School Day

(asked on 25th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to prevent schools from shortening their school day or week unless it is a direct action to support and enhance their pupils’ education.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 3rd September 2019

All schools have the autonomy to decide the structure and duration of their school day, which includes the flexibility to decide when their school day should start and finish. All maintained schools are required to educate pupils for at least 380 sessions each school year. They cannot reduce the length of the school week if this would take the total number of sessions below that. The Department’s guidance on school attendance was updated on 18 July to make clear that the structure of the school day and school week should not be the cause of inconvenience to parents and it is unacceptable for schools to shorten their school day or school week unless it is a direct action to support and enhance their pupils’ education.

If schools are considering reducing their school week, where it is not directly to support and enhance their pupils’ education, then it is expected they approach either the Department or their local authority before taking such action.

Reticulating Splines