Flexischooling- desperately need advice/opinions

[Rosaofthevalley]

I’m on my own so don’t have anyone to discuss with so I feel a tad bullied into making a decision tbh.

DD7 has been flexischooling just one day off a week since September. She was extremely behind but was making gradual progress, although still well behind peers (not enough to consider SEN or additional funding though.)

Ive been called into a meeting twice now because school claim she’s at a disadvantage by missing this day as she misses a maths lesson, reading, Spanish, art and free choice time

My point is through missing these she gains one-to-one additional time. I did a reading,writing assessment with her back in Sept just to see what we were starting with. She got 4%. I did it again just after Xmas and she got 94%. They’ve said her improvement is amazing, but are putting it entirely down to natural ability and school. I don’t care where the credit goes but if I stop then I definitely think the improvement will slow back down too.

She only really struggles with maths and reading but my point was they’re the biggies. I don’t personally care if they’ve perfected her art skills if she still can’t read or write.

Sorry it’s long I’m just not sure which route is best for her. Please help?

Why can’t she be in school full time?

Is her maths suffering, does she miss out socially?

Clearly one-to-one support is better! How could it not be compared to one teacher to 30 children! It sounds like you are doing a great job. Do what is best for your daughter, not what is best for the school.

Would they offer one to one for maths, perhaps in lieu of Spansh

it’s great to work with them and help where they need support, but can’t you do that after school or on weekends?

They won’t offer any one-to-one as she’s the top of the bottom group (of four) so apparently it’s unnecessary. Also because there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with her she just struggles committing to long term memory. Which is why she has the day with me, basically repeating the basics over and over so they stick.

She can do full time, I just feel she gained more from having that time to consolidate.

Schools and politicians like to say "every day counts" at school, but it really doesn't. Maybe for kids who have bad home lives, but for your daughter, one-to-one time at home is going to be more valuable most of the time.

We’re already doing reading/spelling and schools homework. And I have 3 others that also need to do that as well.

Honestly, doing even more after school is potentially an option but makes life much much harder. She is exhausted by bedtime as it is I’m not sure how much use it’ll be if she’s knackered

@LIZS School have said it’s suffering but then when we mentioned the topic and the fact she’s flying currently, it was more that it ‘could’ lead to gaps.

Socially she’s fine.

I'd be asking the school why they think she fell this far behind initially and what they've changed/will change to accommodate her more successfully.

If she's been at full time school between 4-7 and fallen massively behind, then had a day at home each week and made big progress I can't see any support for the argument that she should be in school full time.

I'd also consider that having the day off each week is leaving her better placed to concentrate/focus on the days she is in school. Perhaps there was a touch of burnout before?

Would post this on Flexischooling families UK fb page - lots of advice will be given on there.

Sounds like it's working for you.

What does she want? I think your set up sounds like she is improving and getting the support she needs and the time and space to develop and grow in confidence. If you and she are happy, carry on as you are.

I have wondered howcome she struggled before and I think I did less with her than the others when she started school post covid , she’s also less inclined to read/write etc unprompted. I definitely blame myself for taking my eye off the ball. I also found her ‘workbooks’ from Covid and she actually wrote better then than her younger brother at the same age.

They won’t change anything they’re seeing her marked improvement as a success in the teaching/learning currently in place within school. As there are others worse, she’s fine.

She says she’s a bit sad to miss Art and whole school worship but she gets more work done at home because at school they just do a little bit.
There’s also certain ‘extras’ that they sometimes put on Fridays and I know she can feel disappointed to miss these.

Maybe doing a different day would be the answer so there’s no weekend-long gap?

Can the school let you know what maths lesson she's missing on Friday or share a worksheet with you so you can look at it at home?

That’s what they begrudgingly agreed to do prior to Christmas but now say that isn’t working either.

Is maths in the morning? Could do two afternoons out instead of a whole day?

Why do they say it's not working?

What's their reasoning?

Tbh I would keep discussions to a minimum and just focus on the fact that the arrangement has shown a significant and measurable improvement which shows it's working well for your DD.

You have proof. Where is there's? That's what I'd keep referring them back to. Don't be drawn in by words without evidence. They are trying to persuade you to do what suits them.

The burden needs to be on them to prove this isn't working for your daughter. Sounds like it is.

They say she’s not able to keep up on Monday having missed the maths lesson on Friday.

They’re saying that it’s making no positive impact, the work at home and that they’d already seen a huge improvement before this started. And that now they’re just seeing a negative impact and gaps forming.