4 day week for schools?

The reason behind this idea seems to be the rising cost of utilities, heating a school. I've read 3 days at school have been suggested.
Were it to happen then any parent currently working on the proposed closed days, would find themselves with increased childcare costs or a reduced income if indeed their employer is willing to accommodate reduced working hours, on top of struggling to also pay the increased costs of fuel.

It's a real issue for schools. DH did a quick evaluation and calculated that the additional energy costs would cost the average school an additional £30k a year.

additional extra

It’s the quality of what they learn rather than time at school. Finnish children have shorter hours, no homework and are still pretty near the top of childrens’ achievement in Europe

If the Government give handouts to schools then they have to do it for hospitals too. The energy producers (not the suppliers) should foot the bill for these two establishments not the tax payers. Its going g to take 2 or 3 generations to pay back for the pandemic if they add on all this other help our great great grandchildren will still be paying. The greedy corporations need to foot the bill with no payback for at least two years.

time to prepare lessons on the school premises

The words fat and chance spring to mind !,

4allweknow

Will staff accept a cut in pay for the reduced hours worked?

Grrrr! There would never never be fewer hours worked. Unless of course you assume any time not in the classroom to be free time ???

4allweknow
Will staff accept a cut in pay for the reduced hours worked?

Sounds like a question from a parent, or the non-educational OFSTED inspector they used to insist on, with no idea about teaching, except for the fact that they once went to school.

Would all staff accept a pay rise for the extra hours they put in, necessary to do the job? ???

My next door neighbour thought I got paid overtime for working late, doing parents’ evenings, running after-school clubs, going into school in the holidays to set up and prepare for the next term etc.

Lucca
Grrrr! There would never never be fewer hours worked. Unless of course you assume any time not in the classroom to be free time ???
Time not in the classroom? You mean PPA, the token acknowledgement that teaching is more time than just being with the children?

I can see the benefits for savings on energy but surely the school day would have to be longer to compensate for the lost day??? Maybe not such a good idea. Did it come from a politician by any chance?

4allweknow

Will staff accept a cut in pay for the reduced hours worked?

If you have ever taught you will know more hours of work are put in at lunchtimes after school hours, at home and at weekends. Lessons to plans ,orders constantly changing and records to keep, to unpaid parents meetings on demand or the obligatory twice a year. I would not join the profession I loved for all the tea in China and do not blame those leaving in droves.
None of my children teaches they made the choice themselves seeing how tied up I always was.
As I said previously where is the provision for the children coming from on the day they are not at school? Parents find it difficult enough to pay for them now without all the cuts we are all going to have to make.

as a retired teacher and lecturer there is one point that seems to be missing here. Leaving aside the practicalities of heating etc you also need to think how long a concentration span children have. There is a balance to be made in learning and practising new informaton and knowledge . Longer days , especially for the younger children , are unlikely to aid learning.

Maybe if the school day is longer to make up for lost hours it will benefit working parents.

Pressed too soon! Including the teachers. Complex I know, but many teachers I know would love an extra day for themselves. Their stress levels are through the roof. It may encourage recruitment into permanent posts. I guess like many underfunded services we need to find a solution pretty darn quick or who knows where we will all be in the future.

In what way “an extra day for themselves “ ?

Agree Yammy. (Rather unusually ?!)

In what way an extra day for themselves? If a teacher’s child went to a school in the same area it’s likely that their schools would be closed on the same day. They’d save on child care costs, but the “day to themselves” would taken up with school prep, marking and assessment+ childcare, the way evenings and weekends are now.

I don’t think people appreciate how bad it’s going to be . Schools , day care childminders will not be able to afford their bills and will close.
Pubs, restaurants are in the same boat . They will put up prices but customers won’t be able to afford it when their fuel bills become as big as their mortgage.
Desperate times call for desperate measures or at least agovernment who is interested in ordinary families .

It is just one big vicious circle Blakeney

(but what a lovely name, so many happy family days there)

Lucca

Agree Yammy. (Rather unusually ?!)

Truce, maybe we've both been at the Coal face or the Whiteboard. It takes one to know what they go through. I had forgotten the unpaid days cleaning out cupboards and putting all the displays up for the new year or term.
The hot weather must be getting to us ......agreeing what next?

Academies will be all for a three or four day week, as it will mean more profit which is their first priority. Pupils are way down the list.

Who would look after all of these children if the schools close, I suspect grandparents in many cases. I can’t see it happening, teachers and school support staff can’t be expected to take a big cut in wages so they would have to be paid and would work from home, in many cases with their own children running riot. I suppose they could turn down the heating and ask everyone to wrap up. Last year most of the heat went out of the windows in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid and classrooms were freezing.

Hospitals & care homes will struggle, they have to be kept warm and can’t close. I wonder if they will keep leisure centres open, it must cost a fortune heating the swimming pools not forgetting how much it must cost to run the air con and equipment in the gyms.

I live next to a high school and the lights for the school inside and out are on a timer and come on early in the morning and go off when it comes light. They come on again in the evening and go off about 10pm. The length of time is longer during the winter month EVEN IN THE HOLIDAYS. Heating is on with windows wide open in the winter.
Start with turning lights off for 6 weeks in the summer and all the other holidays the schools are empty and turn heating down.

bobbydog I wonder who pays for the streetlight-type lights within school grounds? The school or the LA?

They seem to be on all the time at a school near us.

Maybe the lights are kept on to deter intruders. Breaking into their old schools and creating mayhem (even arson) seems a popular game for some ex-pupils.

They could use security lights, sensor detected.

These are street lights and were even on during the day.