Meden students to have longer week

As of September students will begin at 8.30am and finish at 3.30pm and finish at 2pm on Fridays.

They will also be taking Easter holidays a week earlier than most other schools in the county and finishing a week earlier at Christmas, taking five days extra.

Headteacher Dave Hooker said Meden was a secondary school and had to provide the best education it could for students.

He added: “Of all the secondary schools in this area, every one that has a longer working week has a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ Ofsted grades.

“All of those with shorter weeks do not and are in special measures. This will mean another 40 hours’ schooling per year and will make a big difference to a child’s education.”

Meden, which was in special measures, became part of the Torch Multi-Academy Trust in 2012, and is now graded ‘good’ by Ofsted.

As part of the school’s plan to further improve, teachers will return to work a week earlier after the summer holiday for training to help plan before children return.

Pupils will also take Easter holidays a week earlier to allow for a longer Spring term when they return to school in April.

Said Mr Hooker: “We changed our holidays a year ago and have had few concerns raised about it.

“As part of a multi-academy trust it enables us to organise training for staff across the group of schools and share good practice.

“But the idea behind this is to try and reduce anomalies where you have pupils in for three-and-a-half weeks during one term and then 12 weeks for another.”

Mr Hooker said there had been some concerns for younger children who relied on their siblings to get to primary schools but his main priority had to be the educational welfare of Meden students.