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!)

Great, another teacher bashing / private school wind em up and watch em go thread.

Merry Christmas 🎄

Yeah we did but we had an hour for lunch now there is a shorter lunch to cut costs

Teachers need PPA time (to plan, evaluate etc) and maybe this is the schools way of facilitating it without relying on TA’s covering lessons and protects that time for the teachers?

@AllProperTeaIsTheft they should work for all working parents rather than making life harder for women. Luckily I can afford private but don’t think I should have to!

But schools are not for parents' benefit. They are for childrens' benefit. Teachers are not your employees. Schools are not childcare.

Where are you that it's mostly mums doing the pick up? Here it's a good mix of mums and dads, with some grandparents mixed in. I'd say that is your bigger problem than expecting schools to be longer.

Just another reason I want to leave the profession.
O.P, teachers do not work for you, they work for your children. The purpose is to educate them, not to make the working day easier for women.
You got one word right in your title - absurd.

It's not teacher-bashing to point out that finishing the school day at 3:20 is absurd.

All jobs have shit parts. For some reason primary school teachers think its harder than going down the pit.

Anyway the point i was making is that they generally remain at work till 5ish so would be a good idea to teach kids till then. I agree it would be better for families who want to work full time.

Because the school is about the children. Duh!

Count yourselves lucky that in the UK children stay at school for lunch. In some countries they have to go home as there is no provision at school.

School (in the UK) is NOT compulsory.

No it wouldn't be a good idea to teach kids until then. What do you actually think teachers are doing at school between 3:30 and 5? Just hanging around for fun until they go home to do some more hanging around for fun?

I honestly don't think many parents would want that for their children. 23 out of 25 families in my eldest's class have two working parents, mostly in the kinds of jobs that would pay for private schooling in other parts of the country. Every family that I know minimises the amount of wraparound they use, whether by working part-time or by working flexibly.

And yes, where it's part-time it's mostly the women who've cut hours but I don't get the impression it wasn't by choice in most cases (I'm FT myself).

I absolutely agree there should be more state support for working parents, particularly with the cost of childcare at all ages, but I don't think most parents would want that to take the form of a longer school day. On site wraparound, sure, but that's something different.

Many schools are doing this. They lump teachers' ppa into one block so it cuts down on heating playground duty staff, lunch staff etc.

The teachers aren't working less its a cost cutting measure

I agree.
3:20 is far too late.

I really don't understand why you see school hours as nonsensical? I work in a primary school (admin) and see how hard the teachers work. Each are in daily at 7.30 or often earlier. They leave at 5.30 when the caretaker has to lock the building. They shove their food down at lunchtime and barely have time to go to the toilet. This is every day. That's a 50 hour week. It is go go go the whole time they are in, every minute is filled. It's really not an easy job. Like I said, I'm not a teacher myself but by god, I've had my eyes opened with regards to how hardworking teachers are working in a school myself (and I can tell you that I naiively went into my own job thinking that it would be a nice little office job before I retired. I couldn't have been more wrong 😆)

So for that reason it is not nonsensical in the main working world (as you put it) because the teachers DO do the same hours as the main working world. If not more, because they're then going home and carrying on working. I know they do. There just isn't the capacity for them to do more. So it boils down to funding. You want someone else to take over at 3.30 to look afrer your child till you can pick them up from work. You can sort out a childminder then, or after school club, can't you? Sort out the problem yourself, YOU decided to have children. They need caring for. School does the educating of them. If you don't want to or can't do the caring yourself, you'll have to pay for someone to do it for you.

@Itsr these are your options:

You and your DH work out how to manage your working hours around school drop off/ pick up tines

Or

You look into getting an after school childminder. There will be local ones who will pick up your child after school.

Or

If you have the money to pay for private education, could you not afford a nanny who can care for your child after school?

I'm sorry, but it is not up to the school to work out your childcare.

When are they supposed to do their planning, preparation and marking?

Given it has been the same situation for at least the last 60 years that I'm aware of, you think about how you will manage BEFORE you have children. Then you do what every one else does- find after school care, or a childminder or a nanny or a kindly grandparent!
Or you pay for private school which sources the childcare for you.

It's not supposed to. It's supposed to work for the children.

Public schools have much bigger classes hence more noice and sensory overload. This will contribute too more tiredness. Kids also need time to be kids and not being activated all the time. Free play with friends is very important for social skills and develop skills to feel empathy for other. I place high emphasis on free play for my kids

The year I spent in private school I remember crying how tired I was and I was 10!
It was a 27 mile trip to school, I was up at 6am, at school until 6pm doing prep and not home until 7pm
I used to fall asleep on the bus

We took on a mortgage that one salary could pay because we knew one of us would stay at home. It meant we had less but we were comfortable with our decision. We have never regretted it.

In my experience all over the living room floor till 9pm whilst sitting swearing at the whatsapp teacher group.

Many!