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School days could get LONGER under plans being considered by Nadhim Zahawi
SCHOOL days could get LONGER under plans being considered by the Education Secretary.
Nadhim Zahawi praised "excellent examples" of teachers who keep kids in classes beyond the average 6.5 hours and promised to look at expanding it.
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Extending the school day has been proposed as a way to help pupils catch up after missing lessons during lockdown.
Fears that poor children could fall well behind their peers post-pandemic were put to the new Education Sec today.
Tory chair of the Commons education committee Robert Halfon said extending the school day boosts maths skills by almost a third according to Whitehall stats.
Mr Zahawi replied: "There are some excellent examples... of a longer school day which I'm going to look at.
"The average school day now is 6.5 hours and I would like to see everybody move towards that average."
He said catching up pupils was a "priority" and pointed to the £5billion pot to bring them up to speed.
It's much lower than the £15billion demanded by former education tsar Sir Kevan Collins who quit at the piecemeal funding offer.
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Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said in a statement: "The gains that might be possible through extending the school day must be weighed against the costs of such a strategy, including the impact on pupils' mental health, reduced family time and less time for extra-curricular activities.
"Children's happiness and wellbeing should be prioritised as well as their education."
Speaking in the Commons Mr Zahawi also blasted anti-vaxxers for targeting playgrounds.
He railed: "There is no place for anti-vaxxers harassing or coming anywhere near school leaders."
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi says contingency plans for schools are in place if there is a rise in Covid cases
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