House of Commons · Westminster Hall
27 June 2022 · 1 other contributor · 8,179 words
Opened by Catherine McKinnell Lab Newcastle upon Tyne North
Responding minister: Robin Walker
Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.
Catherine McKinnell raised concerns about school week in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key points
Key requests to Government
The Government should consider expanding child mental health services, ensuring that every secondary school has a full-time staff member dedicated to supporting pupils' mental health, and guaranteeing timely access to support within one month. Additionally, the curriculum needs to be less pressurized to allow more time for enriching activities.
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.
Opened the debate
Children are experiencing significant mental health challenges post-lockdown, with more than 337,000 under-18s referred to child and adolescent mental health services between April and September 2021. Teachers report that students struggle to make it through the school week due to stress from exams, homework, bullying, peer pressure, and other factors. The petition calling for a three-day weekend received over 150,000 signatures.
Morgan thanked his colleague for introducing the debate and acknowledged children's efforts in raising issues through a petition. He expressed concerns about reducing school days during recovery from pandemic disruption, noting that disadvantaged students suffered most from absenteeism. He also highlighted the importance of extracurricular activities and mental health support, citing a Welsh Labour trial offering five hours weekly enrichment for students. Morgan criticized government childcare policies and emphasized the need to address cost pressures affecting low-income families.
Government Response
Robin WalkerIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Rees. I thank the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) for the way she opened the debate. The Government recognise that an extended weekend can look attractive, but shortening the school week would adversely impact children's learning and reduce opportunities to socialise and participate in enrichment activities. This is more crucial than ever in the context of the covid-19 pandemic as reducing time in school reduces children's life chances, so there are no plans to require schools to close on Fridays. The Government aim for 90% of primary school children to achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by 2030 and have set an expectation that all mainstream state-funded schools should deliver at least a 32.5-hour week as soon as possible, with some schools going beyond this. The Schools Bill will require local authorities to keep registers of children not in school so no child falls through the cracks in the system. There is evidence showing that regular attendance at school and college correlates positively with wellbeing, highlighting the critical benefits of being in school for mental health recovery post-pandemic. The Government have invested nearly £5 billion in a comprehensive recovery package including targeted extra funding, teacher training, tutoring and extra educational opportunities, with an additional investment of £800 million to increase hours in 16-to-19 education by 730 hours per student per year from September 2022. The Minister also addressed concerns about exams and homework as sources of stress and anxiety for children, highlighting the importance of enrichment activities such as arts, music, physical education and sports, with £25 million committed to purchasing musical instruments and equipment and £79 million over three years for music hubs to support high-quality music education. There is a commitment to continue supporting primary schools through the PE and sport premium of £320 million for 2022-23.