Flexi-Schooling at Great Budworth Primary School
Flexi-Schooling
Flexi schooling at Great Budworth.
We are pleased to be able to offer flexi-school provision to home-educating families who might wish to utilise it. We welcome flexi-school pupils for a minimum of three days a week in school, working in partnership with parents and carers to provide a well-rounded full-time education through a combination of school and home education.
What is it?
Flexi-schooling has been practiced, but not widely known about, since the 1980's.
Flexi-schooling is an arrangement between the parent / carer and school where children are registered at the school in the usual way but attend school part-time. For the rest of the time the child is home-educated. Flexi-schooling is not part-time education, it is a full-time education which is delivered both in school and at home
Flexi-schooling is not the same as Part Time schooling arrangements.
Who do people Flexi-School?
It is important to recognise that parents may choose flexi-schooling for a huge variety of reasons. Opportunities available through flexi-schooling include:
Children can work and socialise with their own peer group in school.
Children have access to specialist educators and resources they might not have at home.
Children can join in with activities such as school trips and team sports.
Parents have the opportunity to play an active role in their child’s education.
There are many benefits for schools too-
It promotes better relationships between parents and schools due to the holistic nature of provision and partnerships that are necessary to deliver such a model
Schools are more likely to develop more innovative ways of delivering education due to the provision and need to adapt to enhance learning for our flexi-schooled pupils
Schools have a commitment to the well-being and learning of their pupils, some of whom may not be suited to full-time school. Flexi-schooling allows them to accommodate these children and meet need where it may not be met otherwise
Schools regularly find that flexi-schooled pupils bring qualities of creative thinking, self-direction, persistence, independence, tolerance and high quality interaction into classrooms.
Current standpoint and position on flexi-schooling at Great Budworth
Our school can take up to 96 children. We have two classrooms at the moment but have capacity for at least three classrooms.
We are currently at a 22% capacity with 22 children currently on roll.
Flexi-Schooling is something that our Head of School and Executive Headteacher have been researching for a number of months. With a demand in the Cheshire West area and a huge surplus of spaces here at Great Budworth we have decided to incorporate Flexi-Schooling into our policies and practice here at Great Budworth.
We are excited to be at the beginning of our flexi-schooling journey and we hope to welcome many new families into our school in the coming months and years.
Flexi-schooling can be a long or short-term arrangement. A common misconception however is that it is only about ‘converting’ children to full time education. Whilst it might be the intended outcome for some children who have previously been in school and were at risk of Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) and are trying to reintegrate, this is not the reason for flexi-schooling as a whole.
Some children may naturally move to four or five days in fact however for us it is about embracing the partnership between home education and formal schooling which is, as mentioned, what is needed for a variety of reasons.
In the current educational landscape there are so many concerns around the number of children missing in education, around the lack of provision for children with SEND, lack of places in special schools etc- many of our children don’t need special provision but ‘normal’ mainstream schooling isn’t working for them.
Flexi-Schooling Coffee Mornings
As a school we recognise the importance of building close relationships with our flexi-school families. Our fabulous family support worker Suzanne King is going to be hosting monthly coffee mornings at school from 9-10 am where all our families are invited along to chat and support one another. Suzanne is a brilliant asset to our school family and has a wealth of knowledge about how families can be supported.
How do I make a request for flexi-schooling?
Arrangements for flexi-schooling can only be made at the request of a parent or carer with parental responsibility. Any arrangements that are entered into are at the discretion of the Executive Head Teacher and head of school and a flexi-schooling agreement outlining the arrangement will be put in place prior to the start of any flexi-school arrangements.
If you would like more information about flexi-schooling at Great Budworth C of E Primary School please email [email protected] or call 01606663690
All are welcome here at Great Budworth.
