Are the children grouped by age and move rigidly through the year levels? Does it allow your child to move between classes as needed depending on their strengths and skill development? Does it provide opportunities to work at the pace their need to learn at their optimum? Does it offer flexibility in start and finish times each day to fit in with parents work patterns? And flexibility about when your child takes holidays?
One Dutch primary school has taken a new approach to the organisation of the school schedules. This ‘flexible’ school operates between 8 am and 6pm each day enabling parents to drop off and pick up their children early or late depending on their work schedules. Parents can also determine the child’s holidays to suit their individual needs.
Pupils receive individually tailored study programs with each program lasting 10 weeks. The school year consists of 5 consecutive study programs and children’s progress is monitored in the usual way. The day is organised in such a way that students can ‘interchangeably play and study’ while at school.
Far from being experimental this private school has considered an organisation style that they believe suits the modern flexible world. The northern hemisphere long summer vacation is a ‘legacy from the agrarian past when farmers needed their children during harvest’ and the Director indicated she also believed that the conventional school hours of 8.30 to 3.30 did not suit children’s biological rhythms.
Other similar schools are being planned in the Netherlands. Click here for more information on this flexible school
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