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

As home educators, we are all subject to checks by the LA and we have to provide extensive reports regularly that detail how we are meeting our child's educational needs, while taking into account their aptitude and ability.

Home educators have a really bad reputation within the public who seem to believe that our children are the ones at risk. The truth is there hasn't been any known cases of home educated children being abused where they weren't already known to the services, usually because they've been withdrawn from school when concerns were raised, like poor Sara Sharif.

I do think however, there should be barriers in place to prevent children being pulled out of school to home educate where concerns have already been raised, or where there have been previous incidents. Those children are greatly at risk and desperately need protection.

Sorry OP, this doesn't sound like a practical solution for anyone.

@SpidersAreShitheads Home education and flexi schooling can be fantastic and I’m in favour of it for those who are committed. However, I know for a fact that at least in some cases the ‘providing extensive reports regularly that detail how we are meeting our child's educational needs, while taking into account their aptitude and ability’, simply doesn’t happen or doesn’t work.

I know of 2 sisters taken out of school in year 8 and year 5 who haven’t been given anywhere near what I’d call a suitable education for them. One has SEN and is bright, the other has no known additional needs and was always extremely academic. They are now 21 and almost 18, with no examinations taken and seemingly no prospects. They just drifted and time went by. They live at home with their parents, doing very little now. They were never at risk from physical abuse, but from what I can see, their parents have messed up their futures.

When homeschooling, their mum told me they were visited once a year to check how things were going and it was just a short chat. The ‘plan’ she had was extremely poor but was told it was fine. There was very little education, they hardly left the house. I feel they have been totally let down. Both of these children, now adults, could have achieved so much more. It wasn’t so noticeable until they reached 16. They have no college, work or social life and no clue how to navigate the world. Maybe that’s rare, I don’t know, but it’s happened and should never be allowed to happen. Also, look at some of the vlogging families on YouTube that homeschool, they’re a disgrace.

I do know children who have been homeschooled full time and have reached their potential, which is obviously different for each child and as I said in my pp, I know children who flexi school and it’s been great for them. The difference between good homeschooling and bad homeschooling seems to be vast and there are definitely parents who are being enabled to let their children down.

I don’t think children with medical issues are what people have a problem with. That’s pretty standard.

There’s a kid in one of my kids classes that has a flexi arrangement. They go 4 days a week and have done for the last five years.

Lots of outdoor learning on days where they are not in school. She seem like a nice, well adjusted child. Parents are really nice, very invested in their child.

What's wrong with this village where only 5 out of 50 kids attend school, thats appalling!
I think we should let this place close ASAP and focus the staffing and resources on a school where people actually want to attend.

Yikes, there seems to be a lot of misinformation on this thread.

For all those concerned about the teachers workload and impact on other students — having fewer children in class makes the teacher’s job EASIER and allows for them to give more attention to the children who are in their classroom. Not sure how many of you have been in a school classroom recently, but managing 30+ students who are all at different levels is very hard work. Teachers teaching larger groups spend an incredible about of time managing behaviour and differentiating work for the wide range in ability. Teaching a smaller class is much easier.

I’m not sure why anyone feels a flexischooling arrangement shows disrespect for the teaching profession. The teacher’s unions are very vocal about the effect of class sizes and working conditions on teachers’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn. In an ideal situation every child would receiving an adequate education in a suitable environment. Unfortunately UK schools have some of the largest class sizes and highest attrition rates in the industrialised world. This isn’t because of the teachers or the profession, it is because of the education system in the UK. Acknowledging the impact that these things have on both teachers and students is respectful.

Obviously it’s possible (probable?) that in the current underfunded system many students would do better if they could receive appropriate 1:1 or smaller group teaching for part of the week. If a parent can provide that for their child, why wouldn’t they?

I know a few children who have this arrangement. It works really well for them and is pre approved by school so teachers are aware who's in and who isn't. My little boy is due to start reception in September and due to a medical condition has to do part time - at least until he's 5 (when then they'll review it with us and we will see if it's appropriate to flexi school). I am a former secondary school teacher and probably would've thought this arrangement inconvenient for me, but since my son's condition, and mixing more with a broader spectrum of mums and their kids, I can absolutely see how it is beneficial for the child in most of their cases.

Incidentally I do think we start school way too early in this country. The scandi education system has the right idea, and I wish we'd adopt that. But obviously, productivity and getting everyone out to work and not see their kids is the main perogative of our country 😑

I think it can get a lot of other mums' backs up, though. Have no idea why 🙄 At the centre of everything should be the CHILD, not the convenience of the parents or teachers .

Plus class sizes now.. YIKES. How the individual child can thrive in amongst 29 others day in day out is incomprehensible to me, and as a teacher, i find it sad that this is the norm.

Poor teachers. What an absolute nightmare to have some part-time kids at the whim of their parents. It should be banned.

It sounds like a good idea. I know so many families who have struggled massively with school refusers. It seems to be more and more common. In that situation, the system as is doesn't help anybody - not the kids, not the parents, not the school.

We need a more flexible and adaptable education system.

Sadly the standard of qualifed teachers isn't what it used to be (no thanks to fast tracking etc). I personally know of a couple of people who are primary school teachers and who I would absolutely hate to be teaching my child (the way they speak to others, basic spelling & grammar, life choices, the way they parent their own child / children..). It shocks me that they are teaching! Many (not all) just read from the script day in day out and rehash what they've done year on year. A committed, well informed and passionate parent who
is willing to educate their child in a comfortable, happy environment, would likely do a better job a day or so a week (particularly for primary).

I used to work in a school and the year one teacher sometimes misspelled simple words when writing them on the board to teach children how to spell. A teaching degree is no more and I would argue much less academically demanding than any other degree.
At primary level beyond basic literacy and numeracy education should be about getting children interested in learning and having a broad range of experiences. Going to museums, art galleries, or the theatre or being out in nature is probably going to achieve this better than sitting in a classroom with 20+ other kids and completing very structured tasks designed to tick of learning outcomes and success criteria.

As if schools didn’t have a hard enough job already ! Absolutely bonkers

@flexischoolingUK the amount of ignorance on this page. You are up against it op.
Just because it doesn’t work in someone’s head or they have never heard of it and have no comprehension .
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen”.

These people have clearly been in full time education yet still need to educate themselves.

Flexi schooling might give a teacher marginally fewer children on one or two days a week, but the OP has made it clear that she has an expectation that there would be additional liaison between the teacher and parents in order to facilitate this. Why should teachers have extra workload placed on them due to the whim of parents.

Teacher workload is the number one reason they are leaving the profession in droves.

Your point is ridiculous.

I’m a teacher with twenty years experience.
I am head of a large department.
What are your credentials to think you are the expert here?

My son's secondary school had never heard of it either - the Head was actually quite excited by the idea when I discussed it with him. The attendance officer knows how to code the absence and it all works well. The only issue is that it goes against the school's attendance stats, which is why we are trying to encourage a separate attendance code for flexischooling - that way the govt would have accurate stats on how many children are currently flexischooling, and the school could avoid its stats being skewed by flexischooling pupils who are getting a full time education, just not all of it at school.

But surely you understand that any thinking person. won’t sign a petition without considering the impact of it?

it’s not just about a convenient registration code. It’s about the fact that legitimising part time attendance in this way opens the door to a whole host of issues. I also disagree that the OP has been answering people’s questions intelligently. They said that flexi schooling shouldn’t have any impact on school staff but fail to explain how proper monitoring would take place, or how gaps in learning would be filled if a child doesn’t get taught what they need at home. There were a few ‘answers’ along the lines of ‘the teacher won’t be expected to do any extra,’ and ‘it’s up to the parents to record everything.’ A good teacher will want to check every students understanding before progressing with learning. So if a teacher has a Q and A session or sets an assessment on a Friday, what happens to Alfie, Ben and Connie who don’t do school on Fridays? Does the teacher have to set a separate time to check their learning? Or just leave it to chance? I think the response about it not having any impact on staff or other students is disingenuous. Good quality teaching involves monitoring and the OP has not been able to give a reasonable response as to how this would actually work in practical terms.

seeing as since the pandemic there are huge numbers of children not attending regularly, this coding would simply legitimise poor attendance. While it’s currently legitimate for parents to have an agreed flexi schooling scenario currently coded at C, the proposed coding was open the floodgates to those who don’t want their child registered as absent (even if authorised). Those large numbers of parents who regularly let their kids stay home would jump on this. Or parents who want to take cheaper holidays …. Little Johnny just conveniently doesn’t go to school on Thurs or Fri when flights are cheaper. And let’s not even get into the safeguarding challenges for children who are on roll as a full time student at a school but the school just has to accept that the child will be absent on a regular basis without any proper mechanism other than taking the parents’ word for it that they are being educated.

the response about secondary school was that it would enable students to just come in for subjects they enjoy and are interested in. Great! So Annie doesn’t like Art, or History or Biology - let’s just let them opt out. Can people honestly not see the problem with this?

and given that a lot of these kids are probably the ones who lack resilience, it’s doing nothing to address that in a realistic and supportive way. What happens further down the line? Will the young person expect Uni to never arrange Friday seminars? Or the workplace to just allow them to stay home some of the week, despite being on the books as a full employee and without any expectation that the employer should monitor whether they’re actually working at home, because of course that would place an additional burden on staff.

finally, a few posters have mentioned the fact that some teachers aren’t particularly good and that standards for teacher training have slipped as a kind of justification for flexi schooling which frankly is nuts. I agree that it’s a massive concern that standards have been lowered. But surely if your child has a teacher who’s not up to scratch, you wouldn’t want your child in their class full stop? You’d be raising your concerns with the Head and governing body, or withdrawing your child, not doing some half hearted part time attendance.

I’m not signing the petition, not because I don’t understand what the OP is wanting people to do but precisely because I DO understand the risks involved in encouraging flexi schooling ad hoc.

if a parent feels their child won’t thrive in school, by all means home educate, and accept the responsibility and monitoring by the LA that comes with it. But it’s not right to expect schools to have the full responsibility of children on their roll as full time when they’re not going to attend for significant amounts of time.

Good question - my son flexischools on a Monday (in secondary, year 8) and he had geography on one Monday a fortnight, so misses 50% of his geography lessons (he only has 2 each fortnight) but this hasn't stopped him getting full marks on his recent assessment. He's not had any work sent home - but the school does publish the curriculum of each subject on their website, so we can see what topics and be covered and make sure he stays on top of them.
For my son, 75% of his learning takes place outside school, as the classroom is not the best learning environment for him. He's hoping to take all core GCSEs plus geography, history, German and Computer Science. He is expected to achieve in the 7-9 bracket for his GCSEs and is on track or exceeding this in all of these subjects. If it weren't for flexischooling, I'm not sure he would be in school and certainly not talking about taking GCSEs in 3 years time.

I've signed.
The point of the OP was a change in data reporting. This seemed a very sensible idea. The discussion became about flexischooling rather than the change to reporting, so I will add my view about flexischooling - I very much wish this had been an option for ourselves, instead we had to take our son out of school and home educate him. I cried my eyes out that night thinking this was going to be a negative for both of us. It turned out to be the best thing we ever did!

I think my son's teacher's would say that my son's flexischooling has actually helped. My son is in secondary, year 8, and is on the SEN register due to diagnoses of AuDHD and how he copes in the overwhelming environment of a large mainstream secondary school. Flexischooling helps him cope with this environment by not being in lessons that cause sensory issues or that overwhelm him, so that he is better equipped to cope in core lessons and lessons he plans to study for GCSE.
Having a regulated and engaged pupil in the classroom results in a much better teaching experience for everyone, pupils and teachers included. My son is not behind on any core subjects - in fact he is exceeding in science and maths.
Flexischooling won't be for everyone, but for some it works incredibly well (Heads are free to agree to flexischooling, or not, so don't have to agree to it if they have concerns it's not in the best interests of the child) and for some children it is an absolute lifeline.

so there is always pressure to get a child back into full time school.

As I posted on your other thread, this doesn’t have to be the case.

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

If compulsory school aged DC are unable to attend school full time, the LA remains responsible for ensuring they still received a suitable full-time education under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. 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. Other provision can be made as well as part time school or instead of, depending on the individual child’s needs, to ensure they still receive a suitable full-time education or as close to that as their needs allow.

And DC can have an EHCP that includes 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. Parents need to have all the correct information in order to be able to make an informed decision. Not be forced into something because they fear their child will have to attend full-time even if that isn’t appropriate.

The OP isn't asking you to support flexischooling - it already has the support of many Heads in schools across the country. My son flexischools and it is the reasonable adjustment that he needs in order to be able to access education - something which is his legal right.
What this petition is asking for, is that the govt assigns a specific attendance code for flexischooling, so that schools don't get penalised in their attendance stats and to give the govt vital data on how many pupils are flexischooling - ages, locations, frequency etc. I think it's a pretty sensible idea regardless of people's views of the practice.

If compulsory school aged DC are unable to attend school full time, the LA remains responsible for ensuring they still received a suitable full-time education under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. 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. Other provision can be made as well as part time school or instead of, depending on the individual child’s needs, to ensure they still receive a suitable full-time education or as close to that as their needs allow.
And DC can have an EHCP that includes part-time school with other education (in whatever form is suitable form) for the time away from school.

That sounds like a lot of paperwork and admin which could be saved by a simple 'yes' from the school. What your suggesting, is that children that are fully capable of having a full time education (albeit not so at school), should officially have a post time education instead, because that's better how...