us) - have to remove our children from school for 2-3hrs, 2 or 3 days a week in the afternoon for focused private tuition to ensure they are continuing to progress? We are making the plans now but as yet haven’t informed the school. I would like to know if they can legally stop us or force our children to leave the school? Any advice gratefully received.

Won't the teacher you want be busy working in their new job during school hours?

Just move school! A few hours private tuition once a week isn't going to counter act 4 and a half days of terrible schooling ffs

Why can't you all just move school? It seems pointless to continue sending your child to a school that is failing them when most parents who are not happy with a school just change schools. Surely it would be more disruptive and confusing to be constantly taken in and out of school with different teachers and teaching methods.

Of course the teacher had no obligation whatsoever to stay in his job!!! However, offering tuition in school time to school attending pupils is completely dubious!

If the teacher will be "tutoring" the same group of children for a few hours a week, he/she is likely to be categorised as a 'school' by OFSTED even if he/she is self employed and teaching in a home.
This means they will need to comply with all OFSTED requirements for schools and be subject to inspections etc.
Private tutors are not subject to OFSTED regulations generally but they need to be able to demonstrate they legitimately meet the criteria for self employment and are also teaching different children at different times.

I do know teachers don’t have an obligation to stay in a job. However as these children have been messed around so much it seems wrong to have deserted them. He obviously knows there are issues finding teachers. It’s calculated to get work from these parents. So he doesn’t want another regular employed job. He wants to tutor. In school time!

Thank you everyone for your advice. It has been so helpful to get perspective - I also thought the idea was ludicrous at first. There are reasonable answers to all your queries/reactions but it is a complex situation with many unusual factors that I can’t go into for being outing! I want to remove my children but because of the personalities of my two DC it isn’t so easy to just settle them into new schools, there are also no places at any other decent schools in the area. But I’m taking each day at a time and may pull them if the situation continues. I give lots of support at home so I know my kids will have good outcomes whatever happens, it just frustrates me that so many hours are being wasted in school that could be put to use in stimulating experiences!

@BubblesBuddy

The children have probably been messed around so much because the mad head makes teacher's lives hell. I don't think it's fair to blame him for leaving, but wouldn't employ him as a tutor either.

Could you home school?

We had a similar situation in year 4, constant supply teachers, school in special measures etc. We took ds out at May half term and home educated him until the end of primary. We were moving house anyway and originally thought we’d put him in a new school when we moved (Dec year 5) but we didn’t bother in the end.

It worked really well and we were also able to focus on 11plus prep at home during the summer term of year 5 without him having to do work in the evening or at weekends. He missed out on having to do SATs too and did lots of fun stuff which he wouldn’t have done at school. I’d recommend it!

Plus he came on in leaps and bounds with the one to one attention. Now he’s back in school (year 8) that’s the one thing he really lacks - his attention isn’t great in a class of 30!

No you can't do that without school permission

In this situation I'd move them to a different school if you can. A few hours tutoring a week won't make an enormous difference and the school won't allow it anyway. Moving in year 5 isn't disruptive when they're already unhappy and MH is suffering. I moved my DS end of year 4 and it was the best decision I could have made as he really flourished in the new school.

How does anyone know there is a mad Head? How do we know the teacher didn’t just prefer an opportunity to be tutoring rather than being in the classroom? There are a myriad of reasons why teachers leave. Where I am a Governor it’s relocation due to DH’s job and moving to be nearer to elderly relatives! We also have 3 sets of job shares. However most teachers manage to complete the year!

The OP has already said that the headteacher is ‘impossible’ to communicate with and the revolving door of staff does suggest that might indeed be the case.

Yes, in a generally happy and stable primary school it is considered bad form to leave mid-year, but where teachers are doing so it can indicate that something is amiss in the school management approach rather than in the individual teachers.

It’s a two-way street. Teachers can and do leave mid-year if they so wish. No one wants to see that happen, but it does.

What happened in the end? Did you get permission to take the kids out for private tutoring?

Our primary school experience got messy - years merged, head was part time and then lots of heads in quick succession (think 3 in one year). Lack of focus on actual teaching. DD1 largely bored.
We asked to pull out daughter out one afternoon a week for tutoring and we're turned down. We moved her to a private school a term later.

Flexi-schooling is at the discretion of the HT.

A tutor tutoring for 2-3 hours a day, 2 or 3 days a week, would not be considered an unregistered school. Unregistered schools are those who are providing full-time education to 5 or more CSA pupils or 1 or more with an EHCP/who is a LAC. Full-time isn’t set out in law but for unregistered schools purposes usually considered 18 hours (although some providers will only provide 12/15/16hours for fear of being considered an unregistered school).