Academy conversion: 8.30am - 4pm aged 4?

bylromarha

peachyprice wrote: »

What breaks to they get during the day?

Reception have a slightly different day as they follow EYFS - hence the comment about 4 breaks.

Year 1 in one of the schools on the website have a 20 min morning break, 1 hour lunch break and 10 min afternoon break. So 6 hours total learning a day.

Clubs are between 4pm and 5pm.

I don't think comparing the day to a nursery day or breakfast/after school clubs is a fair one. The expectation and pace of learning is far higher in school. Kids won't have the freedom to let off steam in the way they do in these places.

DD is a July birthday and in Year 1 she did a dance club in school 3.15 - 4pm. Dinner and bedtime were always hell on a Wednesday as she was so exhausted from her day.

Any teacher on here knows the 2pm wilt KS1 experience :rotfl: And at this time of the year, the wilt starts around 1.15pm!

So has anyone had experience of this change first hand please?

susancs

bylromarha wrote: »

Reception have a slightly different day as they follow EYFS - hence the comment about 4 breaks.

Year 1 in one of the schools on the website have a 20 min morning break, 1 hour lunch break and 10 min afternoon break. So 6 hours total learning a day.

Clubs are between 4pm and 5pm.

I don't think comparing the day to a nursery day or breakfast/after school clubs is a fair one. The expectation and pace of learning is far higher in school. Kids won't have the freedom to let off steam in the way they do in these places.

DD is a July birthday and in Year 1 she did a dance club in school 3.15 - 4pm. Dinner and bedtime were always hell on a Wednesday as she was so exhausted from her day.

Any teacher on here knows the 2pm wilt KS1 experience :rotfl: And at this time of the year, the wilt starts around 1.15pm!

I would respectfully disagree with your comment regarding after school clubs as my children had science, homework, pottery, cooking clubs rather than just sports club and they were not clubs they could let off steam in. I have also known a number of children who have had extra tutoring after school when in ks1 with kumon, private tutors etc and they have had no problems with excessive tiredness and indeed benefited from the extra learning opportunities.

Four year old children in a primary school reception class should follow the same Statutory early years foundation stage framework as a four year old in an early years nursery with the same learning and developmental goals for the end of the foundation stage , so both should be fairly comparable in terms of expectations and learning. OFSTED carry out inspections on the basis that all early years settings should be comparable in regard to outcomes for children.

Mattygroves2

I'm not really qualified to comment (no kids) but I will say that offering (and being committed) to Forest Schools should be good for the kids. Plenty of opportunity to blow off steam and learn alot about the environment as well. I work in an organisation that provides Forest schools to inner city kids and their reaction is fantastic - it reminds me of the times I had as a child when parents didn't worry so much and I could disappear into the local wood for hours at the weekend.

Personally when I was a kid I'd have sucked up all that learning and I'm sure it would have pushed me further academically which I guess the school is trying to do as an academy.

bylromarha

susancs wrote: »

I would respectfully disagree with your comment regarding after school clubs as my children had science, homework, pottery, cooking clubs rather than just sports club and they were not clubs they could let off steam in. I have also known a number of children who have had extra tutoring after school while in ks1 with kumon, private tutors etc and they have had no problems with excessive tiredness.

Will have to agree to disagree then. I don't mean letting off steam as running around, more that the expectations are different as it is optional, not compulsory.

Having both tutored 1:1 and small groups for academic work after school and run after school clubs on ICT/Science/Art/Choirs with both KS1 and 2, the expectation is far different to the in class experience. Much more relaxed, much more relationship based than the classroom can ever be due to numbers. Much more a parent working with a group of friends feel than a teacher/pupil in class relationship and all that entails.

After school clubs are a choice - school is not. Pupils and teachers (club leaders) respond to that difference and it reflects on the mental attitude. Not every lesson in class can be fun, but after school clubs have to be, otherwise no one would go.

lostinrates

bylromarha wrote: »

Reception have a slightly different day as they follow EYFS - hence the comment about 4 breaks.

Year 1 in one of the schools on the website have a 20 min morning break, 1 hour lunch break and 10 min afternoon break. So 6 hours total learning a day.

Clubs are between 4pm and 5pm.

I don't think comparing the day to a nursery day or breakfast/after school clubs is a fair one. The expectation and pace of learning is far higher in school. Kids won't have the freedom to let off steam in the way they do in these places.

DD is a July birthday and in Year 1 she did a dance club in school 3.15 - 4pm. Dinner and bedtime were always hell on a Wednesday as she was so exhausted from her day.

Any teacher on here knows the 2pm wilt KS1 experience :rotfl: And at this time of the year, the wilt starts around 1.15pm!

So has anyone had experience of this change first hand please?

Is the experience of independant sector school days relevant? It's a pretty standard independent sector day length for that age group, with older kids having Saturday morning classes but maybe Wednesday afternoons being sports and arts focused.

Those schools seem to cope ok with the day length, or is there evidence it's holding those children back?

Spendless

Mine have had always had slightly longer hours than most mentioned theirs doing on here. Daughter (yr 5) starts at 8.40 and finishes at 3.30. That is the hours of her Junior school. She gets a morning and aftenoon break (I think they are 15 mins long but unsure) and 1hr 10 mins for lunch.

At Infants (a seperate school but all on the same grounds) the doors opened at 8.40 too with a 3.30pm finish, but the register wasn't taken until 8.55 after which the first lesson was started. You could arrive anytime from 8.40-8.55 but before register was devoted to sitting on the mat, looking at a book or writing their name. Mine would usually be in at the earlier time. I never had problems with them being tired after a long day with either of them, but I can tell when they are in wind-down mode at the end of a term (like now or just before Christmas).

DevilsAdvocate1

If you child does not like school or is bullied, it makes for a very long day.

Profjojo

bylromarha wrote: »

Any teacher on here knows the 2pm wilt KS1 experience :rotfl: And at this time of the year, the wilt starts around 1.15pm!

Too true, a lot of us teachers start to wilt at 2pm and wonder where our young pupils get all their energy from. In this current heat
all staff are wilting earlier. Roll on the holidays!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

lostinrates wrote: »

Those schools seem to cope ok with the day length, or is there evidence it's holding those children back?

Depends - you do tend to get people like these out of it, after all;

mumps

Janepig wrote: »

Both of mine manage plenty of after school activities despite their long days - DD does gymnastics twice a week, manages to do after school sports club, athletics and youth club on a Tuesday and come September there will be netball on Wednesdays, tournaments once a month on Saturdays, and rugby on Fridays, matches on Sunday. DS has only got swimming on Thursdays at the moment but he's hoping to start Beavers or Cubs towards the end of the year, plus he's got rugby starting back too at the end of this month. All of which are their choice, they've only got to tell me once that they don't want to do whatever they do any more and I'll be like "yippeeeee".



As it is, I really don't know where they get the energy from to fit it all in!

Jx

I wasn't thinking about their energy levels but enough hours in the day. For mums without cars, like I was, getting them home from school, quick bite to eat, perhaps change depending on activity and get them there, I wouldn't have had enough time to do it. I hate it when you see kids having to have a snack in the car on the move to an activity, just seems to rushed and where is the fun in that? I suppose if all the local schools had a later finishing time clubs would adjust.