Head teachers in favour of a shorter school week

Head teachers have backed a motion which gives their leaders licence to explore all options in order to deal with budget pressures.

The motion was made by heads at the National Association of Head Teachers conference, who said that ministers had not been listening to their plight.

According to the BBC, one of the options includes bringing in a four-and-a-half day week in schools in England to cope with £3 billion in budget pressures.

However, the government insists that school funding is at its highest and will rise to £41 billion in the next year.

The National Audit Office has found, however, that schools are facing budget cuts of £3 billion by 2020 because funding was not keeping pace with an increased number of pupils and rising costs of national insurance and pension contributions.

The NAHT will discuss further steps in its campaign to oppose school funding cuts at an executive conference in June.