Secondary schools half-day every Friday?

political analyst

I've heard recently that at least some secondary schools will be having every Friday in term-time as a half-day, i.e. pupils going home for the weekend at lunchtime on Friday.

It is discussed in the following forum:

http://www.rollercoaster.ie/Discussions/tabid/119/ForumThread/141504793/Default.aspx

What is the reason for this policy?

Postgrad10

Some schools all ready do this and have been for years. They still work the same hours they are meant to. It usually means starting earlier in the day, shorter breaks or even longer days.

political analyst

Postgrad10 wrote: »

Some schools all ready do this and have been for years. They still work the same hours they are meant to. It usually means starting earlier in the day, shorter breaks or even longer days.

Before 9:00 a.m.?

trihead

I know of several school which start classes at 830/ 845/ 850 so it is getting quite common.

Bean Scoile

The reason is that all classes need to be a minimum of 40 minutes from this year to accommodate the new junior cert. unless schools go for a combination of 40 and 45 minute classes, it is not possible to have 5 days the same. So the options are 2 long and 3 slightly shorter days, or 4 long days and 1 half day. Schools that go with the half day option have mostly gone with Wednesday or Friday as the half day.

I'd imagine sport participation, local traffic issues and the demographic of the school dictated which option schools went for.

painauchocolat

We have always had a half day on Wednesdays. As an earlier poster said, we teach the same number of hours as a school that doesn't take a half day, we just have shorter breaks and an earlier start. It makes it easier to schedule matches without kids missing class.

Also, teachers are more likely to be available for extra curricular this way - most who have kids can't stay late on full days.

The traditional 9-4 school day incorporates a 1 hr lunch break, and is often a relic from an era when kids would go home for lunch, where a stay at home mum would have a hot meal prepared. This isn't the reality for most any more, so a shorter lunch break often makes sense.

juneg

painauchocolat wrote: »

The traditional 9-4 school day incorporates a 1 hr lunch break, and is often a relic from an era when kids would go home for lunch, where a stay at home mum would have a hot meal prepared. This isn't the reality for most any more, so a shorter lunch break often makes sense.

We used to walk home for our lunch every day, no wonder we were skinny!
Religion used to be traditionally taught as the Angelus bell struck 12. This was to allow the (very rare) Protestant to leave early for lunch!

The_Valeyard

When I was a student it was always 12.30 finish on a Friday. Any other school I've been to (usually community schools) always finish early on a Friday rather than a Wednesday

Mountainsandh

And there are also the schools which, given a choice, may not have switched to a half day, but have to align to other schools in the town.
In smaller towns with a sizable rural catchment area, continuing a longer day on a Friday when other schools had opted to finish at lunchtime would mean that a lot of children would have no bus service home at a later time.

rainbowtrout

Secondary schools are required to provide 28 hours of tuition to students over the course of the week.

In my school that means Mon - Thurs is 9.00 - 3.55 with 9 class periods of 40 mins each, so 6 hours of classes per day and on Fri they have 6 classes (4 hours), and finish at 1.15

Schools vary based on a number of things above, but an awful lot of the time it's based on bus schedules. When our timetable changed to the half day friday many years back we were toying with finishing around 3-ish everyday but the buses said no way, you can have the bus at lunchtime or 4pm as they do the primary school run at 3, so on fridays our crew are collected and dropped from 1.15 and that bus comes back to do the primary school run.

All the schools in my area have a half day on friday.

dory

We have a hald day every Wedneday and have for years and years. It works well for us as a lot of our students do extra curricular stuff in the school on Wednesdays. Also traffic is a nightmare so at least on Wednesdays it's not too bad at 4 (when the other schools finish).

Many areas have had half days for a long time. When I went to secondary school in Listowel in the late 90s to early 2000s, the school closed at 1:10 on Thursdays because that was the day that the local livestock mart operated.

Corkgirl18

Most schools in Cork city and surrounding suburbs all have half days on Wednesdays. It's been this way for years. Most would open before 9 and finish before 4.

doc_17

And in most cases anyway it's not a half day but a three quarter day.

Icsics

doc_17 wrote: »

And in most cases anyway it's not a half day but a three quarter day.

Exactly, 6 classes instead of 9