Please sign our flexischooling petition!

[flexischoolingUK]

Flexischooling is an arrangement where a child of compulsory school age is registered at school full time, but the school agrees the child can be educated at home for part of the week. Flexischooling is a full time education, just like full time school or full time home education. This is a legal option in England, Scotland and Wales, but isn’t very well known (even in schools).

In England and Wales, flexischooling, if agreed, is marked as Code C, authorised absence. The trouble with this is that code C still
affects the school’s attendance data, which can put schools off agreeing. Before 2019, Code B (educated offsite) was allowed and this code did not negatively impact attendance data.

In December 2024, the head of Ofsted, Sir Martyn Oliver, voiced the concern in his end of year report, that we have no way of knowing how many children are being flexischooled, as Code C is a generic authorised absence code, and it is impossible to differentiate between flexischooling absences and other authorised absences.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill proposes that flexischooling be managed by LAs. This seems like an inefficient and costly duplication of oversight and data retention, as flexischooling children are already registered at school full time, seen in school on a weekly basis, and schools are already recording attendance of flexischooling pupils on a twice daily basis!

We believe our proposal makes more sense logistically and financially. For schools to continue to manage flexischooling arrangements, but for a specific flexischooling code to be used (Code F) giving the government quantifiable data on the number of flexischooling children. Ideally, this code would not impact attendance data, as flexischooling pupils are legally receiving a full time education and it seems unnecessary for schools to be penalised for agreeing to a flexischooling arrangement in the best interests of a child. This is the current system in Scotland, flexischooling has no negative impact on attendance data.

We are aiming to reach 10,000 signatures to get a response from the government, but more than 10,000 would be a fantastic testament to the interest in flexischooling. We currently have at least 1 signature in all but 5 constituencies in the whole of the UK! It would be absolutely amazing to be able to say that every constituency in the UK had signed.

We are currently missing a signature in Nah-Eileanan an lar in Scotland, and 4 constituencies in Northern Ireland:

Mid Ulster - Mr Cathal Mallaghan MP

East Antrim - Rt Hon Sammy Wilson MP

Lagan Valley - Sorcha Eastwood MP

Belfast West - Paul Maskey MP

Whilst this petition isn’t directly aimed at Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, signatures from these countries do count and the petition data will be available even after the petition ends, and could be used to demonstrate the high levels of interest in flexischooling in these countries.

And of course, if every single constituency signs, that’s a statement everyone in the UK can use, that this petition demonstrates the universal support for flexischooling in the UK, with every single constituency having signed! 🤞

Please consider taking 2 minutes to sign and verify your email (please check your junk/spam folder) as unverified emails do not count.

Thank you!

Happy to answer any question regarding flexischooling 🙂

Flexischooling petition link

Maybe that is a question best addressed to the headteachers who agree to or encourage flexischooling?

What?

that post they replied to was AI generated

edit: they replied to a question using AI generated text
(thought my first sentence wasnt clear)

What makes you think that?

They don’t exist: those head teachers have just bowed to parent pressure.

Why would headteachers bow to parent pressure?

I thought teachers were experienced and qualified professionals 🤔

You’re partially correct - where we have organised ‘flexischooling’ it’s been for children who are at risk of exclusion so that they spend less time in an environment that they cannot cope with. It almost always ends up with the parent begging for their child to be allowed back in school full time as they ‘can’t cope’ with them being at home all day. In these situations, certainly the teacher and other pupils benefit massively from not having a child around who disrupts the class on a daily basis. In reality, what these children need is a bespoke setting where their needs can be met by experts who deal with whatever specific needs they may have.
If a child cannot cope with mainstream school, why not just fully home educate?

Which schools are these?

because its obvious?

I just asked an ai checker if it was ai and it says 99% likely to be human So maybe not obvious!

Children are either in school or homeschooled
This arrangement would make teachers lives harder than they already are.

Its a No from me

I love love love the idea of flexischooling. Hope we have more of that in London.
It’s unfair that if you want the best for your child you have always pay twice. You must pay tax for education which you don’t use and pay for your homeschooling efforts.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could use school for less important subjects and childcare? And more important subjects like mathematics would be taught at home or by professionals who know how to do that. I’m not talking about the awful British math curriculum which discourages pupils from ever learning math.

Which schools offer flexi schooling?
Here are a few:
https://stweonards.hmfa.org.uk/about-us/flexi-schooling/

https://www.castletonschool.co.uk/flexi-school/

https://hollinsclough.staffs.sch.uk/flexi-schooling/

https://rackenford-primary.devon.sch.uk/flexi-schooling/

Luckily it's not up to you - we can let headteachers make that call.

Signed OP. Really surprised at many of the responses on here.

Obviously It’s not up to me Im not the Education Secretary
but
OP asked if people would sign the petition.
So I responded, it’s sort of how Mumsnet works.

I asked the school if one of my children could do 4 days there and one at a forest school. It was to try and keep them in school, as forest was the only thing they could cope with there. It was an immediate no and child is no longer in school. Council are currently consulting with some very expensive special schools as a result. I have no idea of it would have made a difference of course, but do think it would have been worth a try.

From the information that’s been provided here about flexi-schooling, it appears that the learning is managed by the school and overseen by them, so totally different to full-time homeschooling. The teacher would be doing planning in advance for the lessons anyway, so can simply provide their planning documents to the parent detailing what needs to be covered (along with the tailoring they are already required to make for the individual needs of specific pupils if this applies to the flexi-schooling child) and then the parent can follow the teacher’s lesson plan/ adapt it further as required to optimise it for their specific child.

Presumably if the arrangement is overseen by the school then there would be regular checks on the work completed and if the school didn’t feel satisfied that the learning was being delivered at home they could end the arrangement at any point. If anything, it would seem such an arrangement would make things better for a teacher because:

1. they would have fewer children present in class to teach;
2. they would be required to do this planning anyway if the child was in class so the only additional burden in terms of planning is to forward the lesson plan to the parent;
3. if the parent is not capable of delivering the learning or providing evidence that they have done so then this would be quickly identified and it’s at the school’s discretion to cancel the arrangement at any point if they deem it not to be working;
4. the children likely to have such an arrangement are likely to have highly motivated and engaged parents who are willing to take on part of the school’s responsibilities in their own time despite already having paid for schooling for their children via tax;
5. It would allow children who want some socialisation but also can’t learn properly in mainstream schools to have some learning and some socialisation - perhaps the best that can be achieved in the current broken system;
6. these children are also likely to be the ones who need more individual support and help to cope in the school environment therefore them being taught some of the curriculum at home is likely to a) reduce stress on the teacher and give them more time to work with other pupils in the class; b) mean these pupils are able to focus on learning better at home with more individual support and make more progress than they would in the school environment on the topics taught at home; c) be more able to focus when they are at school because they won’t be so exhausted and overwhelmed from having to attend an environment that’s not suitable for them for a full 5 days per week. Surely occasional discussion with the parent for 10-15 mins to review work done/ upcoming is prefereable from a teacher perspective if it means far less resource-intensive support in class AND calmer, happier children who are learning more, because the parents are doing some of the job for the teacher voluntarily?

There are many children who can’t cope with 5 full days in a busy, noisy environment with 30+ children per class in a sustainable way, but are also highly academic and not stretched enough by the national curriculum, for example. These children could easily do all of the learning in the national curriculum in 3 days, but need more downtime if they are going to be forced into such an environment that is distressing for them and makes it very hard for them to learn while at school. They burn out if forced to do so. They often also have other exceptional talents or interests that the school week then crushes because it takes all of their energy and they have nothing left after school to pursue their talents. They need academically stretching in a way that teachers in mainstream school classes of 30 can’t provide, and they also cannot manage this environment, but because they aren’t disruptive and are meeting baseline academic targets that schools are measured on, nobody cares and their mental health is gradually destroyed until they are turned off education entirely and can’t attend school at all.

That’s just one example of the type of child that might benefit from such an arrangement. It sounds like it’s completely within the school’s discretion on whether it’s appropriate to agree/ continue a flexi-schooling arrangement for a specific child so in such circumstances, why should it be denied?

My own children would benefit immensely from this. I’ve been in a 1.5 year legal battle with the Local Authority to try to get them any support at all. Both are in primary school. Both have IQs well into the top 1%, gifted and talented. Neither can cope in the school environment. It is destroying their mental health. They barely sleep, are in total burnout, suffering huge anxiety, cry about going to school, cry themselves to sleep at night, say they are useless at everything while their educational psychologist said they need an extended and enriched curriculum, far more support for their deficits in working memory and SALT issues etc and a much calmer, quieter environment with smaller groups and a much faster pace of academic learning.

I can imagine that - if I wasn’t a lone parent and having to pay our mortgage and all of their medical costs as well due to a failing NHS, and could clone myself so that I could flexi-school them part time, this would benefit them immensely. I can’t see how it would negatively impact the teachers in any way if certain children for whom such an arrangement would be appropriate are allowed to do this, given that being forced into the school environment that’s so horrific and traumatic for 5 days per week was so traumatic for one of my children that she she kept saying wanted to die and talking about how to kill herself (aged 5), couldn’t sleep or eat and couldn’t attend school for over a term and despite this at the end of the school year (when I asked what I should do to help her catch up over the summer) the school said there were “no learning gaps and she was exceeding the baseline standard”. How would it not have been better for her if instead of creating this immense mental health damage she could have spent fewer hours at school so that she could cope, and some hours with me at home (given she met all of the learning objectives for the term that she didn’t attend at all and did pretty much no work at home because she was too ill by then to do so?).

Granted, she’s not learning to her potential, and this system for her wouldn’t achieve that, still (even if I was in a position to flexi-school her, which I’m not): she needs a highly academic school with small class sizes and a very calm environment so she has support for her disability AND is pushed academically. Sadly, within the state system, such schools for gifted and talented children don’t appear to exist. However, such a flexi-schooling arrangement (if I could facilitate it) would be far better than what happened to her and is still happening to her now, so why should it not be available in such circumstances for children like her whose parents can facilitate it, given that appropriate schools for children like her haven’t been set up at all?

I genuinely don’t understand the objection given that a school could decline such an arrangement in other circumstances where it was not appropriate for the child, and that for many children there is not an appropriate alternative at all until the issues I set out in my first post on this thread are addressed at a national level.

Ummmm…… some people have jobs?

I’m a lone parent. How am I meant to home educate my children while simultaneously working full time to pay for the mortgage, their medical care (due to failing NHS), the nannies that they need outside school hours when I’m working because they can’t cope with after school clubs or holiday clubs on top of school because they already aren’t coping with school?

Once you figure out how to clone me, or devise some kind of benefits system that will enable me to pay for everything they need without working, then I’ll happily home school them.

In the meantime, perhaps the tens of thousands of pounds of tax I pay every year should be used to provide them with an education suitable to their needs, per their basic human rights so that I can get on with my own job of providing for them financially and parenting them, rather than you demanding that I somehow also be their full-time teacher as well.

Some schools provide advance planning and want particular things completed, some give full rein to the parent to do what they wish on home days. Some monitor 'work', some don't.

Sometimes flexi schooling is agreed so that the child can attend another setting eg forest school or a cultural/language centre, or participate in high level sports or music.

The flexibility of flexi school is that it is entirely up to the headteacher how they wish to arrange it.

The whole thing is up to the discretion and professional judgement of the headteacher, and they can alter or end the arrangement at any time.

Ok. So it sounds like, in that case, a Statutory Code of Practice is required to formalise how these arrangements should work with a clear framework in place to ensure checks and balances and that the respective responsibilities of parents and teachers are set out clearly.

That’s not an argument against such arrangement being allowed, but an argument for a better system to facilitate them to ensure that they function well for the child, teacher and parents.

During this period I mentioned when my 5 year old was made suicidal by school, a local forest school session that was set up for home-schooled children kindly let her attend and it was enormously beneficial for her. As was spending far more time on her music and art. Meanwhile, she’s got a reading age of a secondary school child and is years ahead in maths.

Since returning to school full time she is now in immense mental distress, again. She is also not learning much and is too exhausted outside of school to pursue her talents or any extended learning (which is also not being provided at school despite her educational psychologist clearly specifying this requirement, and neither is she receiving appropriate support in school from SALT or TAs to be able to cope with her disabilities, as this is still being blocked by the Council because she is neither disruptive or failing to meet the baseline academic targets designed for children with half of her IQ. Her mental health, apparently, is of no concern despite multiple professionals involved stating that if this continues she is likely to become unable to attend school again at all and suffer long-term harm that may be irreperable).

If I was able to facilate her spending one day per week learning at home with me, half a day at forest school, half a day with extended music and art tutoring, and half a day of downtime - she could easily cover 2.5 days of school curriculum in one day of teaching from me if given the teacher’s lesson plans - and then 2.5 days at school, this would reduce the burden on her teachers to cope with the impact of what the system is doing to her, make her so much happier, accelerate her learning, and protect her mental health.

Why would anybody be against such a plan, given a school that could actually meet her needs for 5 days per week doesn’t exist within the state system?

Is it her fault that she extremely intelligent and has SALT and sensory issues? Why should this negate her right to access education or have a childhood that isn’t traumatic?

For our family the point is moot because I cannot faciliate it anyway, per my posts above. What we need is for a school appropriate for children like her to be provided by the state system. But I do not see why for families that can facilitate this people would object to the entire principle of such an arrangement given it appears that in appropriate circumstances it would have beneficial impacts for the child, their family, the teachers and the other children in their class. If the issue is a lack of a proper framework around it then the answer is to put a proper framework in place, not disregard the entire idea.

@InsomniacSloth Ok. So it sounds like, in that case, a Statutory Code of Practice is required to formalise how these arrangements should work with a clear framework in place to ensure checks and balances and that the respective responsibilities of parents and teachers are set out clearly.
That’s not an argument against such arrangement being allowed, but an argument for a better system to facilitate them to ensure that they function well for the child, teacher and parents.

What in particular about the current system have you found isn't functioning well?

I think I’ve described it in my posts quite extensively. I don’t want this to come across the wrong way as it’s not meant rudely and there’s no tone in writing, and is a genuine question!… which part of what I’ve said about the failings of the current system that I’ve set out have I not explained? I am happy to say more (this whole thing has destroyed the mental health and love of learning for my children, my own health and our family life and finances for 1.5 years now so can elaborate on any part of my views on it, but not sure which part specifically you mean)?

I wasn't quite sure what you were saying - is it essentially that instead of flexischooling being up to the headteacher's discretion, you want it to become a parental right?

I’ve been accused on Mumsnet of being an AI (or using AI to generate my posts) multiple times previously.

As far as I can ascertain it seems to be due to a combination of communicating in a factual and rational manner often quoting statistics and data rather than assuming that one’s personal experience is equivalent to a statistically valid fact of reality, using words that are sometimes more than a couple of syllables long and using a variety of punctuation that extends beyond commas and full stops.