It’s been mentioned to us that there is a bit of inconsistency around when our classes come out at the end of the school day. We’ll try to address this.
The school day ends at 3:30. If we were a school with a bell to mark the end of the day, that’d be when it went. That’d be the time children filed out of class towards wherever they go. They’d then get away, as in gone, in the next 5-10 minutes.
Sometimes some classes have been appearing at the door/gate a bit early. This is certainly well intentioned from staff, trying not to keep parents/carers hanging around. They’ve probably had some complaints about being late before!
No children are being short-changed over their learning time. Our school day is longer than standard and school is open to children longer than the requirement of 32.5 hours per week. Our week is 33.75 hours, even without the optional early start (it’s 35.5 taken from the first bell). We are mindful of the fact that teaching staff have shown great commitment and flexibility to agree to work this unusual day – which was originally just meant to be a Covid measure – and are actually doing these additional hours unpaid for the benefit of the children. Whilst the day length may not seem much above the standard, for teaching staff it amounts to the equivalent of nineteen days’ additional unpaid teaching per school-year. Looking at it from another perspective, children are able to access up to 19 days’ worth of extra education. We believe this to be unique and are very grateful to staff for facilitating this.
However, we’ll try to tidy this up. Classes will set off, as close as possible, from their classrooms at 3:30. They’ll appear outside in however long it then takes them to get there. This will differ, depending on the length of the walk. Years 4, 5 and 6 have quite a trek!