To think a 3:20 finish is absurd?

[Itsr]

It’s mostly mums at the school gates. Because the 3:20 finish worked well at a time when most women stayed at home.

now most women work, which means two parents working, why does school finish ar 3:20?! Yes I know there are after school classes etc but some don’t go on for too long and they also cost.

what actually is the reason why the school day isn’t aligned with a work day (like it is with most private schools!)

I taught in a private school and it finished at 4, not 6.

Of course it isn’t absurd. School is about education, and children can only learn for a certain amount of hours in a day and a week. It’s not like the teachers are going home at 3.20! School is not childcare despite what so many people seem to think..

My kids went to 2 prep schools. School finished at 3.30. If they needed to stay later there were activites and after school clubs all of which you paid extra for. The private secondaries all finish between 3.30 - 4.

I actually think more jobs should align with the school day allowing mothers to have jobs they can actually do in the day without worrying about picking up the children.

I see jobs advertised as 9:30 til 4 - and no clubs in the local school. pointless.

This

If you’re talking about boarding schools, then you are comparing apples and oranges. Many boarding schools have afternoons until 4pm as time for PE and extra-curricular activities to make the most of daylight, and they will also have homework time factored in. None of them are trying to make 4/5 year olds do an 8 hour school day.

Plenty of independent day schools finish between 3/4 pm.

Except, if you were on UC, they'd still be pushing you to work 30- 35 hours per week. And if you pointed out that there was no after school club they'd be like 🤷‍♀️ "Not our problem ".

Let’s say school did start at 8am and finish at 6pm might be 6.30pm before you get home my DGD age 6 goes to bed at 7.30pm so during the week you wouldn’t see your kids? What would make a child want to go to school less, kids need a home life.

How about we think about what is best for the children in all this - first and foremost.

I think because so many people have their children at nursery from 7am to 6pm they think that should continue at school, not realising they are completely different.

My school day in France in the 70s was 9 to 5, with a half day Wednesday for sport, and Saturday mornings too. But very long holidays, when we would go off to summer camps. Lots of mothers worked, some didn’t, but it took the problem of childcare away.

My DC are at state school - 7.30am to 5.30pm, all children from age 3 at their school can attend those hours. Yes there is a charge for some of the time but it is far far lower cost than private and it's an excellent, well rounded school.

This isn't against the norm. Family have children same age - between us there are 4 groups of children in 4 different parts of the UK, all with access to the same hours within the state system.

All of those 4 mums have good jobs (and better than the dads jobs, each being the main earners) and school hours do not impact on them.

This seems to be something you have taken issue with but perhaps not being fully informed?

How about we stop expecting mothers to sacrifice their sanity and wellbeing by guilting them about "what's best for the children"?

Oh and not mostly mums at the school gates here. It was more before covid but definitely not now, very 50/50 and quite often more dads than mums.

School hours are actually longer in the Il than in some European countries, and they have much better results. Kids do get tired.

so you’re not wrong, OP. Extended school hours may not be what’s best for children, or what parents or teachers want, but I think it’s probably what the economy - and the anti-benefits crowd (many of whom are on this site)- demand.

But who is going to pay for those extended school hours?!

What on earth are you on about? You're in receipt of Universal Credit. You're not paying private fees anytime soon.

And not all parents would be happy about more hours at school.

The school day would have to be longer than the working day which most kids wouldn't cope with.

Top tax rate across Scandinavia is similar to the UK. Eastern Europe much lower - a lot of these countries offer very generous parental leave and public education benefits. Finland is another.

I’m not worked on those countries as an adult so can’t comment how much the NI-equivalent is (they call it ‘social tax’ so I think that’s what you’re referring to). However that tax is generally used for unemployment and benefits funding, not to fund public education, which tends to come from general income tax.

Example: https://www.workinfinland.com/en/get-started/settling-down/taxes-and-personal-finances/

I think having 3x the money per child probably hehelpprivate schools cover the hours.

I wouldn't want my children doing more hours. I think what they do on school plus homework is more than enough. Like many dc, mine do training for a sport after school. They train 4 or 5 times a week, sometimes before school but mostly after. If they didn't finish until 6pm it wouldn't be possible for the to participate in the sport at all.

We did meet a French child who apparently attended a specialist school in France that allowed them to do school.in the morning and train in the afternoons. So they actually had more time available there than here.

Not in my experience. I've just done an exchange with a German school. They start very early but they finish at 3 most days and at 1:30 on Fridays. According to the teachers that's pretty normal.

It's a bit pointless arguing about it really. Plenty of parents don't want their dc in school for longer. Teachers wouldn't do it. Government wouldn't pay for it. The only logical thing is what already exists - paid childcare/wraparound for those who want it. Or private school.

Excuse me am I your baby sitter? I have a Degree, a PGCE and and a masters degree in SEN.

I am a teacher in education not a nanny.

I agree with the majority, that any longer is too long a day for small children.

In fact at our school a lot of dad’s do the school run, as there seem to be lots who work from home or are self employed- I don’t know of any SAHDs amongst them. They do often (perhaps performatively) do it work-mobile-in-hand though.

I think the answer is more jobs being flexible about hours, wfh, letting people with older primary kids who can entertain themselves take a late lunch break to collect them. Not suggesting people with very little ones (infants, and I’d probably consider year 3 too young) try to wfh with them there of course!