The Government’s plan for all state schools to deliver at least a 32.5 hour week has been pushed back by a year.
The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, set out an expectation that schools should be open for at least 32.5 hours a week, which equates to six and a half hours per day on average, by September 2023.
But the Department for Education (DfE) has announced that state schools in England will now have until September 2024 to meet this expectation “in recognition of the pressures facing schools”.
DfE guidance says Ofsted inspectors will assess whether a school is meeting the Government’s minimum expectation of a 32.5 hour week and they will want to know what plans are in place to lengthen the school week.
If a school is not offering at least 32.5 hours a week – and it affects the quality of education – inspectors will expect the school to “set out a clear rationale for this,” according to the non-statutory guidance from the Government.
But school leaders’ unions said the delayed guidance was “unacceptable” and disrespectful to schools – and one union chief suggested many schools will slightly lengthen break times to meet the expectation.
