Why are schools being forced to send pupils home early?

Analysis: Four and a half day weeks are being adopted by headteachers across the country

Labour MP Jess Phillips joins a protest against schools being forced to close early (PA)

Many employees would happily welcome an early finish on a Friday. But when children’s education is at stake, the prospect of a four and a half day week is deeply unpopular among families.

Hundreds of children and parents marched on Westminster this week to oppose a rising number of schools across the country that are being forced to close at lunchtime every Friday.

Campaigners and unions say real-term funding cuts are to blame for the reduction in teaching hours as headteachers, who have already made a series of cuts in other areas, try to balance the budget.

Danny, Jess Phillips’s son, on the steps of Downing Street after he was left there by his mother as a symbol of protest (PA)

A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) last year revealed that the amount of per pupil spending in England’s schools has fallen by 8 per cent since 2010.

Rising pupil numbers – and cuts to local authorities and sixth-form funding – have seen a real-term reduction in school spending, it said.

The Department for Education still insists that funding is at its “highest ever level”. But schools say they face more pressures than before, from rises in staff costs as well as additional responsibilities – including ensuring a growing number of children with special educational needs are given support.

The stories of state schools having to reduce subjects and cut back on teaching staff – as well as ask for parental donations – amid squeezed budgets have been endless in recent years.

And now hundreds of schools are having to make the unpopular decision to close early on Friday, forcing some parents to fork out even more money for childcare, in another bid to make savings.

Teachers are currently entitled to a minimum of 10 per cent of their teaching hours for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) to ensure they have time in the working week for these tasks.

But to ensure teachers get this entitlement, schools have to provide cover for these lessons, which can be costly.

By closing early on Fridays, the school can timetable PPA for all teachers while there are no children in the school and can save money that would have been spent on cover.

It also provides the school with time to deliver training without incurring cover costs.

The majority of schools that close at lunchtime on Friday will have taken this decision with a budget deficit hanging over them, but some schools across the country do close early for other reasons.

Forest Gate Community School in east London, for example, is adopting a four and a half day week to create a happier workforce, boost productivity and tackle teacher shortages.

The decision came after Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand financial services company, saw a 20 per cent rise in productivity and happier staff after switching to a four-day week.

So there may be some benefits to a shorter school week, especially if teachers are given more time to develop their skills, but it will be a hard sell to many parents who expect their child to receive the same amount of teaching hours as the children in the majority of schools across the country.