School days could be lengthened and holidays shortened to help kids catch up

School days may be lengthened and holidays shortened to let pupils catch up, Gavin Williamson hinted today. The Education Secretary confirmed he is looking at "the whole expanse" of options to help left-behind children. He announced a short-term, £300m 'recovery premium' for catch-up schemes – worth about £6,000 for primaries and £22,000 for secondaries on average. Mr Williamson stopped short of confirming his long-term plans as all pupils return to schools in England on March 8. But questioned by Sky, he refused to rule out either lengthening the school day or shortening the summer break. A government source indicated the two options would be considered by Sir Kevan Collins, the Government’s new catch up tsar, as part of a new review. And asked about the two options, Mr Williamson said: "We're looking at a whole range of different actions. "What we wanted to do was give schools the extra resources they needed to be able to take action immediately. "Some of the reforms we want to look at and sort of consult on will look at the whole expanse of what we can do in terms of helping children have extra teaching time, have extra opportunities. "But this is an… Read full this story

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