Reduced timetables

All children of compulsory school age have a right to receive full-time education.

Every school has a legal responsibility to provide full-time education for all of its pupils.

Parents/carers must ensure that their children of compulsory school age, who are registered at school, attend regularly.

Local authorities have a duty to ensure that children receive a full-time education.

There is no legal definition of full-time education. The Local Government Ombudsman uses the following widely-accepted definition of full-time hours:

• Key stage one: 21 hours
• Key Stage two: 23.5 hours
• Key Stage three and Year 10: 24 hours
• Year 11: 25 hours

The use of a reduced timetable for your child should be an exceptional measure. It may be considered appropriate and in the best interests of an individual child in the following circumstances:

• As part of a planned reintegration approach for children who have not attended school for a period of time due to illness, disability, mental health issues, family circumstances, post-exclusion and so on
• As part of an in-school support package. The school, parent/carer and other professionals agree that a short-term reduced timetable would support a child who has become disaffected to regain success
• For medical reasons, when a child has a serious medical condition where recovery is the priority outcome

Schools must:

• Seek your agreement before your child attends on a reduced timetable
• Review the arrangement regularly
• Provide appropriate work for your child to complete at home
• Involve you in their regular reviews of the arrangement and seek your agreement at each stage
• Have carried out a Risk Assessment first

They should also ensure that:

• Clearly defined objectives are in place
• There is a specified end date
• There is a review process
• They have the consent of parents/carers

You are responsible for:

• Ensuring the safety and well-being of your child during the times they are not in school
• Ensuring that work set by the school is completed and returned
• Supporting your child and the school to address issues, working towards full-time provision

The 2020 Department of Education 'School attendance Guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools and local authorities' document states that all pupils of compulsory school age are entitled to a full-time education. It also acknowledges that, in very exceptional circumstances, there may be a need for a temporary part-time timetable to meet a pupil’s individual needs.

If a school is considering reducing the timetable of your child and they have an Education, Health and Care Plan, the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Case Officer must be consulted and invited to an early annual review. The SEN Case Officer will expect to see a clear benefit to your child and a carefully planned transition to a full time timetable.

If you do not believe that a reduced timetable will support your child, we recommend that you ask your child’s school:

• To outline their reasons for proposing this strategy
• To outline what difficulties your child has that prevents the school from allowing your child to stay for the whole day, along with their peers
• What measures\strategies are in place, or have been tried, to support your child
• What plans are in place to ensure that your child’s needs are being met and how they are being adhered to
• Whether they are proposing to reduce your child’s timetable for a set length of time or indefinitely
• If there is a plan in place to increase the hours and have a phased return to a full day, and what the triggers for these increases will be
• Whether your child will be in school with their own class and teacher during the sessions in school
• What support you can provide to help your child return to full-time provision
• Whether an early annual review is needed if your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
• If your child does not have an EHCP, whether a statutory assessment of your child’s needs is required
• Whether a reduced timetable will impact on public examinations, either linked to actually sitting the exam, or completing the coursework or curriculum needed to be successful

If you refuse to agree to implementation, a full-time timetable should remain in place. In these circumstances you should work with the school to explore other options and any professionals or agencies involved should be consulted.

Schools are not allowed to unofficially exclude pupils, so if your child is not allowed on the school site when they are not excluded, you should raise your concerns with the school in the first instance. If your child is still not allowed to return, you should then follow the formal school complaints procedure.

If your child has been on a reduced timetable for a long time and you are unhappy with this arrangement, we recommend that you ask for a meeting with your child’s school to discuss:

• Your child’s academic and developmental progress
• Whether the reduced timetable is actually meeting its objectives
• Your wish for your child to return to school on a full-time basis, or, on increased hours, and how this can be achieved

Collaborative discussions such as these are really important because you can update the school on how your child presents at home, while the school will be able to update you on how your child presents in school.