Plan for 4½-day week on drawing board

Secondary school pupils could to move to a four-and-a-half-day week under plans currently being developed by North Lanarkshire Council.

The authority is to reconfigure existing class time into a new standardised timetable of 32 periods a week in high schools, in a budget move to save £1.73 million over two years.

Consultation with parents is due to take place during the autumn term, with education officials planning to launch the new-look school week in

August 2021.

An update on the project was presented to the latest virtual meeting of North Lanarkshire’s education committee.

The report on the change said:“The four-and-a-half day week is an important evolution of curricular arrangements.

“It will facilitate an afternoon of personal achievement, with structured offerings open to pupils in the fields of employability, music and arts, outdoor education and leadership development.

“It should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen the offering to pupils and to enable a more structured personal development programme.”

Now consultation is getting underway, including“determining which should be the half day in the week”, with the report adding:“It is hoped that the release of this time will help to support collegiate activity and address bureaucracy issues.

“Consulting with parents will be conducted on a school-by-school basis in the new academic session, with a view to implementing new arrangements in August 2021.

“Options processes for 2021 will be planned based on the updated curricular arrangements in schools.”

The report says:“Naturally, such arrangements are subject to being affected by the Covid-19 emergency and recovery periods”, and adds that the new secondary timetable would start in a year’s time“assuming the national recovery period is concluded by that point”.