Closed petition Reduce the school week to four days a week

We urge the Government to require all schools to reduce the school week to four instead of five days by making each school day one hour longer whilst requiring the school week to be four instead of five days.

This petition is closed All petitions run for 6 months

126,014 signatures

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100,000 signatures required to be considered for a debate in Parliament

Parliament debated this topic

This topic was debated on 5 January 2026

Watch the petition 'Reduce the school week to four days a week' being debated

Government responded

This response was given on 10 October 2025

The government has no plans to reduce the school week to four days. Regular attendance at school is vital for children’s education, well-being and long-term development as well as parental employment.

Read the response in full

The government has no plans to require schools to reduce the length of the school week from five days to four by adding an additional hour to each of the four days.

To ensure children across the country have sufficient time in school to enable them to achieve and thrive, the Government has set a minimum expectation that all state-funded, mainstream schools will deliver a minimum school week of 32 hours and 30 minutes. Consistency in the length of the school week is essential for providing equal learning opportunities that will enable children and young people to achieve and thrive. While most state funded schools already meet this requirement, schools that don’t are encouraged to move towards doing so as soon as possible.

Reducing the school week to four days whilst still delivering the minimum expectation would mean a minimum school day of over 8 hours. Schools would have to deliver an additional 1 hour and 38 minutes per day across the four days to meet the weekly minimum requirement.

Reducing the school week would also have a damaging impact on parents, many of whom would need to make additional arrangements for childcare, reduce their working hours or potentially leave the workforce altogether. This would in turn put families under financial strain and have a damaging effect on the country’s economy.

Being in school, enjoying a broad and balanced education and achieving academically are key protective factors that help to promote mental health and well-being. Considering the wider benefits of time in school, the government therefore has no plans to reduce the school week from five days to four.

Department for Education

  1. MPs debate the length of the school week

    The Petitions Committee scheduled a debate in the House of Commons on the petition you signed. This took place on Monday 5 January. A member of the Committee, Dave Robertson MP, opened the debate.

    Read a summary of what was said, watch the debate and access other relevant material: The length of the school week

    What are petitions debates?

    Petitions debates are ‘general’ debates which allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions and put their concerns to Government Ministers.

    Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means that MPs did not vote on the length of the school week at the end of the debate.

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