More trials for longer school days in Wales may be held, the Welsh Government has confirmed. Responding to a report showing an initial trial last year was successful a Welsh Government spokesman said more would be held as part of ongoing reforms.
Pupils, schools and parents taking part in a longer school day trial in Wales say the extra hour was beneficial and should be continued. The trial, offering pupils extra art, music and sport activities as well as lessons, ran for 10 weeks from January 2022 in response to lost learning and socialising after lockdowns.
Originally billed as an “extension to the school day” the extra hours have since been renamed as “additional enrichment sessions”. The £2m Welsh Government pilot scheme was run against the backdrop of lost learning and socialising in the pandemic and pledges to look at ways to modernise the school timetable.
Read more: Covid pandemic 'negatively affected' progress of 'most pupils' in Wales, says Welsh education chief
An evaluation of the trial recommends that it continue but acknowledges the financial and practical implications. Overall 13 schools and one FE college – spread across the Vale of Glamorgan, Neath Port Talbot, Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, and Rhondda Cynon Taf – took part in the initial trial.
The eight primaries, three secondaries, two all-age schools, and college involved are all English-medium and in areas of higher deprivation. A total of 1,862 children signed up for free after-school sessions for five hours a week in the trial.
Of these 534 were in primary schools, 280 were in ‘through schools’ (for ages three to 16), and 1,048 were in secondary schools. Activities were run by third-party providers along with teachers and teaching.
The trial aimed to test how much adding one hour to the school day would help children catch up on the social, academic, and wellbeing they had missed thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Results now published show the vast majority (91%) of children and young people who completed a post-trial survey reported that they had fun and 84% said the extra school hours helped them to socialise with peers.
They said they had been able to try new activities and learn new skills. Parents and carers “were very positive about the opportunity for their children to participate”.
The report on the trial adds: “Parents appreciated the wide range of free activities... they also mentioned that the trial gave their children the opportunity to try activities they would not have otherwise been able to do, mainly due to financial barriers.”
The extra hour of activities also helped wellbeing, behaviour, school attendance, and engagement in the classroom, the evaluation report adds. Among key recommendations are that the extra free hour of activities and learning should continue long-term.
The report says: “Children and young would like to see the activities offered on a long-term basis and extended to other year groups in their settings.”
Sign-up to and attendance at the sessions was consistently high. Some schools offered academic support as well as activities including numeracy, ICT, and literacy skills or homework help. One pupil told the trial evaluation: “Lots of our faces lit up when we heard about the free clubs ". A member of staff said: “We’ve got one child in particular...very disengaged in school, completely. They now come to school every day and they attend the clubs every night.
"Their communication skills are now very, very good – they didn’t say anything often [and would] come out of classrooms and sit in a corridor and refuse to do anything. Now they’re engaged and they’re learning.”
Another member of staff involved said: “Because of the area there is quite a lot of anti-social behaviour and fighting – there’s always police in the school. The provider doesn’t just go in and do the self-defence – he talks to the learners about how decisions they make can influence their whole lives. Now the kids say they have the instructor’s voice in their heads when they’re getting into fights saying: ‘Walk away, walk away.'”
One parent described how their child now liked school. They said: “My child has never wanted to participate in school and has disliked attending. Since the extra activities she has become much happier in attending school and excited about what she will be doing.”
Another said: “The parents were saying the children didn’t really do anything after school beforehand. You know, our children don’t go to sort of paid clubs or anything like that. “It was just new experiences. The children were coming home, you know, buzzing from how they finished their day.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We are now considering the additional enrichment sessions trials findings in the context of our wider education priorities and reforms.” Meanwhile a public consultation will be held on separate plans for potential reforms to school year dates.
The schools and one college which took part in the trial from January to May 2022
Cardiff
Eastern High and Cardiff and Vale College
Windsor Clive Primary School
Blaenau Gwent
Abertillery Learning Community 3-18 school – across three sites
Ebbw Fawr Learning Community
Neath Port Talbot
Cefn Saeson Comprehensive
Melin Primary School
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Darrenlas Primary School
Glenboi Primary School
Vale of Glamorgan
Pencoedtre High School
Cadoxton Primary School
Colcot Primary School
Holton Primary School
Oakfield Primary School
