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!)

Maybe it's employers that need to be more flexible, not schools.

Well our school day was 9 to 4 at primary, but we had an hour and a quarter for lunch (many children went home for lunch) and a proper school canteen with hot food, dinner ladies and the top class evenly distributed amongst the tables to dish out!

Also, in lots of the other countries that posters so often love to refer to in relation to their superior schooling, the school day is much shorter. I have a friend who has just moved to Austria and the latest her 6 year old finishes is 1.30pm. 3 days a week it's sometime around noon.

You think 3.20 is absurd... My son's school finish at 2.30 and for love nor money, I can't wrap my head around how or why they do it or how so many parents are there for pick up. Until last year there was no after school club - apparently there wasn't enough need for one!

Yes this too. We both work FT but in very flexible jobs. DD is dropped to her classroom rather than breakfast club four days a week and brought home by home of us at 2pm twice a week (and we're then off for the afternoon, not WFH). It works for all of us and while it's obviously not possible in all jobs it would definitely be possible in more than currently allow it.

uh huh I agree

I can remember school finishing at 3:50 many years ago - but we had a longer lunch break (1 HR 20 mins) to get all the children served with a cooked meal.
Also had 15 mins break morning and afternoon.
The secondary school finished at 4pm.
Probably in the days of teachers going home at the same time as the children

DDs go to a prep school and it finishes at 3.30pm. There is wraparound care until 6pm, same as local state schools. We don't need wraparound care but DDs go to after school activities, which finish at 4.25pm. All the other local prep schools finish at a similar time. I think the only private schools I know which finish at the same time as working hours are senior boarding schools which take day students, but students are all over 11 so they don't need to be picked up by that age.

Children cannot focus on lessons for as long as you are suggesting and teachers are educators not childminders. All of the private schools I know have the same school hours and actually have longer school holidays so childcare is more of an issue! Childminders and before/after school clubs are all good alternatives and have been around for many years.

This is all that needs to be written. The existence of wrap-around care has been well-established for many years.

School is not free childcare.

How many years ago? 😂

DS is in school 7.30-5 - there are schools with wraparound facilities.

Maybe it's work that should finish at 3pm instead?

DS's previous primary school finished at 3pm. Even more annoying. His current one finishes at 3.30pm. If you need later, there's an external company for after-school care.

People saying it’s a long day for kids and teachers need time after 3:20… how does the private system manage then?!

You may wish to volunteer in a school for a week (I think this should be mandatory for all parents tbh) and then ask why the school day doesn’t go on longer.

@sweetydahling i could get on board with that

Previous posters are absolutely correct - a longer school day would be too long for kids. But, I would sort of agree, that some sort of wrap around care should be available in every school (at a cost) and it currently isn't.

Teachers already do hours and hours of work outside school hours. Are you suggesting they add another 2 hours of teaching at the end of the day before they get to plan and mark? Also, do you think that the government will pay them all to teach an extra 2 hours a day?

It was equally required to have 2 salaries in the 90s but then people knew school days ended at 3 and knew they needed to pay their own childcare so planned accordingly not expecting children to stay in institutions for 9 hours plus a day.

@Tiredforfive45 as I’ve said above, how does the private sector students and teachers manage a 8-6 day?

It’s school, fgs, not childcare and teachers don’t fuck off home at the same time the children do. What time do you think they’d leave if the kids rolled out at 6pm to accommodate the women who finish work at 5? They might as well sleep there. Not only that, DS2 would have had to have a nap at 3pm if he’d had to stay till 5pm, until about year 3.

Mine was mid 60's to mid seventies. I was surprised when my DC's finished at 3. Infants early lunch and pm break juniors am break and later lunch

One of mine finishes at 3, the other at 3:10. Until he goes into year 4 then he’ll finish at 3:20
it is what it is

@AllProperTeaIsTheft how do private school teachers cope then?