My idea for the primary school day - any good?

[pfrench]

I think schools should start at 8 and finish at 4.30.

Children have lessons until 1.30, with two equal sized breaks for snack and lunch and play. Teachers teach the core subjects of English, maths, and others such as history, geography, and RE in those hours.

The afternoons are taught by specialists. Sports, dance/gymnastics, music, drama, art, design technology and computing. Two chunks of afternoon learning. Older children might have chance to do two lessons of a particular interest or skill in order to specialise/take external exams etc.

Teachers can't leave the school until 4.30 - these are still directed hours. In that time they mark and plan. They also have the opportunity to take children out for pre-learn, or intervention lessons. They lose out on some of the above stuff if this happens, but that's what happens in lots of schools anyway.

At 4.30 there could still be an after school club for those who need it, but everyone eats breakfast at school. That's part of primary school learning - communal eating. Also at 4.30 onwards there could be more specialist club type interests run, or even Cubs/Brownies/Scouts run from the school too.

Children go home at 4.30 or 6pm having had good subject teaching by teachers and by specialists. The focus on the arts and sports in the afternoon encourages interests in those things for continuing outside school. If things like extra dance lessons or Scouts or whatever ran from 5 - 6pm, that would also free up evening time at home.

Teachers focus properly on the stuff they are confident in. They can choose to teach some of the afternoon subjects if they want/are specialists. They get their marking and planning done in the school day, they take less work home and are more on it for the next day.

Parents don't have to worry about childcare around school hours so much. Families get their evenings freed up a bit.

What do you reckon? Should I be Secretary of State for Education?

No.

Where is the money coming from?

School from 8am - 4pm

Who will pay for all this and what do the specialised teachers do for the parts of the day they aren’t teaching?

Sounds a little bit planned around the hours to help parents rather than suited to the children. And yes mostly I’d say where’s the money coming from for all these specialist teachers on top of all the classroom teachers?!

I love getting up and having a decent balanced breakfast with my DC why on earth would you want to take that away from me and them for mass produced slop?

Apart from that younger primary school children it’s too long a day.

No, I don't want to get rid of my kids from 8-4 from age 5 thanks very much, let alone until 6pm. Some parents actually enjoy spending time with and teaching their own kids.

I like the idea of specialists but otherwise the day seems more geared around the needs of the parents than the needs of the children. Also, where are you going to find all these specialist sports/art/music teachers who are willing to work afternoons only and how would they be funded in primary school alongside paying for class teachers?

Way too long a day for the kids. Seems planned to make life easier for working parents rather than educate kids.

Where are the specialists coming from as we have a teacher shortage and you'll be hard pushed to find any

@Somersetlady Oo yes that too. I love the mornings having breakfast and getting ready for school

I agree it's much too long for young children.

Eight to 4.30 seems a long day for kids. And why do they need to eat at school and not their families.

Do you have childcare issues? Seems a bit don't feed em, get em out of thr house for as long as possible.

So who is funding this and quite frankly after a school day that started at 9 and finished at 3.15 my kids were tired and napped for an hour! I chose the activities kids did, and chose the teacher etc at primary one or two after school activities is plenty. I also still eat breakfast with my kids despite them being 18&20 (I then run them to university/college before going to work. Why have kids if you don't want to raise them

Many schools are already doing half days on Fridays because there is no money for schools anymore so not sure how you think they will find the money to open 8am until 6pm.

Who are these ‘specialists’? You’ll need a lot of them, nearly as many as there are teachers in the school, so suddenly the schools wage bill doubles.

Also, what are the ‘specialist’ doing in the morning or are they part time afternoons only. Speaking from experience no one wants part time afternoon jobs.

Long day for the kids.

This is similar to independent schools, and the reason why independent schools have longer holidays. So as long as you’re prepared for 8 week summer holidays and 3 week Easter hols and the occasional 2 week half term ...

A lot of schools do employ specialist coaches. They also after clubs after school and during lunch time.

Live to know the budget for employing fully qualified teachers every afternoon.

What schools need are children ready to learn. Who listen and work hard. They don’t need to be the best in the class, but they need a good work ethic.

Parents need to step up not schools

Well to start, school is for education and not childcare..

No

You want children in by 8. That means staff in by 7.30 at the absolute outside, more likely 7. That means teachers dropping their own children off at childminders between 6 and 6.30. Where are all these thousands of childminders that take children at this time? They don’t exist

It’s too long a day for a start but when we have a teacher shortage it’s not going to help by making specialist jobs part-time.
Also after school clubs like scouts and sports are run by volunteers a lot of whom work me included in that how am I going to get there for half 4 to start at 5?

You want children in until 4.30. That means staff meetings can’t realistically start until 5. So 5-6.30? You are advocating teachers spend a minimum of 11 hours a day on site

If schools started at 8, teachers would need to be there at 7am. What happens to their children? If they choose to teach some of the non core subjects in the afternoon, when does their planning happen?

You have selected this model because it will suit your child care. The purpose of schooling is not to provide child care so your life is made easier and less expensive.

Children will be exhausted, there is no money for it, even if you were able to find these mythical specialists.

No, you should not be Secretary of State for education.