My daughter has a five year old boy and she herself was a deputy head before having her children. Although she is a great supporter of state education, she would like to take him out of school for about fifteen days per year on educational visits so that he does not become too regimented in thinking that the school approach is the only way in life and to help him understand that it is fine to have a point of view that may be different to other people's. Also to let him experience things that cannot be experienced at school or only superficially.
When she approached the Head about this, she was quite happy as she knew my daughter would give him excellent experiences as she had the experience and background to do so. These would not count as absences of any kind - he would just be marked in the register as being educated off site.
Unfortunately, the Head then thought she ought to get the opinions of other people like the Governors, the Advisory staff etc, and guess what they came back with - the very stereotypical answers that she wants her son to avoid developing:
a) Why can't she take him during the holidays? (Ans: because she wants to have the time and space to ensure he gets the very best out of these experiences when popular sites are not overcrowded)
b) This is a very popular school and if we are going to have a pupil who takes time out, we could give the place to someone else.
c)Why can't she send him to a private school (Steiner)? (Ans: because they are fee paying!)
d) etc
It seems to me that if flexible schooling is legal, then no-one should object provided it is done properly. Does anyone else have any experience of this?
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Primary education
Flexible Schooling
alanyoung · 22/01/2013 20:14
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