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Flexi-Schooling

Flexi-schooling is a term you may or may not be familiar with. Essentially it is a hybrid form of learning, whereby pupils are Electively Home Educated for part of the week, but also attend school on other days. This is not a part-time timetable - all pupils are educated full time and this responsibility is shared by parents and school together. This is not a new thing - parents have always been able to request such an arrangement, and Headteachers make a decision on a case by case basis.

Whilst we would always strongly encourage parents to take up a five-day place in school for their children, we recognise that for a variety of reasons where parents choose to EHE, a flexible arrangement is in the best interests of the child. In our quest to support as many families as we can, we are delighted to be able to offer Flexi- schooling here at Bradley school.

If you would like to know more about our inspirational curriculum timetable or our innovative Flexi-school offer at Bradley school, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further.

Welcome to Our Flexi-Schooling Programme

At our school, we proudly support every parent's right to choose Elective Home Education (EHE) for their child. We understand that this is a significant and thoughtful decision, often made with deep consideration and care.

Flexi-Schooling offers a unique blend of traditional school attendance and home education. It is not a part-time arrangement, but rather a recognised form of full-time education delivered through a flexible, hybrid model.

Families choose Flexi-Schooling for a wide range of reasons—each journey is personal, and we respect and support the diverse motivations behind this choice.

If you're exploring Flexi-Schooling and considering our school, rest assured: you’ll be joining a community led by nationally recognised experts in this field. We’re here to guide you every step of the way.

UN CRC Article 12

The United Kingdom has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Article 12 of the UNCRC requires states to provide a right for children to express their views and for due weight to be given to those views, in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. This does not give children authority over parents, and a decision to educate a child at home is a matter for you as parents.

The quote below underpins our belief in Flexi-Schooling;

“The respect of parent’s freedom to educate their children according to their vision of what education should be has been part of international human rights standards since their very emergence.”

‘The Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights – 8th April 1999

Our Vision, Approach, and Policy on Flexi-Schooling

At Bradey School, our Flexi-Schooling model has been shaped through years of meaningful dialogue with parents, fellow educators, Local Authorities, the Department for Education, and other key stakeholders. These conversations have helped us refine a flexible, inclusive approach that supports families in choosing the educational path that best suits their children.

We’re proud to share our experience and insights with other schools interested in developing their own Flexi-Schooling provision. To see which schools are exploring this model, please visit our List of Flexi-Schools.

Flexi-Schooling is particularly well-suited to small rural schools, where fluctuating pupil numbers can pose challenges. This model not only helps maintain school viability but also meets the needs of families seeking a more personalised educational experience.

At Bradey School, we fully uphold a parent's legal right to determine the course of their child’s education, as outlined in the Education Act 1996. This principle is further supported by Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states:

“No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.”

Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, parents have the right to educate their children at home.

Our Safeguards

At present children who are using the Flexi-Schooled approach at our academy, are required to attend for what we call the three ‘Core Days’ of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The three core day option is the minimum requirement with most attending at least one other non-core day by choice.

We have in place a Memorandum of Understanding that clearly sets out our expectations of stakeholders.

Our Flexi-School parents mostly come from well outside our normal catchment area, distances of 20 to 40 miles are not uncommon and from this it is clear the level of dedication these parents have to their child(ren)’s educational development in this way.

In our Flexi-schooling offering journey, we developed close links with a number of local authorities, along with the Elective Home Education facilitator Education Otherwise. Additional information is also available from Home Education UK especially their legal section which helps to clarify the 1996 Education Act for parents who are considering the Elective Home Education choice.

Flexi-Swimming at Bradey School

The National Curriculum requires that by the end of Key Stage 2, all pupils should be able to:

Swim competently, confidently, and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
Use a range of strokes effectively, such as front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke
Perform a safe self-rescue in various water-based situations

At Bradey School, we offer a unique approach called Flexi-Swimming. Through this initiative, we provide funding for each pupil to attend 12 weeks of group swimming lessons at their local pool, delivered by an accredited Swim England provider—outside of core school hours.

This flexible model allows us to meet—and often exceed—the Department for Education’s expectations by the end of Year 6. It also frees up valuable curriculum time that would otherwise be used for swimming and travel, enabling us to focus more on other subjects and reduce pressure on teaching staff.

Flexi-Swimming is just one of the ways we innovate to support both academic achievement and personal development.

If you would like to get in touch with us to discuss a flexi school place please contact Mrs Cossey, Deputy headteacher at bradley@thedalesfederation.co.uk

The Legal Basis of Flexi-schooling

(also see table of DfE Documents at the base of this page)

Reference needs to be made to the following document – Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities – April 2019 – Subsection 10.7/.8/.9 which clearly states;

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10.7 Although most children educated at home have all the provision made at home, or alternatively partly at home and partly in other ways such as attendance at privately-run part-time tuition settings, it is not essential that this be so. Some children who are educated at home most of the time are also registered at school and attend school for part of the week – perhaps one day a week. The purpose of this is usually to ensure the provision in specific subjects is satisfactory, although it can also help in other ways such as socialisation. If a child is of compulsory school age he or she must, overall, be receiving full-time education even if components of it are part-time.
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10.8 Schools are not obliged to accept such arrangements if requested by parents. If they do, then time spent by children being educated at home should be authorised as absence in the usual way and marked in attendance registers accordingly. It is not appropriate to mark this time as ‘approved off-site activity’ as the school has no supervisory role in the child’s education at such times and also has no responsibility for the welfare of the child while he or she is at home. The department does not propose to institute a new attendance code specific to flexi-schooling. Some schools have expressed concern that such absence may have a detrimental effect for the purpose of Ofsted inspection, but this is not the case; some schools with significant flexi-schooling numbers have had good outcomes from Ofsted inspections. Schools which have flexi-schooled pupils should be ready to discuss with Ofsted inspectors the arrangements they have in place to deal with the requirements caused by such pupils. Schools are held to account through inspection for the performance of pupils, and that will include any who attend the school as part of a programme of flexi-schooling.

10.9 Another form of provision available to home educated children aged 14-16 is parttime attendance at further education colleges, sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies or free schools. Again, this is normally to help with specific subjects and/or socialisation. When children who are educated at home attend such college settings part-time then the provision made should be taken into account by the local authority in deciding whether the education provided as a whole for the child meets the s.7 requirement.

Secretary of State for Education

Rt Hon Justine Greening MP (Sept 2017) – Statement

The Department for Education and the Secretary of State for Education (Justine Greening) have applied the their opinion to how they view Flexi-schooling and parental responsibility;

‘……..Flexi-schooling is a term used for an arrangement whereby a child is partly educated at school and partly home educated. ‘The Department’s view is if parents choose not to have their child educated by full-time attendance at school, they are responsible for the whole of their child’s education, not schools ………..

There is no legal requirement on a school to agree to a Flexi-schooling arrangement. In agreeing to such an arrangement, the school is accepting that the child will sometimes miss school……..’

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