School finishes at 5pm.

[Whokilledthesucculent]

Does any have experience of this?

A secondary school we are looking at finishes at 5pm 4 days a week.

Does your DC cope ok with that?

Not private. Interesting that this is quite common in private schools.

I would not be in favour. What if they want to do something non school related - drama, swimming, Scouts? I know you say two days are enrichment activities, but what if you want to do your out of school activities with a different set of people to the ones you hang out with all day. I suppose there is just time if they finish at 5 to grab something to eat and then do something else, but its all a bit rushed.

I'd love that for the GCSE years, not so much when they were younger.

Our secondary had lots of homework help available but it's wasn't compulsory. Not sure what they do no Covid-19 has changed everything.

I think I would prefer this if you don't have to worry about homework and any other extra activities you may take, it's all done for you by 5pm where the remaining time will be spent free including weekends. Btw, I had a partime job and secondary school to attend to and did absolutely fine.

@ReefTeeth so I did... I definately meant fckng

I've got a few things on my mind

Normal for secondarys around us - its homework and additional PE/art etc. Its a major selling point for most parents as it means homework is done at school.

Is there a local Facebook group you can go onto to ask if anyone's children go there? I think for questions like whether there is any other homework set outside the two afternoons set aside for it, these are things that only people who know the school can answer.

You might get "official" answers from the school, so that officially there is no other homework, but the reality might prove otherwise.

Parents are told if you don't like how we work, don't send your children here. Detentions are given for everything from not having the right equipment to not paying attention or not producing the quality of work they expect. There isn't any homework, everything is done in school under supervision.

Totally discriminates against children with any form of learning difficulty or disability.

My 9 and 12 year olds do 8:15 -4:45 and have done since year 5. They adapt fine but do have longer holidays.

Mine do 8.40 to 4.10 but then three days a week they have compulsory after school enrichment which doesn't finish until 5.30 or 6pm depending on which enrichment they're doing. They also have school sports every Saturday. Once they've finished we then have a 30/40 minute drive home depending on traffic.

On top of that they have homework. Independent secondary. They've coped fine.

@Whokilledthesucculent

Start at 8.20am with a 20 min easy walk. The next school we're looking at is 8.40-3.15 but involves relying on a not very reliable bus service.

So home by 5.20 with nominal homework in theory. What are the enrichment activities? Would it be something they liked?

My kids finish at almost 5 every day except Wednesday - I like it and it suits us all.

It wouldn’t be for me. It sounds like a school that’s decided the local riff raff are in need of cultural enlightenment so to keep them off the streets they all need to do homework or study Van Gogh until 5.

Not for me. I think two hours of homework after school is shit anyway. And what if they get detention!?

Also what are the breaks like? I

I wouldn’t be against it if it meant there was no homework brought home at all. If there was any homework on top though, it’d be an absolute no, so you need a clear answer on that.

@HasaDigaEebowai

Mine do 8.40 to 4.10 but then three days a week they have compulsory after school enrichment which doesn't finish until 5.30 or 6pm depending on which enrichment they're doing. They also have school sports every Saturday. Once they've finished we then have a 30/40 minute drive home depending on traffic.

On top of that they have homework. Independent secondary. They've coped fine.

What do they do in enrichment?

It depends on your child I think.

Do they get bored or lack motivation? Need people?
Or are they quite happy in their own world?
What does your dc think?
I’d be inclined to say yes, dependant on their feelings and character.

@JeffreyJefferson

i’d look at another school tbh. I know of colleges and 6th forms that end that late but secondary school can be exhausting at the best of times. 5 is too late

Presumably they are starting later too? They are staggering the start and end times where I am

Homework is a god awful battle

Extended curriculum. It’s becoming more popular. Of course they cope-lots of extracurricular activities etc. Mine love it.

My daughter went to a private school and they finished at 5:15 but they gave the girls something to eat. No homework, everything covered at school. Started at 8.35 too. She quickly got used to it.

whokilledthe succulent Do you live in Sheffield, does the school name begin with M?

jellycatspyjamas I think the same, kids can get a one day in school exclusion for not looking at the teacher right or not answering within 2 seconds. Do should have gone to same secondary as ds but her parents have to go better than us.

It’s fine, I think. My husband grew up in France and his secondary school days were from 8 til either 5.15 or 6.15. If they had a free lesson they were allowed to leave the school and they did have a decent length lunch break. Think they had homework on top, too

We chose against a school with that type of timetable because it took the choice out of DC’s extracurricular opportunities. Our DC do Guides/Scouts, swimming lessons, sports clubs out of school. We value those for the opportunities themselves but also for the different friendship groups. School life can be very insular, and we like the fact that DS can still do Scouts with friends from other schools, learn skills that are not on offer at school, etc. There are only so many hours in the week, and if they are still going to get homework and need some chill out downtime, and time to eat, at least some of those extracurricular activities would have had to be dropped to fit in the extra hours spend at school.
I think it can work well for students who can’t access extracurricular opportunities outside of school, whether due to cost or logistics or even disinclination to step outside their comfort zone and try something new. Having some opportunities as a default part if their week is great if the alternative if no opportunities. But if your child has other outside interests, it might be worth considering how they will fit into the mix, especially as DC gets older and homework increases.