Flexi-schooling - HT changing her mind

[misskeith]

Bit cheeky to post in home ed I know, as we aren't doing it yet - we want to do it one day a week. Our school used to allow it and 2 other 2 kids in my son's reception class have 1-2 days a week homeschooling. We just asked the head teacher (who started in Sept, part of a new regime) and she turned down our request on the basis that she wants to review the whole issue in September. I'm cross about this, we were really looking forward to being able to do this - I've asked for an appointment to discuss it, suggesting we would be happy reviewing it every term, but been refused. I know it's really down to the head and we have no say but does anyone have any suggestions for how to approach this?

No help, sorry. As you know, it is down to the head's discretion. Very few of them like it, except as a way to ease a child back into full time, after some trauma (bullying, sickenss, etc.).

Perhaps you could write to her, appealing to her desire to be seen as a reasonable person?

Whatever policy changes might be afoot next year, it seems very unreasonable of her to leave you in limbo for seven months until such time as she has the leisure to review the situation. Presumably she isn't preventing the other children from continuing the flexischooling arrangement in the meantime, so why is she preventing you from doing the same? It doesn't seem fair.

However, it may not be worth pursuing: if she is not keen on flexischooling then it doesn't seem likely that you'll be able to do it at this school without stress. It's a pity that key details about a child's education are subject to the whim of one person, and that the rug can always be pulled from under you by a staff change.

You could try getting on her good side, see if she will except you as a volenter in the school, show her you are willing to do some things her way and maybe win her over.

at least there's three different families involved- are there any more?

I think a lot of HTs are deeply suspicious of HE, without having much of a clue as to what it involves. It's a shame. The more my dcs were at school, the more I thought HE was the answer- now I HE I can see a lot of benefits from schooling that HE can't replicate. I think flexi schooling is a fab idea, and it's a shame more teachers won't consider it.

If there's a few of you, I'd just keep discussing it with her. She probably can't be arsed with it at the moment, as she'll have a lot else on, but over time you might find she relents! Having a termly review I think is a brilliant idea, and hard to reasonably refuse.