Changes to beginning and end of Telford primary's day to help parents on the school run

Staff at Lantern Academy, in Ketley Bank, have been consulting parents over the adjustments, which will now take place when pupils return to school after the Christmas and New Year break.

Headteacher Michelle Skidmore said local secondary schools had now adopted the Government’s instructions for the school week to last for 32.5 hours.

“The changes to the secondary school times have impacted massively on many of our parents who are struggling to both drop off and collect older children, and then get their younger ones here on time," she said.

“As a result, we have had children arriving late in the morning and at the other end of the school day, some parents have been requesting early pick up times to be able to fit everyone in.

“But this means some children are losing out on a significant amount of learning time, and we also have a number of children left at the end of the school day because parents can’t get back in time.

“So after consulting with the Learning Community Trust, the local governing board, our staff, and parents who were overwhelmingly supportive of the idea, we are now planning to change our timings.”

The new school day will begin at 8.40am when the gates open, registration will be at 8.50am, and school day will end at 3.20pm.

Ms Skidmore said: “Usually the timings of the school day would change at the start of a new academic year, but to help families who have been struggling with the logistics of the school run as soon as possible, we have decided to change the timings when we return from the Christmas break.

“We hope that the changes will be good news for any of our families who have had difficulty with getting children to both primary and secondary schools on time, and ease the pressure at both ends of the school day.”