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

Flexischooling is not new, it is not something I have invented, it has been around for the last 50 years.
https://www.personalisededucationnow.org.uk/history/

Yes, I have flexischooled my own child in the past, but I now support over 27,000 parents in the Flexischooling Families UK facebook group, nearly 500 professional in the Flexischooling Practitioners UK facebook group and have 10,300 followers on Instagram, all interested in learning about flexischooling.

There are definitely times flexischooling is in the best interests of schools. Small, rural primary schools are struggling for pupils due to location and falling birth rates. Without finding a creative solution, these communities would lose their local schools, the staff would lose their jobs, and families would need to travel much further to access schools.

Several schools turned to flexischooling as their creative solution and it worked! Both Hollinsclough C of E Academy in Staffordshire, and Huxley C of E Primary in Cheshire, each only had 5 pupils at one point and were facing closure. These schools, and others, took a radical move to adopt a whole school flexischooling model. Both schools have stayed open, and last year Huxley reached full capacity, I believe this year they have a rather long waiting list!

The demand for flexischooling from families is high. Whether the children currently attend another school full time but it isn’t working, or, full time home educating families who want to access school, but only part time. Members of our group having offered to relocate, just so they can access a school that allows flexischooling, other are willing to do a much longer than average commute.

Not all schools are willing to allow flexischooling, but more and more are, and for some, flexischooling is just as beneficial for the school as it if for the family.

It’s absolutely wonderful that you can do that for him. I can imagine it is very tiring! It’s a huge sacrifice as a parent that you shouldn’t have to make if the school system was functional, but absolutely amazing that you could plug that gap for him and do it so that he can thrive. Absolutely exhausting I’m sure, but I’m sure very rewarding also.

I often feel so sad I don’t have more time with my children and wish our situation was different. I genuinely would love to do this for my children too and am sad I cannot, but am equally enraged by the misguided comments here trying to prevent people who can do it from doing so if it works for their child. Ridiculous.

Anybody being jealous about someone having a child with additional needs/ disabilities and getting any modicum of accommodations (even at their own expense of time and energy and stress, like what you’re doing) needs their head examining. People have no idea of the sacrifices and difficulties involved.

You sound like a fantastic parent and he’s very lucky to have you.

No, all state schools.

Here are links to a few:

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

Hollinsclough have also supported other schools to develop a flexischooling model:

https://hollinsclough.staffs.sch.uk/federation/

https://www.huxleyprimary.cheshire.sch.uk/page/flexi-schooling/82307

https://www.edgeschoolsfederation.co.uk/flexi-school-church-preen-wistanstow

https://bhf.shropshire.sch.uk/flexi-learning/

We do have some private schools on our flexischooling map, but only 34 out of 731 schools.

There are 49 schools on the map that actively advertise, but these are the ones I could remember off the top of my head 🙂

And 14 years later, still only had 39 pupils in mixed age classes. Hardly a roaring success!

A school like this probably needs to be small.

The reason many children can’t cope with the school environment is because it is too loud and there are too many people. It would be ideal for a school offering flexi-schooling to be small so that all of the staff and other children, on the days that they do attend, are familiar and to be taught in small groups in a much quieter environment.

Packing hundreds of children into a school doesn’t make it “a roaring success”.

See my earlier post about my secondary school which was later shut down that had an 8 form intake per year and some of the lowest GCSE results in the country. Plenty of pupils there. Not what anybody would call a “roaring success”. Especially, one would think, the teachers who used to be locked in cupboards or on two notable occasions that I witnessed have their clothes set on fire or be thrown through a window.

Schools have been threatened with closure for having only 5 pupils, which is not financially viable.

Advertising flexischooling attracts more families to the school, including tempting home educating families back into the school system.

So more pupils are attending the school, some on a flexischooling basis, for which the school receives full funding, despite the child only attending part time. The school reaches full capacity, gets full funding and securing the future of the school and jobs for the staff!

Im not talking about disabilities. This is apparently a valid schooling choice for everyone no?!

Good grief. Between curriculum planning and funding and budget cuts and responsibility for school policies and behaviour and oversight of the SENCo and legionella testing and management of the premises team and governor visits and reordering of tablets and digital tech and SARs and being witnesses in LA tribunals and finding the endless 'lead practitioners' the DfE require, how much time do you think headteachers have to spare for this?

Deciding not to allow or to bring to an end an arrangement isn't the simple decision for a head to bring to an end that you are pitching it is. It is a decision in a public body which is part of administrative law. Schools already get SARs and complaints to Ofsted and the DfE every day for making referrals to elective early help. Imagine the level of challenge if a head decided to withdraw flexischooling and couldn't provide their reasoning because there is a safeguarding concern and to do so might put the child at risk? What about where a school believes a parent is over medicalising their child, and the child's right to education is not being upheld, and the parent pushes for flexi as a reasonable adjustment?

You are pretending that this is easy for heads. It absolutely isn't and it can't be normalised without letting schools in for an absolute avalanche of legal action. They have enough already.

Great question!

As a qualified teacher and a parent who has previously flexischooled, I feel in a perfect position to answer this.

Flexischooling is nothing like teaching a class of 30 pupils. There are so many more additional pieces of information, knowledge and skills required to be a professional teacher. Behaviour management skills to manage a group of 30 children (often alone) and keep them on task (and safe). An understanding of pedagogy, the school policies, the curriculum and schemes of work, preparing detailed planning (perhaps alongside colleagues), awareness of health and safety procedures, safeguarding measures, differentiated lessons to meet the varying needs of all abilities, implementing additional support and resources for children with SEN as part of their EHCP, I could go on and on.

However, we often disregard the contributions and impact parents have on a child’s education. Parents are children’s first teachers. We taught our children to speak, to sing, to count. We were there before they started nursery or school and, with luck, we will continue to guide their lives long after they have left.

There is no time within a school day for teachers to listen to every child read every day, so schools ask parents to do this at home. Parents are the ones doing the heavy lifting when it comes to teaching children to read.

If a child is capable of learning certain content, then why can an adult not learn the same? I would guess that the vast majority of adults have been through the school system, was the education provided by teachers insufficient for these adults, now parents, to understand and explain these concepts to someone else?

Parents now have access to the most powerful research tool in history, which they can carry around in their pocket. Do all parents know what they’re doing in the beginning? No, probably not. But I’m not sure I can say I felt very much more prepared the first time I walked into a classroom, despite all the qualifications and training behind me.

Teachers are wonderful, and some teachers care deeply for their pupils, and remember them for decades after they have moved on and grown up, but no teacher has the same love and deep motivation for a child as the parent has. A determined parent can move mountains, not because they’re paid to do it, but because they would move heaven and earth for their child. There is saying: the best way to learn is to teach! They use this method in schools, having older children with greater understanding to teach younger children or those that are struggling. Explaining the concepts supports the more able children to reach ‘greater depth’ and the younger child benefits from learning from their peers. So schools are using children to teach children! ☺️

This technique can be utilised both ways with a parent. The determined parent, wanting to do a good job supporting their child, may spend hours learning about something in order to teach it effectively. Conversely, children can deepen their own knowledge and understanding by explaining a technique or idea to their parent!

Of course, there will be parents who due to a variety of factors, may not have the capacity to do this: mental health issues, physical disability and no able bodied helpers, trauma, addiction, being at full capacity, time poor, the list goes on. If parents cannot, or do not want to flexischool, there is no pressure to do so, full time school is the best option for many.

Not to mention that the government have been sneaking unqualified teachers into schools for at least the last decade 🫣

Probably feels like a success for the small village school to stay financially viable?

It doesn't feel like a good use of taxes to pay for a tiny school where the children aren't even using all of the education paid for.

Presumably it's two classes, so under 20 in a class once some of the children aren't there. When other children are in classes of 35 elsewhere.

Yes, that is true for some, but sadly not all. Some parents work weekends, meaning children miss out on quality time with their parents and the opportunities to explore the world. Schools may only be able to offer one school trip a year. In the school I worked at the one trip we had was to walk up the road the school was on to compare the houses. This was the same road many of the pupils lived on, or walked every day to go to school.

Learning experiences out in the real world are infinitely engaging and valuable, often more so than lessons sitting at a desk. Whilst many schools do try to facilitate hands on learning experiences, due to staffing and budgetary constraints, they can be very limited.

You’ve mentioned SEND. A common example I have seen from SEND parents, particularly parents of autistic children, is that they cannot access public spaces at the weekends, the child cannot cope with the noise, the busyness, the sensory overload. Parents may not be in a position to home educate full time, but flexischooling allows them to access some fantastic learning opportunities during the week when places are quieter.

It would be impossible for me to include the individual reasons why each parent may be interested in flexischooling, but I can give my personal experience.

I was a teacher, but sadly due to disability I am no longer able to teach. I am unable to play an active role in my child’s life, and do not have the support at the weekends to use that time to supplement school learning. However, I did have the support from two able bodied grandparents during the week who helped to facilitate our flexischooling. Without two able bodied adults this would not have been possible. We had one to supervise my child and the other to support me and push my wheelchair. Flexischooling enriched my child’s life and enabled him to have the opportunities to experience the world with a parent, something that, as you say, most parents can do at weekends. Perhaps most, but not all. So flexischooling can support children in a myriad of difficult situations, not solely children with SEN.

This is one example, illustrating the flexibility of flexischooling in providing a more hands on and immersive learning approach. No parent thinks a one off trip to a canal lock will cover the entire geography syllabus.

No. Nobody’s said that, at all.

Have you actually read any of the thread?

Obviously nobody would suggest this for a child who didn’t need it, and a school wouldn’t agree it in such circumstances.

Where did you get the idea from that the idea was that any child could be flexi-schooled without any need for it??

Those parents are normally caught out very quickly when report time rolls around (that is, assuming they're actually doing absolutely nothing with their children and not unschooling, which doesn't remotely resemble school but still involves a lot of learning).

I did my PGCE in 2021-22, I don't recall spending even a day on ALN (as SEN is known in Wales). It was mentioned briefly as part of classroom management and again in differentiation, but in a "it's far too complex to cover in this lecture" kind of way.

I did a lot of my own research and reading but it was still a shock to the system in my NQT school when I was given a form class with a large proportion of children with ALN and a Year 11 class that was all pupils with severe ALN or SEMH needs and told to get them through their GCSE English Language. As it turned out, those two classes were two of my favourites to teach but it was challenging and a baptism of fire because I'd had zero ALN training.

That's not the impression I've got from this thread. It sounds like an alternative choice open to all. Maybe uptake is skewed towards those who need it - for various reasons. But it does sound like a legitimate choice for anyone.

I think it varies

Schools won't agree if unless they think it's in a child's best interests. For some schools that don't routinely flexi, they may feel that only applies in particular circumstances. But as mentioned a thread, there are some schools where flexi is available to all and encouraged.

I'm considering moving my child from the former to the latter, because it reduces the potential for him to be pushed back the full-time schooling before he's ready. It also means that if in a couple of years he is well enough to do full-time in school, but he's thriving with flexi, we'd be able to continue.

From looking at schools where many flexi, it's abundantly clear that (a) this is an option that requires a lot of input and time from a parent. It's not a lazy parent option. (b) Liaison between home and school is extensive enough that they will know if you do nothing. And young kids talk... (c) If you don't let to your side of the bargain, flexi will be withdrawn.

The school I'm looking at has monthly meetings between parent and school to discuss how flexi is going. That's a level of input from school I wouldn't expect, but the whole school is geared around flexi (around 60% do at ks1 level), and it's clearly sustainable for them. I expect over time, as trust develops, the meetings become shorter, and perhaps turn into a phone call. They only have about 15 in a class though, so aren't quite as run off their feet as other schools.

As there are many of these Flexi schools around parents travel some distance to get their child into them. Rights and wrongs of that aside, it's clearly not an easy option.

The easiest option is sending your child to the nearest school, clearing the decks to work (or jot) Monday to Friday, and leaving teachers do all the teaching. Travelling further afield on school days and then having to arrange work around flexi schedule, deciding your own curriculum, researching and teaching your own child, is far from the easy option.

If you want to close all small village schools (2000 odd primary schools have less than 100 pupils) that is a very separate issue to flexi schooling.
Though you'll be pleased to know that due to the rise of multi-academy trusts, lots of villages have lost their primary schools.

Any child can be flexi-schooled with the headteacher's agreement.

Totally skewed perspective. I’ve had parents email me claiming they are homeschooling with writing filled with errors.

You are a teacher and so am I. We have the skills and training to teach. Most parents don’t. I am not arrogant enough to think I can walk into anyone else’s job and just think I can do it.

Ah, so this is not about the kids at all, it's about being defensive when people home/flexi school their kids.

I don't doubt that solve hinge educators aren't great, but that goes for teachers too. I've lost count the number of times I've had to correct my kids after they were taught the wrong thing at school. I'm not mad at the teachers for this, we all make mistakes.

If someone is a primary school teacher with an English degree (for example), they may not have themselves done maths or science beyond GCSE level. They may not have done well at those subjects even. Someone could be teaching geography and failed their GCSE in it.

Teachers have great skills in teaching, getting kids inspired (sometimes), crowd management, but their subject matters knowledge might not be greater than Joe bloggs down the road.

Teaching one child is very different from a whole class. I wouldn't want to teach a full class without a teaching qualification, but one child is a doddle. Also, let's not forget the large number (26,000 I think) of unqualified teachers in primary schools at the moment.

Ps: in my job people are free to use professional services or do it themselves. I've never called the people that do it arrogant. I'm a service to be used if someone thinks it's in their best interest. It's not about me. In teaching it's not about you, it's about the kids.

A huge number of children sadly get a very poor education at school and end up with life long trauma from bullying and abuse they experienced there.
If all school children had a positive experience and a decent education then you would have a point about teachers being better than parents, but unfortunately that is not the case.
I find it interesting that so many home ed and Flexi schooling parents I know were or are teachers and tas.

Ah, so this is not about the kids at all, it's about being defensive when people home/flexi school their kids

It was clearly about the kids being taught by people not qualified to do so?
Lots of things could disqualify them; lack of education, lack of intelligence, comprehension issues…

This poster clearly has an issue with the concept of homeschooling, given she's calling parents to do it arrogant. She's also clearly being very defensive, because she sees it as people trying to walk into her job and do it without the training.

It's a different job for a start.