20th December 2022
Shape of the Day for Sept 2023
Dear Parents/Carers
Shape of the Day – September 2023
Earlier this year, the government launched its white paper 'Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child'. It was their response to improving educational provision and standards across the UK in the coming years. Contained within that paper is a requirement for all students to be in school for at least 32.5 hours per week from September 2023. At Beckfoot, our current provision falls just short of that by a total of 75 minutes per week (15 minutes per day) and, as a result, means we must alter the shape and length of our school day in readiness for next September. This is something that will affect a large number of schools all of whom will be thinking hard about how to manage that change in the coming months.
As you can imagine, we have been considering this for a while now and feel ready, having gained the support of staff, to share our decision with you. In simple terms, it means that the new school day, from September 2023 will start at the usual time of 8.30am and end at the new time of 3.00pm adding the requisite fifteen minutes to the end of the day Monday to Friday.
As part of our decision making, this change to the shape of the day also provided us with some opportunities to make changes that we felt were needed to better support such things as our core business of teaching and learning but also the staff and student experience. Therefore, we will add five minutes to period five each day so that it can be one hour in duration as is the case with all other lessons. We will also add ten minutes to lunchtime meaning that the student experience of eating is a more positive and less rushed one as a result of moving from a thirty-minute experience to a forty minute one. I am sure this will further improve students and staff wellbeing which is very important to me.
I very much hope that telling you this information almost nine months in advance will give you sufficient time to make any necessary arrangements should this change to the shape and length of the day cause any issues for anyone. We will, of course, be sharing this information with all students when we return in January.
Best wishes
Simon Wade, Headteacher
