Schools ‘considering three day week’ due to soaring energy bills

15 August 2022, 12:26

Schools could be reduced to three days a week. Picture: Getty Images

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

Schools across the country are reportedly holding 'crisis meetings' to consider three-day working weeks.

Schools are reportedly considering reducing teaching to three or four-day weeks to manage huge energy bills.

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Headteachers are currently trying to work out ways to save costs as budgets come under increased pressure.

Schools are battling with huge inflation, which could pass 15 per cent next year.

Teachers are also set to be given pay rises in September which is thought to be adding to the stress on finances.

Schools could go to three days a week. Picture: Alamy

In a bid to tackle this, some are now considering cutting the school week, according to The Telegraph.

Mark Jordan, the chief executive of a multi-academy trust that runs 17 schools across the Midlands and Norfolk, told the newspaper he had heard discussions of a ‘three-day week’.

Dr Robin Bevan, headmaster of Southend High School for Boys in Essex, also told the newspaper: "If a four-day week is not already being planned, it will certainly be being considered' by some schools."

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Other measures reportedly being discussed include recruitment freezes, scrapping Covid catch up programs and planning redundancies.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education has confirmed school weeks should be no less than 32.5 hours.

They told The Telegraph: “Thousands of schools already deliver this length of week within existing budgets and we expect current funding plans to account for this.

“We recognise that schools – much like the wider economy – are facing increased costs, including on energy and staff pay.”

Schools are struggling with rising costs. Picture: Alamy

This comes after funding per pupil has fallen by nine per cent since 2010, with the Government committing an extra £7billion for school budgets in England by 2024.

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that in 2024, spending per pupil will still be three per cent below 2010 levels due to rising costs and teacher salaries.

Pay for teachers is are set to increase by nine per cent for new employees and five per cent for experienced teachers.