Part-time timetable
When a school asks your child to come in for fewer hours than everyone else. It should be rare, short term, reviewed often, and it needs your written agreement.
A clinician has not checked this definition yet.
Applies in England
Schools sometimes suggest a shorter day or week as a way of helping a child who is struggling, often while support or an assessment is being sorted out. Government attendance guidance is clear about the limits: a part-time timetable should be exceptional, temporary and time limited, with a review date, and agreed in writing with the parent.
Your child keeps the right to full-time education. If a part-time timetable is suggested, ask for the plan in writing: what support will be in place, when it will be reviewed, and the date your child returns to full hours. A part-time timetable that drifts on for months, especially for a disabled child, can amount to discrimination, and you can ask for it to end at any time.
Related words
Where this comes from
- Working together to improve school attendance , Department for Education, working together to improve school attendance. Checked 2026-08-14.
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