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Post by leo on Nov 12, 2014 21:41:07 GMT
Oh that's hard Mudlark, I am sorry. Fingers crossed for a quick adoption order!
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Post by wibbley on Nov 12, 2014 21:50:12 GMT
Sadly, I'm not surprised. There has been a crackdown of late on flexi-schooling. It used to be far more common & at the heads discretion.
I am surprised that they agreed to 2 days tbh knowing the difficulties friends have had here.
FLexi schooling would have suited my DD well, not my DS though. He just needs to be out of the school system & that's that.
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Post by mudlark on Nov 12, 2014 22:05:36 GMT
wibbly why has there been a crack down on flexi schooling.. am interested to know..
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Post by wibbley on Nov 12, 2014 22:13:12 GMT
Well, general theory is that it is because flexi schooling affects attendance rates, which heads are keen to keep up. I think they can be penalised on low attendance now (?). It certainly is flagged up in Ofstead.
My friend fought for her severely anxious asd daughter to go half days. She was told it was a temporary measure & that her DD had to stay until after lunch so they could sign her in for the afternoon. The head still reported her to the EWO anyway.
It was once fairly popular, but it is now quite hard to achieve - almost impossible where we are!
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Post by wibbley on Nov 12, 2014 22:19:28 GMT
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Post by wibbley on Nov 13, 2014 8:20:27 GMT
I'm never quite convinced that the best interests for the child applies to school. It's best interests for the 'group' - there seems little individual focus. Same with SS really
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Post by larsti on Nov 13, 2014 15:38:36 GMT
so sorry to hear that mudlark.
I remember when our BD was school refusing (with good reason) we were told, she's fine when she gets here, everything's fine etc. It was only after we said we were taking her out that we were told about some pretty awful behaviour. I was SO cross. Then we had a call from someone who was sorry to hear she had been expelled :-0 In fact what they were doing was checking the facts. Good for them. There must have been others who did not get the truth of the matter :-(
It was ALL about the school's reputation. It had to be the parents or the child who had problems, not the school. Sorry not much of that is relevant!
Sounds like they are being quite flexible with you mudlark, in the circumstances. Shame they won't allow full time home ed though.
(((((mudlark)))))
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Post by mudlark on Nov 13, 2014 17:30:06 GMT
Thanks Larsti, I know what you are saying , I think out school despite being supportive secretly think its us the parents that are just not doinga good enough job, cos guess what it's all fine at school!
Had parents evening today. And guess what everything is fine, Lapwing doing well, relaxed apparently, and making friends, and joining in and putting herself forward. I felt somewhat stupid having to back down and saying I would no longer be taking her out of school. Her teacher is lovely, really very very nice but it felt like she was talking about a different girl...not the Lapwing I know and love at all! It really can make you doubt your own sanity and judgement when you hear teachers telling me there is no problem at all!
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Post by leo on Nov 13, 2014 22:04:28 GMT
The crack down on flexi schooling is due to a new guideline issued by the DFE last year which states that children being flexi school must be marked as having an authorised absence (instead of the previous 'Educated off site'). This means it now affects the school's attendance figures - and yes, they are given targets for this and consequences if their absence figures are too high (including lower grades in Ofsted before they even start looking at anything else about the school).
Despite this though, there are some schools choosing to actively embrace flexi schooling (I think there is a cluster of them in the Nottingham area) and have been very positively looked upon by Ofsted.
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Post by larsti on Nov 14, 2014 14:38:30 GMT
Again maybe not that relevant mudlark but I heard Tom Pyne from Catchpoint in Bristol speak a few years ago and they go in to schools on behalf of children they are helping. He said some children look like they are okay at school and kick off at home, leading teachers to think there is a problem with the parents (we are of course familiar with this phenomenon on the boards! It was a session for SALTs...Dash's SALT invited me) Anyway I will never forget what he said about one particular girl (secondary age I think) who was a star pupil! He went in to observe her in class. The teacher said 'leave your completed work on my desk on your way out'. This girl had a brief chat with the teacher about her work and instead of putting her work on the pile with everyone else's she handed it to the teacher, who then put it down. He drew the teachers attention to this. Apparently some children instead of being openly defiant, tweak things so that they don't actually do what was asked. Dash is like that. If I say 'give that to me' he will invariably try to put whatever it is away (and then I look very silly insisting on him handing it to me so that I put it in the drawer or whatever!) Anyway, apparently some time after his visit to the school, Tom Pyne had an email from the teacher saying that the girl NEVER does anything she's asked to do. They hadn't spotted it! She HAD to be in control. So all that is just to say, even a child who is 'fine' probably isn't. The children who 'act in' are not usually the ones who get help are they? :-(
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Post by mudlark on Nov 14, 2014 21:05:12 GMT
Yes...that is a brilliant example Larsti. Lapwing is just like that, she does tweak things, Teacher might say put the pen back in the tray..she will put it next to the tray...I then put the pen in the tray. The only two people who know what is going on are Lapwing and me. It is this tiny stuff that goes on every hour or every day that the school is missing.it's miniscule and seemingly petty but to Lapwing it's huge....and just affirming her own world view that she is on control. How interesting
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