The Government is reviewing a recommendation to extend the school day by 30 minutes to help pupils catch-up on learning after the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes after a £1.4 billion education recovery fund was announced by the Government last week.
We asked our readers on Facebook whether extending the school day is a good idea and here's what you said: "
CAROLE MUNRO: "No way, so many children are shattered by the end of the current day, as are the teachers. School is not about free child care so parents can work all the time. Children learn so much whilst doing social activities outside of school."
EMMA SAYERS: "Don't forget that children are growing, which also takes a lot of energy. Plus, and perhaps more importantly, a lot of essential learning is done through play or mere daily interactions outside the classroom."
JULIE BULL: "Children are already exhausted by the end of a term. I think it shows that they are at their limit of learning time (and yes, despite how much time was missed in the pandemic, they’re still shattered at the end of each school day).
MARK THOMAS: "I'm not a parent but I teach children martial arts.We have some good kids that are frankly mentally and physically shattered by the time it gets to early evening.I think there is way way too much pressure on kids these days.
"All this push push push. I totally accept that education is very important. However all this notion that young people must have three A star A levels or whatever it's called by 18 is destroying some young lives.Some kids are naturally academic.
"Some like me are the middle of the road."
ROWAN BROWN: "A much better solution would be to have more staff in the classrooms during normal school hours, supporting learning as it happens. Then the lessons could move at a much faster pace and no child would be left behind."
JO SMITH: "No way. The day's long enough especially with Covid cleaning. What about the teachers? When are they supposed to go to meetings and prepare for the next day? Perhaps the government would be happy for teachers and support staff just moving into the schools and not go home?
"It’s a ridiculous idea of their’s - you wouldn’t expect anything else. I’m sure some parents would love this as it would be free childcare. What about our families?"
JOANNE BOYLE: "The question is whether they should extend the school day to allow children to catch up and yes I think they absolutely should. The children have missed out on so much learning over the past 15 months. And there needs to be some way to make up for the time lost.
"I personally think all children should be repeating the year. Or at the very least, for primary school, having the same teacher for another year to give the children some stability."
MICHELLE BARTLETT: "Absolutely not. My kids did all the work set during the lockdown and participated in all the live lessons online. Also what about the teachers spending time with their own families etc?"
MANDY SPEKE: "No. If the child has clubs out of school then this means they would have to stop and these clubs are just as important to their health and wellbeing."
BEX REIP PREV: "Nope. I didn't have children for someone else to bring them up. When do they learn how to live, forge relationships, find hobbies and do all the stuff that makes life worth living if they are in school most of their waking hours?
"There has been no research to say how many school hours are optimal, we've no research or evidence to say that more school hours wouldn't absolutely backfire, with more kids absolutely hating school. Such a crackers idea."
HANNAH ELLIS: "Utterly ridiculous. They are children who have been through so much this year and worked so hard just keeping it together.
"So many children have struggled with mental health issues through this pandemic - is it really appropriate to consider longer hours?"
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