Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has told MPs he is “going to look at” extending the average school day in England.
After it had been previously suggested that an extension to the school day will help children catch up on lost learning post-pandemic, newly-appointed education secretary Mr Zahawi said during education questions in the Commons that there are some “excellent examples” of schools which have implemented longer teaching hours.
He has urged all education institutions to ensure they are operating for the average school day length of 6.5 hours.
Speaking in the Commons, Conservative MP Robert Halfon MP – who chairs the education select committee – asked if the cabinet minister would consider making the case for a longer school day, especially to help increase educational attainment amongst disadvantaged pupils, and Mr Zahawi responded: “I think the priority has to be for those children and students, who have the least time available to them to recover, which is why the £800 million for the 16 to 19-year-olds additional 40 hours of education is so important.
“Plus the £1 billion going into secondary and primary, making the total £5 billion of recovery money.
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“There are some excellent examples… of a longer school day, which I’m going to look at.
“The average school day now is 6.5 hours and I would like to see everybody move towards that average.”
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Nadhim Zahawi has told MPs he is “going to look at” extending the average school day in England / Credit: UK Parliament TV
But despite Mr Zahawi’s calls for the extension, one leading education union has warned that lengthening the school day should be “weighed against” factors such as pupils’ mental health.
Paul Whiteman – General Secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT – said in a statement: “The gains that might be possible through extending the school day must be weighed against the costs of such a strategy, including the impact on pupils’ mental health, reduced family time and less time for extra-curricular activities.
“Children’s happiness and wellbeing should be prioritised as well as their education.”
Mr Williamson questioned whether some pupils should be exiting their school gates before 3pm and whether the midday lunch break had been “condensed” too far.
He suggested that lengthening school hours would allow for extra learning time and longer lunch breaks.
Mr Zahawi has urged institutions to ensure the average school day length is at least 6.5 hours / Credit: TES / iStock
But responding to Mr Williamson’s comments, shadow education secretary Kate Green warned that while she agrees that schools should be given more funding to extend their learning provisions, “children won’t learn well if they are tired and if it has been a long day”.
The ongoing debate over the extension of school days comes after ministers announced post-COVID catch-up plans worth £1.4 billion for pupils in England.
Featured Image – Flickr
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The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…
The Manc -
2nd November 2021 
