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This petition was submitted during the 2017 to 2019 Parliament

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Closed School should start at 10am as teenagers are too tired

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Teenagers are so tired due to having to wake up very early to get to school. The Government should require secondary schools to start later, which will lead to increased productivity at school.

187,902 signatures

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    Original Government response

    The decision on when to start the school day lies with individual schools. All schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day.

    The government has given all schools the ability to set their own school hours so all schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the timetable and duration of their school day, including the flexibility to decide when their school day should start and finish.

    The Department has not made an assessment of these decisions taken by individual schools. We trust head teachers to decide how best to structure their school day to support their pupils’ education.

    There are no specific legal requirements about how long the school day should be. Governing bodies of all maintained schools in England are responsible for deciding when morning and afternoon sessions should begin and end on each school day. Governing bodies are also responsible for deciding the length of each lesson and the timings for the morning session, the midday break, and the afternoon session.

    Academy and free school funding agreements state that the duration of the school day is the responsibility of the academy trust.

    In the event that a school decides to make changes to its school day, it is our expectation that the school should act reasonably when making such decisions; giving parents notice and considering the impact on those affected – including pupils, teachers, and parents’ work commitments and childcare options.

    Department for Education.

    This response was given on 7 February 2019. The Petitions Committee then requested a revised response, that more directly addressed the request of the petition.

  • Petition closed

  • Government responded to this petition

    The Department has no plans to require secondary schools to start later. The decision on when to start the school day lies with individual schools.

    Read the response in full

    The government has given all schools the ability to set their own school hours so all schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day, including the flexibility to decide when their school day should start and finish. In light of this, the Department has no plans to require secondary schools to start later. We trust head teachers to decide how best to structure their school day to support their pupils’ education.

    There are no specific legal requirements about how long the school day should be. Governing bodies of all maintained schools in England are responsible for deciding when morning and afternoon sessions should begin and end on each school day

    Academy and free school funding agreements state that the duration of the school day is the responsibility of the academy trust. In the event that a school decides to make changes to its school day, it is our expectation that the school should consider the impact on those affected – including pupils, teachers, and parents’ work commitments and childcare options.

    Department for Education.

    This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/229178)

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    Thanks for giving us your views

    Thanks to those of you who got in touch with us to tell us how you feel about school starting times. Over 5,000 people responded.

    You’ll be able to watch the debate on Parliamentlive.tv from 4:30 pm on Monday, 11th February:

    https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Commons

    We know that many MPs come to petitions debates because they have been contacted by their constituents.

    You can find out who your MP is and how to contact them here:

    https://beta.parliament.uk/mps

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    Share your views on school start times

    Keep an eye out for our Instagram story @ukparliament

    Your survey answers will help the Petitions Committee, which oversees the petitions system, explain to the UK Government during the debate how school opening hours affect you.

    Any information you share with us might be talked about in the debate, which people will be able to watch online. Sometimes thousands of people watch debates and the things that MPs say might be reported in the press.

    Don't tell us anything that you don't want to be made public.

    If you don’t have an Instagram account, you can access our short survey here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/RACQZ/

    Best wishes,

    The Petitions Committee team

  • Parliament will debate this petition on 11 February 2019

    You’ll be able to watch online on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.

  • This petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

    This petition got more than 100,000 signatures meaning the Petitions Committee will consider it for debate in Parliament.

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 4 April 2019.