Curious about flexischooling?

[flexischoolingUK]

Did you know that there’s a legal arrangement called flexischooling where a child of compulsory school age can legally attend school part time and be educated at home the rest of the time?

Flexischooling is not a parental right. Parents need to make a formal flexischooling request and, in England and Wales, the headteacher must agree. Unfortunately, as most headteachers have never heard of flexischooling, informal verbal request are usually immediately shot down.

We have a facebook support group, Flexischooling Families UK, where we support parents to request flexischooling.

We’ve also launched a petition asking that flexischooling be given its own attendance code, which we hope would make it easier for headteacher to agree 🤞

Please consider signing if you’re at all interested in the idea of flexischooling:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/708358

if you have any questions about flexischooling, please let me know 🙂

As an ex teacher, I agree, the expectations and targets imposed on schools are getting absolutely ridiculous! With record numbers leaving the profession!

There are benefits of flexischooling to the school too. Teachers are not expected to provide work for flexischooling pupils, the onus is on the parent to plan and provide the education whilst they are flexischooling. On the days some children are being flexischooled, teachers are smaller class sizes and are better able to give more time and attention to those who need it. Flexischooling pupils are generally on par with their peers academically, though many are exceeding their peers, which looks good in the data for teachers and schools.

Flexischooling children can bring more diverse ideas into the classroom, may be more regulated on days in school as they’ve had the opportunity for more hands on, active learning whilst flexischooling. Flexischooling helps both children and teachers when there is SEND involvement. In some circumstances parents are more able to meet the needs of their child than the school can.

Flexischooling is not children not turning up whenever they feel like it. It is a carefully planned arrangement that, in many cases, can benefit everyone 🙂

Thank you I’ll join and show my headteacher!

I've heard of it, but i struggle to see how it would work in practice. It seems to rely on an idea that all the important inputs come at a particular time of the day or week, which just isn't the case. It may have been that way when the curriculum was smaller, but is definitely not the case now since every possible learning moment has to be maximised.

As an ex teacher, whilst I’d want to be open to whatever supported children with differing needs, I honestly can’t see how this would work en masse. As a PP said, so many teachers have enough to deal with. Should they really be expected to plan their weeks around this child being in this day and that child another?

How do you stop the system from being abused? I know of one family locally who say they flexi-school a couple of days a week, when in reality, it’s to help with nursery pick up/logistics!!!

For those that do it purely by choice as a parenting style, sure. But for many, it's a necessity and parents work their lives around managing it.

It requires flexibility from parents in how they'd manage it. Take a teacher, for example, wanting to Flexi their child 2 days a week because of medical issues. They could shift to PT teaching and get a weekend/evening job, do tutoring etc to top up their salary back to full time (or thereabouts).

For kids with MH/emotion issues issues or ND that mean 5 days a week is too much, then it may be a case of Flexi schooling or home schooling, in which case, as parents, you do what you can to make it work, because the effect of home schooling will be even worse in there family budget.

The Flexi schooling we do requires ZERO extra effort from the teacher. We provide her folder she can look at if she wants, but she doesn't have to. All the planning, extra effort, working out what gaps we need to plug, I do. In some ways it easier for the teacher because when my child struggles with something we can sit down one to one together and work it through, which school can't do.

The practice varies from school to school and even in the agreement between the head and each family.
If schools have a lot of flexi pupils they might designate core days.
My child did mornings at school and afternoons at home so school covered Maths and English and we covered 'wider curriculum' subjects.

Second the question on system abuse. I know of one family who flexischool on Fridays and effectively use it for term time travel as if you play it right you can take some Thursdays and Mondays off without triggering the rules on fines.

If the headteacher doesn't think the agreement is working for whatever reason then they can stop it.

I guess it works on the principle that home education can be just as valid and beneficial for children as school based education. Parents can liaise with school on what would be missed and aim to cover the same content at home. Of course, this does not mean the full time school vs flexischooling children will have exactly the same experiences, they won’t. Just as no two classrooms across the country or even within the same school will be identical. Different does not necessarily mean inferior.

Having 1-1 tailored input with a highly motivated and connected adult can absolutely help to maximise learning. Flexischooling has the flexibility to offer learning experiences that are more difficult to replicate in the classroom.

So whilst there certainly can be challenges, there are also many benefits to the flexischooling model 😁

Great questions! Flexischooling is most commonly agreed for individual students rather than en masse, however, there are some primary schools who have chosen to embrace flexischooling and take a whole school flexischooling approach! These are typically small rural schools at risk of closure due to low pupil numbers.

These schools have set core days when all children attend, and then optional flexischooling days when, with the agreement of the headteacher, parents can choose to flexischool. These schools have carefully crafted a curriculum to be covered over 3 days and certain subjects are covered by the parents.

Flexischooling is ALWAYS discretionary, even in these school that take a whole school approach. As such, headteachers have control on the days they will agree to flexischooling, and the days they will not. For example, a Friday is a common flexischooling day, which is less disruptive to the sequential school timetable, than if a child missed a day at the beginning or middle of the of the week.

Flexischooling should be providing a child of compulsory school age with a full time education, if this is not happening, then the headteacher can end the arrangement. Flexischooling is an arrangement of trust, and if families break that trust then the arrangement will not continue.

There can certainly be logistical benefits to families, such as nursery pick up timings, if a child is receiving a suitable full time education, then I wouldn’t see that necessarily as abusing a flexischooling arrangement.

There are safeguards in place. Flexischooling parents have reviews with the school, this may be half termly, termly or even yearly - it depends what the school stipulate. Parents should also collect evidence of their home learning to share with the school. I found sharing a photo on the school communication app after each flexischooling day, with a brief summary of the learning from that day. As an ex teacher myself, I was able to make National Curriculum links, though the National Curriculum doesn’t legally ‘necessarily’ apply to the home part of flexischooling. Doing this meant the school had evidence they could look at, or easily access should Ofsted come to visit and ask about the arrangement, but there was no requirement for them to look, comment or mark anything we were doing at home, but it can be helpful for the teacher and headteacher to get an idea of what’s happening at home 🙂

My concern with how some schools operate with flexischooling is how some parents are railroaded into it when their DC can’t cope with full-time school because of their SEN.

They aren’t provided with all the information in order to be able to make an informed decision. For example, many parents are unaware the LA is responsible for ensuring CSA pupils unable to attend school still receive a full-time education. Another example is some parents are unaware of the ability to go down the EHCP route (or are fobbed off about it) and that an EHCP can include some provision otherwise than at/in school. And that both the above provisions can include things like forest school. Instead, some parents are pressured into flexischooling with the school threatening to (incorrectly!) record their absences as unauthorised if they don’t agree.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!

You are absolutely right, there are some children for whom full time school just doesn’t work. Part-time timetables can be helpful, but there is so much pressure for the child to return to full time school. Unlike a part-time timetable, flexischooling is classed as a full time education, and therefore can be a long term arrangement.

Full time home education would not be possible for some families, but when their child isn’t coping in full time school they are willing to make drastic changes to meet their child’s needs. Flexischooling is less of drastic change than full time home education, so can be a very helpful half way house 🙂

DC who are unable to attend school full time do not have to be forced back to attending full time.

The LA would remain responsible for ensuring they still received a suitable full-time education. Or for the small minority for whom full-time education in any form (at school or otherwise, traditional education or otherwise, etc.) is not appropriate, as much as they are able to do.

And an EHCP can include part time school with other education (in whatever form is suitable form) for the time away from school.

There are options other than attending school full time, flexischooling or full time elective home education.

This would be risky. Whilst you can absolutely travel further afield for educational purposes for flexischooling (like schools do for school trips or residential trips), if the child is not receiving a full time education during their flexischooling time and if the school finds out/knows, then the absence would not be marked as flexischooling.

For example, if a child is ill on their usual flexischooling day, the parent should notify the school so that the absence is recorded correctly. If a child is absent on a Thursday and this is marked as unauthorised absence, if the school knows the child has gone away, the Friday (despite being the usual flexischooling day) would also be marked as unauthorised absence.

It takes 10 half days (or 5 full days) of unauthorised absence within a 10 week period to meet the national fines threshold. I’ve even read that inset days may be counted towards unauthorised absences, which I personally find a bit ridiculous.

I completely agree, this is a very valid concern. Like Elective Home Education, flexischooling should not be encouraged by schools and LAs, especially as a money saving measure.

We did a poll in the Flexischooling Families UK group and I was surprised that more than half responded that they had flexischooling agreed for their child with no SEN. However, in another more recent poll, I was saddened to see that about half of SEN parents who responded Flexischool because the school/LA can’t meet their child’s needs, but would prefer their child to be in school full time.

Flexischooling should NOT be used as a way for LAs to evade their duty to provide a suitable education for SEN children. Flexischooling should be something families WANT to do, not are FORCED to do! About half of respondents to the poll said they wished to Flexischool even if the school could meet their child’s needs.

This is certainly something to be mindful of in the conversation surrounding flexischooling and SEND/ALN/ASN children.

Thank you for responding! They are definitely taking Thursday afternoons off to go away within the 10 week limit but interesting to know that this would be frowned upon / isn’t commonplace.

Presumably though, there's a reasonable amount of pragmatism at your school, so that if Friday is Flexi day and it's glorious sunshine, but Saturday is tipping it down, that Friday can be beach, and Saturday home school?

Equally, the family could go on holiday after school Thursday, and the Fridays activities are designed to be educational, or they join a local home ed drop in, or you take work with you?

I wouldn't want to do that regularly, or unless I could plan it into my curriculum, as I like to ensure breadth of learning, but could occasionally be useful. And as it's a relationship of trust between school and parent, as time goes on the parent can be given more latitude to 'just get on with it' as long as the work produced, progress made etc aligns?

The main aim, as far as I can see, is to ensure that between school and home learning, the child gets a full time equivalent education. That doesn't mean mon-fri 8:40-3:15.

I'm saying presumably because although we flexi, we aren't standard flexi at the moment. We might become one with a school change if needed though. We don't really have a 'rules' at the moment, but as we flex 5 afternoons a week, we have less flexibility in location at the moment.

Thanks for responding to my previous query, OP. Does anyone worry that teachers may end up being in the classroom only for the core days, ie Tues/Weds/Thurs, if everyone changes to flexi on a Monday/Friday? It’d save the government a whole heap of money!

The vast majority of parents do not want to home educate or even flexischool their children so I really doubt this will ever be anywhere near an issue.
Even in schools that promote flexischool, most children attend full time.

I think unlikely that any school would reach a 100% flexischooling rate. Huxley C of E Primary has a very high flexischooling rate, around 83%. Schools that agree to flexischooling still get 100% of the funding and pupils legally have a full time school place, and should their circumstances change, can go back into full time school.

As an ex teacher myself, I can see that PPA time could be more effectively managed. Whole school flexischooling approaches tend to happen in small rural schools, where there may already be mixed year classes, so teachers may be able to arrange and plan for the classes to be amalgamated on the quieter flexischooling days, enabling teachers to get their PPA time, without requiring additional, external cover. So in that sense, schools may be able to save some money, but schools don’t lose any funding, so I don’t think it would save the government any money 🤔

Just curious as to really how this is possible though. So for example, say you were teaching a unit of English. This week you finished the previous unit on a Friday so the new one starts on Monday. There would be several days working on the different elements of a narrative and then after a couple of weeks you get to the planning, which is on a Thursday, but English has to be in the afternoon because PE/swimming/special assembly happen on Thursday mornings. Sophie, Ben and Amy all miss the planning because they do flexible and only attend for mornings. The write up takes two days and is then on Friday and Monday. Those children haven't planned so the teacher has to help them catch up on what they misses on Thursday. Meanwhile Louise, Harry, Emily and John don't attend on Fridays so don't start their write up until Monday. Editing is on Tuesday but Bobby and Sue don't come in on Mondays or Fridays and so have nothing to edit. Teacher then has to explain what they need to do and help them catch up. How does the teacher ever manage having so many children at so many different stages?
It sounds like an impossible task. It must also be quite tricky for the children sometimes as they'll feel behind and miss out on some things. Also, when are teachers supposed to find time to liaise with all these different parents about what will be covered and when?

I think you are overcomplicating things. Most schools that encourage flexi have set days when they allow it - say Thursday and Friday. So the core literacy and numeracy work and ongoing projects is set for Monday to Wednesday and the wider curriculum on Thursday and Friday. That way the parents know they need to cover geography, history, music and art for example.

The kids that are in school on a Thursday might learn about vikings and volcanos whilst a home child learns instead about Romans and rivers, but equally, if you know the school topic is vikings, then most will just cover that.

Yes, the home kids will 'miss out ' on some of the school stuff, but the reverse is also true. It's easier for the home school kids to pop off to a river, or a local historical site. As a more low key example, my reception kid missed out on the 'threading' excercise which involved wool and cardboard, but at home learned how to independently sew her own hand puppet, which is far more fun. They learned one stitch, we learned several because of the advantages of one to one. We have ongoing projects looking at the life cycle of fruit and vegetables that she grows and nurtures. When they studied the Holi festival in school they did a twinkl sheet. We made Holi paint and held our own festival.

Flexi kids (if it's done right) are absolutely NOT missing out. They are getting the best of school, socialisation with their friends AND the benefit of a fully individualised curriculum. They are getting a personal tutor for a day or two a week. If done well it can be, and often is a far better education IMO.

Yes, I can see how that would be impossible! Flexischooling is a discretionary arrangement. Headteacher’s do not have to agree to different pupils within the same class being absent on different days. If more than one pupil has flexischooling agreed within the same class (this would likely be rare outside of schools that take a whole school flexischooling approach), then headteachers can dictate that flexischooling is available on X day only. The chosen day/s or afternoons can be chosen to minimise disruption to the timetable, for example, on days with PE, art or RE. The class teacher can be involved in the approval process and share how their weekly timetable is set up and what would work best.

We advise parents that whilst they may need to liaise with teachers to an extent, that they should be mindful of not adding to teachers workload and that it is their responsibility to research and provide the education on the flexischooling day. It may be helpful for teachers to share key skills on knowledge the child may be missing if they would like the parent to cover these at home - but flexischooling is not doing school work at home, e.g work provided by the school.

Schools that do have a large number of flexischooling pupils, have carefully planned their curriculum to facilitate this. Some schools have 3 core days where all pupils must attend, then 2 days where flexischooling is optional. As a whole school approach, the senior leadership team are involved in working with teachers to develop a comprehensive curriculum spanning the 3 core days, and then communicating to parents which areas of the curriculum they would be responsible for, ensuring a full and robust curriculum between the two settings.

So to answer your question, in order to make flexischooling arrangements successful and possible, it may take careful planning between the parent and the school, though the school element of this careful planning is a matter for the headteacher to lead, rather than the class teacher.

My 3 year old is currently in a pre school two mornings a week. The school he’s at currently don’t offer flexi schooling (just from looking at the flexi schooling locations, I haven’t actually asked). Would you apply for a school place first and then put in an application to flexi school once you have the place confirmed, or is it best to get the application in before even applying for a place?

He starts officially Sept 2026 so need to start looking at our options really. I’ve found a forest school nearby for a few hours on Wednesdays and think this could be a lovely compromise!

The school is unlikely to accept any flexi application from you before your child has a place, but if you go to open days you could always sound out the head on whether it's something they would consider.
Before your child is compulsory school age (term after their 5th birthday) it is your right to send them part time anyway.