Hey teachers, give the kids a lie-in?
Yawning. Stretching. Blinking. Sleep in the corner of their eyes.
This is how the typical teenager walks through the school gates each day.
With early starts lying between 8am and 9am for the majority of British secondary schools, a petition signed by over 180,000 has called for the school day to begin at 10am — claiming teenagers’ lack of sleep currently hampers their learning.
The UK Government and Parliament petition was set up by Hannah Kidner, a pupil from Devon, and received 184,510 signatures as of February 25 — surpassing the necessary 100,000 required for it to be debated in Parliament.
The Government’s eventual response was: “The decision on when to start the school day lies with individual schools. All schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day.”
The Government also acknowledged that there is research which shows teenagers need more sleep than adults.
Joe Russell, 16, who attends The Portsmouth Grammar School, signed the petition having seen it circulating on social media.
He said: “It’s a good idea and I think it’d be better for pupils and for the school. Because I think we’d work better if we got more sleep, we’d concentrate more and I think we’d work harder.”
As schools are only required to provide a set number of hours to students and remain open for 190 days in Portsmouth, such changes would be possible if a school chose to start later — but would likely mean students remain in school later.
Portsmouth City Council Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr. Suzy Horton, said: “They might be getting more sleep but are they then being put in an unsafe situation, because they’re walking home at night.”
She also noted that part of school purpose is to make students members of society and to prepare them for the ‘real’ world of work, with the majority of jobs starting earlier than 10am. However, she does recognise that this issue is focused on teenagers and their sleeping needs.
One deputy head from an 11–16 Academy (who wished to remain anonymous) agreed with Cllr. Horton, saying that schools act as educators but also prepare their students for the outside world. Later starts could therefore ultimately be detrimental upon leaving school and entering the workplace.
The deputy head also voiced concerns over later starts that would lead to later finishing times for schools. “You might have younger kids going home in the dark, which is already a concern amongst parents.
“There would also be an impact on sports fixtures and extra curricular activities in the evening having to be later in the day, these would be limited as many schools do not have the luxury of flood lights.”
Both Cllr. Horton and the deputy head agreed that they are open to the research and understanding why this petition was put forward, but currently it seems that the many practicalities of such a change are a concern.
The deputy head also noted that there were many factors affecting students’ concentration and performance, saying it could vary throughout the day and even depended upon the weather — so a later start would not necessarily have an overwhelming impact on students’ learning.
Whilst the petition received a large number of signatures it appears to be focused on the ‘typical’ teenager and does not consider that each individual’s sleeping patterns and learning abilities will differ.
It appears that whilst students believe a later start would enhance their learning, it is a decision to be made by the individual school and many currently feel that such a change would need to be carefully considered due to the potential knock-on effects which could outweigh the suggested benefits.
