Changing the structure of the school day

A number of schools, for a variety of reasons, are looking to change the structure of the school day.

On the surface this seems a relatively simple task but there can be several hidden consequences and pose management challenges and also exercise the mind and skills of the timetabler. These changes would normally be made for the start of an academic year but this is not always the case. In the example given below a new head started in the school in September. By half term it had been realised that the structure of the school day was giving rise to problems and the way the curriculum had been constructed was not conducive to raising achievement. The decision was taken to re-design the curriculum and re-schedule the whole of the timetable for a January re-launch.

The school was running on a 30 period single week cycle with each period lasting 50 minutes. The plan was to go for 25 periods each of 60 minutes. This would reduce the number of movements around the school and reduce the need for supervision. A nurture group was to be introduced in Y7, an option group to be introduced in Y9 and setting in for English and Maths introduced in years 9 & 10. These changes should increase opportunity for many students and raise achievement in core subjects. These things had been pointed out by Ofsted as needing to be addressed.

The Headteacher was quite prepared to accept that in order to gain the benefits that are needed there could well be short term pain and difficult decisions to be made. The re-structuring of Y10 serves to illustrate some of the difficulties that present when undertaking an exercise such as this.

Re-structuring of Y10 Re-structuring Y10
There are 188 learners in Y10 and they are divided into 3 pathways by ability. Option A is available to Pathway 1 and Pathway 3 learners and was allocated 3 periods a week (2.5 hours). Option B is only available to Pathway 1 learners and was allocated 3 periods. Option C was available to all and Option D to just Pathway 2 and 3. Both option C and D were allocated 6 periods (3 hours). The allocation of time for the other subjects is shown in the table.

You can see from the table that in the revised week English, Maths and Science all gain time- they move from 3 hours 20 minutes to 4 hours per week. This is in line with wanting to put more time into core subjects. Although the school has Specialist Sports status the time allocated to PE will be reduced by 30 minutes per week in this model.

Options C and D will remain time neutral. These options contain most of the vocational options and are linked to the local college. Options A and B will be reduced from 2.5 to 2 hours per week. However, for Pathway 3 option A is going to be removed completely.

There is a tradition in the school that all students get a qualification in IT and hence up until now this has been a compulsory subject. In the new model Pathway 1 learners will have a reduction of 40 minutes per week whilst Pathway 3 learners will increase by 10 minutes. However, Pathway 2 learners will have no time allocated for IT. To make up for this loss an intensive course will be provided for them towards the end of the summer term when the college courses finish.

Clearly this is a very bold move and it would not be considered unless there was an overwhelming need identified. The timetabler faces a huge task, learners and parents have to be consulted where options are being removed and there is a huge job to re-compile all the associated teaching groups to reflect changes in choices and setting by ability of learners.

Do you feel the need to re-visit your school day?
If you feel that your school maybe looking at re-designing the school day for transport, breaktime or raising attainment reasons and would like to discuss anything further please contact MIST Services. MIST Services works with many schools, colleges and Academies each academic year, ultimately being exposed to literally hundreds of curriculums and timetabling problems.