Flexi-schooling - any success stories?

[emkana]

Thinking ahead for my ds who has special needs and struggles with school. Would love to be able to send him part time even after he turns five - any success stories out there?

You might get a good response in the Home Education area.

I home ed full-time but I have heard that it is easier to get the schools aggreement if the child is already registered and has attended the school.

Also a little know fact, if a child is in reception, even if that place is full time, you have the right to send your child part time. That could mean two full days or just mornings. It isn't a legal requirement to take your child for the time/days the school designates.

I did it with DS2 but it was an alternative, indie school and quite common there. At the time I only paid for the days he attended but they later changed it so you paid full fees regardless of how often they went (fair enough as overheads don't change).

We flexi schooled DS for half a term when he moved schools to help with his transition. It was brilliant.

School aren't allowed to suggest it but might well be thrilled if you do.

Lots of schools don't know about flexi-schooling, I say that as a teacher (and a former Acting SENCo). I do know of a couple of cases where FS has been successful; one for a child with attachment disorder who'd had some time in care and found the 'down times' at school, such as lunchtime/playtime particularly hard. The FS came to an end because the school were never really that sold on the idea but it was a success in the eyes of the child and the parents. Another occasion I can think of is for a child who had mental health issues and whose parent was being supported for various things. FS worked for them as a family because it meant the parent and child had some dedicated time together in a very hectic life and it helped them resolve some of the attendance issues too.

I've never heard any suggestion that schools can't suggest FS - I have! There is a difference between offering FS because a school can't cope and offering it because it offers the child/parents the 'best of both worlds'. The website run by Education Otherwise has some useful information about it. One way in which the home aspect differs massively from HE is that with FS the parent has to ensure that the child still accesses the National Curriculum - with a bit of imagination and a large dose of hoop-jumping it's possible to achieve this (but it's something that may well take a certain amount of 'game playing').