📚 Homeschooling vs Flexi-Schooling: How Attendance Records Differ | 在家教育与弹性上学在出勤记录上的差别
Home education and flexi-schooling can look almost identical from the kitchen table: in both cases a child spends part of the week learning away from a school building. Yet the administrative consequences are completely different. In one case the child disappears from the school attendance system altogether; in the other the child stays on roll and every agreed session is coded, counted and reported to the Department for Education. Understanding this difference matters enormously, because it determines whether a family receives attendance letters, penalty notices or a school attendance order - or nothing at all.
在家教育与弹性上学，从厨房餐桌的角度看几乎一模一样：两种情况下，孩子都有一段时间不在学校建筑里学习。但两者的行政后果截然不同。一种情况下，孩子完全从学校出勤系统中消失；另一种情况下，孩子仍保留学籍，每一个约定好的时段都会被编码、统计并上报教育部。理解这一差别至关重要，因为它决定了家庭会收到出勤警告信、罚款通知或入学令——还是什么都收不到。
1. Two Registers, Two Very Different Paper Trails | 两套名册，两条截然不同的记录
English schools maintain two separate statutory registers under the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006. The admission register (regulation 5) lists who is a pupil at the school. The attendance register (regulation 10) records, session by session, whether each pupil on roll was present or absent. The decisive question in this whole topic is simple: is the child's name on the admission register or not?
根据《2006 年（英格兰）学生注册条例》，英格兰的学校要维护两套独立的法定名册。入学名册（第 5 条）列出谁是本 school 的学生；出勤名册（第 10 条）则逐时段记录在册学生是出席还是缺席。整个话题的关键问题只有一个：孩子的名字是否在入学名册上？
- If the name is on the admission register, the attendance register applies and the school must record every session.
如果名字在入学名册上，出勤名册就适用，学校必须记录每一个时段。 - If the name has been deleted from the admission register, there is nothing to record - no sessions, no codes, no percentage.
如果名字已从入学名册中删除，就没有任何东西可记录——没有时段、没有代码、没有百分比。 - Flexi-schooling keeps the name on the register. Home education removes it.
弹性上学保留学籍；在家教育则注销学籍。
2. The Legal Baseline: Section 7 and "Full-Time Education" | 法律基线：第 7 条与"全日制教育"
Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places the duty on parents: they must cause their child of compulsory school age to receive efficient full-time education suitable to the child's age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs. Crucially, the section offers two routes - "by regular attendance at school" or "otherwise". Home education is that "otherwise". It is lawful, it has never required local authority permission, and it does not require the National Curriculum, qualified teachers or any home-recorded attendance register.
《1996 年教育法》第 7 条把义务加在家长身上：必须让处于义务教育年龄的孩子接受适合其年龄、能力、性向及任何特殊教育需要的、有效率的全日制教育。关键在于，该条给出两条路径——"按时到校就读"或"以其他方式"。在家教育就属于"以其他方式"。它完全合法，从来不需要地方当局批准，也不要求遵循国家课程、配备合格教师或在家里保留出勤记录。
Flexi-schooling sits on the first route. The child is still being educated "by regular attendance at school", just not for every session. That is why it requires the headteacher's agreement - the school remains legally responsible for the child's education during the funded placement, and it cannot simply stop providing full-time education without a lawful basis.
弹性上学走的是第一条路径。孩子仍然是通过"按时到校就读"接受教育，只是并非每个时段都到校。正因如此，它需要校长同意——在教育经费所对应的学额存续期间，学校对孩子教育仍负法律责任，不能在没有法律依据的情况下停止提供全日制教育。
3. Home Education: De-registration and the Point Where Records Stop | 在家教育：注销学籍与记录的终止点
The moment of transition is de-registration. When a parent writes to the headteacher to confirm that the child is receiving education otherwise than at school, the headteacher must delete the child's name from the admission register. In England this is done under regulation 8(1)(d) of the 2006 Regulations. The school must then inform the local authority, and the authority's elective home education (EHE) team will normally make contact within a few weeks.
转折点就是"注销学籍"。当家长书面通知校长，确认孩子将以非在校方式接受教育时，校长必须把该生从入学名册中删除。在英格兰，依据是 2006 年条例第 8(1)(d) 条。学校随后必须通知地方当局，当局的"选择性在家教育"（EHE）团队通常会在几周内联系家长。
- The notification does not need the school's approval - it is a notification, not an application.
该通知不需要学校批准——它是"告知"，不是"申请"。 - Exception: if the child attends a special school, the name must not be deleted without the local authority's consent (regulation 8(2)).
例外：如果孩子在特殊学校就读，未经地方当局同意，不得删除其学籍（第 8(2) 条）。 - Keep dated copies of the letter and any reply. The date of de-registration matters for any later dispute about attendance.
请保留带日期的信件副本及任何回函。注销日期在日后任何出勤争议中都很关键。
4. How Home Education Looks Inside Attendance Data | 在家教育在出勤数据中的样子
The key point is that home-educated children are not "absent" in any technical sense. They attract no attendance code at all, because codes only exist for pupils on roll. They are not authorised absences, not unauthorised absences, not persistent absentees. They are simply outside the dataset. The local authority keeps a list of home-educated children, but a list is not a register.
关键点是：接受在家教育的孩子在技术意义上并不"缺席"。他们根本不会产生任何出勤代码，因为代码只针对在册学生。他们不是获准缺席，也不是未获准缺席，更不算持续性缺勤。他们只是在这个数据集之外。地方当局持有一份在家教育儿童名单，但名单不是出勤名册。
- No attendance percentage is calculated for them.
不会为他们计算出勤率。 - No persistent absence flag can be generated.
不会生成持续性缺勤标记。 - Fixed penalty notices for unauthorised absence cannot apply, because there is no register entry to be unauthorised.
因未获准缺席而开出的定额罚款通知不适用，因为根本没有可被判定"未获准"的名册记录。 - If a home-educated child is not receiving a suitable education, the route is section 437 (a school attendance order), not section 444 prosecution.
如果在家教育的孩子没有接受适当教育，处理路径是第 437 条（入学令），而不是第 444 条起诉。
5. Flexi-Schooling: On Roll, Partly Off Site | 弹性上学：在册，但部分时间在校外
Flexi-schooling is an arrangement in which a pupil is registered at a school but attends part of the week, with the remaining time spent learning at home or elsewhere. It is not a statutory right. It exists only where a headteacher agrees, usually within a policy set by the governing body. Typical patterns include four days at school and one at home, three days at school and two at home, or mornings at school with afternoons at home.
弹性上学是指学生注册在某所学校，但每周只到校部分时间，其余时间在家或其他地方学习。它不是一项法定权利，只在校长同意的情况下存在，通常还要符合管理委员会制定的政策。常见模式包括：每周四天在校、一天在家；三天在校、两天在家；或上午在校、下午在家。
Because the pupil remains on roll, the attendance register still applies. Every session in the timetable - whether the pupil is expected at school or not - must be accounted for. That is the single biggest structural difference from home education.
由于学生仍在册，出勤名册依然适用。课表中的每一个时段——无论是否要求学生到校——都必须有所交代。这就是与在家教育最大的结构性差别。
6. The Coding Question: B or C? | 编码问题：B 还是 C？
This is where flexi-schooling becomes administratively awkward, and where families most often get caught out. Schools must assign an attendance code to every session. For the agreed home-learning days, practice genuinely varies between schools and local authorities, and the choice has a large effect on published attendance figures.
这正是弹性上学在行政上最棘手的地方，也是家庭最容易吃亏的地方。学校必须为每一个时段指定出勤代码。对于约定在家学习的日子，各校与各地当局的做法确实不同，而选择哪种代码会对公开的出勤数据产生很大影响。
| Code | Meaning | Counts as present? |
|---|---|---|
| B | Off-site educational activity approved by the school | Yes |
| C | Authorised absence not covered by another code | No (authorised) |
| V | Educational visit or trip | Yes |
| P | <
