A headteacher today defended his decision to bring in a shorter school week - so that teachers can get more training.

The ground-breaking plan will mean that pupils at Chalvedon School in Pitsea will no longer attend school on Friday afternoons.

But to balance the shortfall the school intends to start the morning five minutes earlier, extend lessons by five minutes and have lunch ten minutes later.

Chalvedon headmaster Alan Roach wants to introduce the new working week to create a free afternoon for in-house teacher training that won't disrupt schooling.

Currently when teachers are being trained they often have their classes covered by supply teachers. Mr Roach believes pupils' education suffers during these periods.

But the proposals have been criticised by some school parents.

One, who did not wish to be named, said: "Five minutes added on to a lesson is neither here nor there but the loss of 39 full lessons a year needs very serious consideration."

Mr Roach has strongly defended his position, though, saying: "Half a day sounds a lot more than it actually is. It only amounts to one and a half hours, and we are compensating for that removal by putting it elsewhere in the week.

"This is nothing to do with cost cutting or funding problems, this is a decision based on improving the quality of education."

Published Tuesday, June 10, 2003

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