Plan for longer school days to be unveiled today

Plans for longer school days in England are to be unveiled by the Government today in a bid to help children catch up lost lessons.

There will be earlier starts at schools, and later finishes to allow for extra lessons.

Minister s are expected to publish a plan on Thursday, which will include funding for "bolt-on" sessions at either end of the school day, reports The Mirror.

Education is a devolved issue outside of England, meaning plans could be different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"The best place for children to learn is in a school environment, so it makes sense to try and do catch-up work at school rather than trying to do it through home learning," a Whitehall source is reported to have said.

"There has rightly been a lot of focus on the impact on disadvantaged children but all children have missed out on their education so we need a catch-up programme that is open to everyone."

But The Daily Mail says the school day won't be formally extended through legislation.

Instead, schools will be asked to hold the catch-up sessions on site from next term.

Boris Johnson has this week promised a "massive catch-up operation" to try to minimise the impact of the lockdown on children's education.

Teachers, though, won't be expected to work during the summer under the plans, it's said.

A study by University College London's Institute of Education this week found that two million children have done less than an hour a day of schoolwork during lockdown.

Only 17 per cent have done more than fours a day. Some teaching unions have resisted efforts to get teachers to live-stream lessons, with the result that many schools have been unable to offer online classes.