The government’s schools white paper published in March 2022 included a minimum expectation on the length of the school week of 32.5 hours for all mainstream state-funded schools. As we have previously noted, since then there has been a large degree of silence on this matter from the government, and confusion about whether it intends to press ahead with the policy.

NAHT has continually opposed this proposal and made the point that the lack of further information has made any planning around this extremely difficult. This week, with our colleagues at ASCL, we have written to the schools minister to once again make the point that this is not a helpful policy, and that the government’s failure to provide any clarity around it means it should not be implemented in September. We will update members when we receive a response.

Read our letter to the schools minister.