MOST children love a day off school – but what if that “day off” were to become a permanent thing? How would families cope and what would the impact be on young people?

Cottingley Village Primary School is consulting parents on the possibility of closing early every Friday.

If the plan goes ahead the school day will be brought forward in the morning and pupils will be sent home at lunchtime.

We have some sympathy for head teachers. Despite the Government’s claims to have ring fenced funding, many schools in the Bradford district are facing budgetary cuts. In Cottingley’s case, the school will lose £406 per pupil by 2022.

The biggest concern has to be what will happen to pupils who are not at school for an extra half a day per week. For many families, neither parent will be at home to supervise their children. Mums and dads will have to rely on understanding grandparents or sign their kids up for costly after-school clubs. And if the school day starts earlier will sleepy pupils be able to concentrate on their lessons?

On the upside, an extra half day will give diligent students more time to complete home assignments and parents will be able to make weekday out-of-school appointments that don’t conflict with term time.

Whether it presents a major challenge or an unexpected opportunity one thing is certain: Cottingley primary will not be the only school considering such a radical shake-up. More heads will have to reconsider the working week if they want to balance the books when the new funding formula comes into effect.