Is it possible to go 3/2 with schools

[Hurr1cane]

DS isn't coping with his new special school. It's shit. They've messed him about no end and he has seizure after seizure.

I was wondering if it was at all possible to do 2 home ed days and have 3 school days so he would still get the social side of school but not have to be there so much that it's making him ill.

So he would be basically getting 4 days at home and only 3 at school?

My understanding is that, if your child is in a special school, you have to request permission to home educate, so I would think that you'd also have to ask their permission to set up a flexi-schooling arrangement like what you describe.

But that doesn't mean you can't, just that you'd have to talk with the teacher and head and get their permission.

You'd also have to ask permission to take him out completely, if you decided the place was so bad that it was no use to him at all.

It is possible but at the discretion of the Head. It's called flexischooling. If you are on facebook, there is a group called Flexischooling Families where you will find a lot of very helpful advice from other families who are flexischooling or trying to negotiate an arrangement.

It's true that you have to ask permission to deregister from a special school, if you decided to Home Ed completely - but permission shopuldn't be witheld unreasonably - facebook groups are also a good place to get advice on that, from people who know the law inside out.

Thanks a lot I doubt they would have any reason to deny me permission to teach DS myself as I am a fully qualified teacher and my house is completely set up for DSs needs, unlike most schools.

He's suddenly got a brand new, full time permanent 1:1 TA though, which is strange as it only happened when our key worker rang the school saying I was considering home schooling as an option as they weren't meeting the criteria of his EHC plan.

Isn't it strange how, when I'm probably a lot more qualified than our key worker (who is fab) they won't listen to me but as soon as someone who still works in the field calls, they all scramble about to fix the issue

Have you asked about this on the Special Needs board? You seem to be saying that the school situation is making your son's seizures worse? If he is medically unfit to attend school full-time, then he cannot attend full-time. That would be the case even if he couldn't receive any education at home. The LA would then have to turn its attention to whether and how they can provide him with a full-time education while he's attending school part-time or not at all. This might involve you educating him part-time, or them sending a tutor out, for example.

Is there any medical/professional person who would back you up in the view that full-time school is harmful to your son's health? If I were you, I'd try to get that support and then start keeping him off school part-time on the basis that he's too ill to come in every day - and then see what you can work out with the LA. Don't keep him in school full-time for any longer if it's doing him harm, while you wait for the LA to follow some glacially-slow procedure for considering your flexischooling request.

Here's another place you might ask your question: www.he-special.org.uk/ This is a very good email list for parents who are HEing children with special needs. Many of them will have tried various arrangements with schools and may be able to advise you on the options.

I do know that some families have succeeded in getting flexischooling written into their child's statement.