To think extending the school day is a terrible idea

[footballdisharmony]

Apparently Boris thinks that extending the school day is the 'right thing to do' (as reported in the Guardian today) I think this is an awful idea. I'm interested what others think?

I think keeping them at school longer is a mistake and is unlikely to be properly resourced to really make positive impact. Why not just invest in more more teachers/TAs/targeted help. A longer day just eats further into time with friends and family, and time to do other extra curricula activities that children actually really want to do and get a lot from. My primary DC already have homework, spellings, times tables and reading to do after school - surely they need a bit of time to just relax and play!

When do they get to be kids? Imagine a four year old doing 8-5, poor little sods.

depends what they are doing during these hours, surely.
Many 4 yo have a blast at school, it's learning through play for a start.

It's not "being a kid" for those who go home and are stuck in front of a tv or computer until bed time.

I'd be happy as long as they make an hour pe every day compulsory and an hour life skills

8-4 would be perfect

@ChainJane
surely you wouldn't give them Sundays off! I'm sure that could be used for extra SAT revision and a bit more drilling!

Terrible idea. Not fair on teachers, students or parents. Teachers already work far too many hours. This would mean they have to do more planning to fill the extra time, but have less time to do the planning. Ridiculous.

Why on earth does Boris want to do that?

It's a dreadful idea, how many children want to be in school for any longer than they have to.

"Drill" is an actual thing?

It's a kind of rap music at the school my kids went to.

millions of parents shove their kids in nursery from 6months+ childcare from 7am - 7pm and no one has an issue with that! (whole working mum brigade of my kid is being enriched and it's perfectly fine blah blah) @CoastalWave language like that is so unfair. I don’t ‘shove’ my child into nursery I drop them off for a lovely day that provides socialisation and stimulation then pick them up and we have family time in the evening and my days off. Criticising the ‘working mum brigade’ aka statistically most mums is incredibly unfair and old fashioned. We can’t all be waiting at home until 3:00 when we can do the school run and bring the children home for relaxation (or elites sport) for 5 hours every night until bed.

I agree for primary. Our local secondary finishes for the day at 1445 however, so plenty of scope for elongation there

Mr Johnson floats the idea, then hears objections, and then blames the teaching unions for why it cannot happen.

In any case, because we have GMT in winter, children would be going home in darkness for two or three months were that the case. Apart from the safety question for children walking home, too many people in their Chelsea Tractors I would not want driving in darkness any more than currently.

This was in the news a few weeks ago as the person who came up with this quit citing the money offered was nowhere near enough. That it was another half arsed (paraphrasing) idea just like the catch up program that was touted around last year, the laptop thing and more.

Completely agree but millions of parents shove their kids in nursery from 6months+ childcare from 7am - 7pm and no one has an issue with that! (whole working mum brigade of my kid is being enriched and it's perfectly fine blah blah)

blabla all you like, but they are not 6 months old in Primary.

In fact stay-at-home mum are just as likely to put their children to nursery and preschool (around here it's roughly 50/50..)

and it has been proven how damaging the lockdown and lack of socialisation was for the kids.

The lockdown and closures might have been necessary, but never was it a benefit or a plus for any child!

I think wraparound care should be available at every school including special schools. This should offer both enrichment activities (music, drama, art) but also outdoor space to play and explore and cosy spaces to just relax. My DC's favourite place at his (school run) after school club was under a table in a 'den' he had built with a friend from a different year group. This was staffed by TAs not teachers.

I know of one child in my son's Y6 class who has been offered a place at a week long summer school by the high school he is going to. I think offering targeted tutoring makes more sense than general longer days / terms for all.

Large numbers of children go to childcare after school and cope, I don't think 30 mins extra from say year 3 hurts, younger it depends on the child

Private schools have nearly always had longer school days (with the benefit of longer holidays). I used to leave home for upper school at 6am and return at 6pm, as did many of my classmates.

It's a terrible idea- but I also think babies as young as 3 months shouldn't be in nurseries from 8am-6pm every day.

Might be workable ish in the summer but come winter I want my child home from school BEFORE it gets dark especially as schools INSIST coats must be dark in colour aka more missable in the dark.

Who is going to pay for the staffing off the extra hours? Teachers are contracted for a certain number of hours in the classroom, although they do far more after school, in the evening and at weekends. Extra hours, even if it were to be agreed, would have to be paid for in enhanced salaries and given that educational funding is so severely stretched , that’s unlikely to happen.

I like the idea but i would want to protect the time for more practical things like music and cooking. Not just english and maths. Theres lots of research the music improves english and maths yet it gets squeezed out.

@RaindropsOnRosie. What do you think the parents should do with babies then if they need to work? Take them to the workplace? Leave them in a desk drawer when they have to go to meetings?

Mine stay most days till 4.30 doing clubs eg coding, tennis, sewing, woodwork, football etc. I love it.

This is an incredibly long day out of the house for a small child. It's 10 hours. I think it's sad that some parents like this idea. What about coming home and relaxing? A full day of school followed by enforced dancing/drama/music/art sounds hard work!

You know lots of kids already do these sorts of hours, or slightly shorter, from pre-primary, right?

Mine are currently at after school club 3 days a week, on the non club days they have activities like music lessons or swimming that can't be done via school. For kids like mine it'd probably be smoother and less taxing - not rushing from place to place - to have more enrichment activities at school. As it is the curriculum is so squeezed that no foundation subject gets a decent look in. You can't learn a language or a musical instrument by covering it for half an hour a week for a term and then ditching it to move onto something else.

I do like the down/play time they get at after school clubs and would like to think that any extended school day for young kids would have a lot of space for enrichment/learning through play activities.

The secondary school day is ludicrously short around here. No wonder they have so much homework given they have so little time in school. 8.30 - 2.30 is just mad.

Yes we finished later at primary in the 60s but we didn't have homework, we had an hour for lunch and I'm sure we had an afternoon break as well as a morning one. Also the curriculum was less controlled so I seem to remember doing lots of craft/singing/PE in the afternoon - and there was always time for the teacher to read us a story before home time. I loved that - I was introduced to lots of books/authors that way.

At secondary we finished at 3.55 and of course we had homework. But again we had a long lunch break - I think it might have been longer than an hour - and I think we had an afternoon break as well as a morning one (not completely sure). The teaching time could certainly have been fitted in with a 3-3.30 finish.

Completely agree but millions of parents shove their kids in nursery from 6months+ childcare from 7am - 7pm and no one has an issue with that! (whole working mum brigade of my kid is being enriched and it's perfectly fine blah blah)

I've used childcare when not working & my dc to clubs in the summer when I don't work. I don't see the issue.

This is not what's best for the children, they will just be more tired during the week and thus learning will reduce. Therefore, this is a silly idea that has no positive impact and should be quickly dismissed. Why not spend more money hiring teachers and reducing class sizes, that would have a massively positive effect on children and teaching staff.

I think it's a good idea. Sitting around from 3pm on a screen isn't really "enjoying a precious childhood with wholesome activities", is it