Headcount and funding when is this done (primary)

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Hello I’m just a parent. I am considering removing my children from school and home educating again. I have a lot of experience as a home educator. The children have thrived in both settings.

The school is very small. All classes are mixed year groups. To what extent would that impact their funding? When is the headcount done?

As you may guess my concern is related to covid and the third wave. We are in a hot spot.

I would possibly look for an opportunity to enrol them again later in the school year.

How would timing of my decision/s affect the schools funding? Thanks.

The school census day is 7th October. However, this doesn’t really make any difference to you as a parent. Whenever, you apply in the year, you would be offered a place if there is one. If you look at the school’s Admissions Policy on their website, it should tell you how many children can be in each class, and your local authority will tell you if there is a place or not.

My reading of this is that, due to Covid, you would prefer to home ed your child for a period this coming year, but the school is small enough that you are worried that your choice will affect their funding, and ultimately their viability for when you do want to return to them.

Essentially, IIRC, the Autumn census determines the funding for the NEXT academic year. So if your child is not on roll in October 7th for the Autumn census 2021, then the funding for the school year 2022-3 will be reduced by 1 child.

It can be a real issue for schools with highly fluctuating rolls - having worked in a school with a large population of Travellers, we could quite regularly enrol or lose up to 6 children a day across 4 year groups.

(Sorry, noticed you said 'children', which might indeed have a significant impact on extremely small schools)

Can you come to an informal agreement with the the school over this?

Oh yes, see I misread your original post. If the kids are already at school and you want to take them out then the school will lose funding next year if they aren’t in the 7th Oct census, unless their places are filled with new kids.

Thanks for explaining.

I was rather hoping you would tell me there was a count each term. I do not think that they would fill the places, I believe the school is undersubscribed.

We have had an awful covid experience in the summer break which has caused me to rethink our decision to put the children in school. If I knew what I know now I wouldn’t have ever enrolled them until this was in more of a steady state. They started just before the pandemic and so they have spent a great deal of this period back at home and so for us, it isn’t a great departure to school them at home again. However I would prefer prefer for them to go to school if I knew they and those around them including the extended family would be safe, are all measures being removed now?

I would like to speak to the head. How can I do that before the start of term? Do they go in, in advance? Would they see an email? I do not have much experience with school.

Do you think an informal arrangement would be possible giving me a window to decide or perhaps simply delay deregistering for their benefit?

The head doesn't have the discretion to allow you to delay deregistration. If your children aren't attending and there isn't a recognised reason such as illness, they absence must be marked unauthorised. You'd be facing fines before long. I doubt you could drag it out until October.

What about helping the headteacher with some advice instead? Some small schools are eager to allow part-time attendance ("flexischooling"), because the extra pupils on roll can make the difference in allowing them to stay open. The school gets the same funding per pupil as they would get if the pupil attended full-time. You might suggest this idea to the headteacher and if they are keen, spread the word in the local HE community. Some home ed families like the idea of part-time school attendance, but for children who are of Compulsory School Age flexischooling is entirely at the head's discretion and most heads won't even give it serious consideration. There are some inconveniences for the school - particularly that it makes their attendance statistics look bad - but the funding is favourable and it could be key in keeping this school open.

There is one school I know of which has pursued the model on a grand scale. IIRC they attract families from a large area who want to send their kids in for just a few lessons per fortnight. hollinsclough.staffs.sch.uk/flexi-schooling/

Thank you about the absence, that’s what I thought. They already flexi.

How would I speak to the head in advance of the new term. Do they go in I’m advance and pick up emails?

In answer to your question about emails: no head will go 6 weeks without reading e-mails, and the vast majority will be in school for some part of the holiday. However, they may choose not to reply in mid-holiday, in order to avoid signalling their availability and preserve some genuine time off. Secondary heads this year, because of the early results, generally took holiday in the last few days of July and first week in August, and are now in work mode following exam results. Primary are less predictable.

I would suggest sending an email with a polite ‘I know it is holiday time but’ and you may get a response, and may be able to have a more detailed discussion in the final week before school starts as a day or two of that are often in school training days..

@cantkeepawayforever thank you I would not have known that.

Inset days - teacher training days - are usually shown on school calendars as they are working days for many staff. If your school starts on the first Monday of September for pupils, the Thurs / Fri of the week before are very, very likely to be Inset. If it starts on e.g. a Tuesday, the Monday will be Inset. Almost all schools do have a training day before the Autumn term, to do things like compulsory Safeguarding training for the year ahead.