SHOULD children start school as late as 11am?

Parents who juggle the school run with their rush hour commute to work may balk at the idea, but a leading scientist claims that ending early morning starts in the classroom could benefit youngsters.

Such a move could tackle the issue of sleep deprivation which appears to be affecting alarming numbers of children and teenagers.

A new study reveals that one in five schoolchildren wakes up in the night to look at social media, leaving them sleep-deprived in school the next day.

Researchers found that youngsters aged between 12 and 15 get up at least once a week on a school night to check sites such as Twitter and Facebook. More than half of those reaching for smartphones when they should be fast asleep said they were "almost always" tired in classes the next day.

Dr Kimberley Horton, from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research Data (Wiserd), said: "Having a regular waketime and using social media during the night appear to be more important in determining whether a young person is always tired during the day than the time they go to bed, how long they spend in bed and having a regular bedtime.

"No amount of effort to develop regular bedtimes or to lengthen the time in bed would seem to be able to compensate for the disruption that this can cause."

Researchers asked 848 school pupils how often they woke at night to use social media - 22per cent of Year 8 pupils and 23per cent in Year 10 answered 'almost always'. A further a 14per cent of younger students and 15per cent of the older group said they did so at least once a week.

The study, entitled Routines And Rest: The Sleep Behaviours Of 12 To 15-Year-Olds, also found "substantial" proportions of pupils going to bed very late - with more than a quarter of Year 10 pupils going at midnight or later on a school night.

So should school start times be put back later to combat sleep-deprivation among pupils?

Professor Paul Kelley thinks so. In a talk at the British Science Festival in Bradford recently the Professor, from the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, said young people in the UK were losing an average of 10 hours sleep a week, and suggested that primary school age children should start school at 8.30am or later and teenagers at 10am or 11am.

However, the Wiserd paper argues that children would be less likely to have regular waking times if school starting times were later - and it was regular routines which would be likely to make children feel less tired.

It said: "Having a regular morning routine may actually prove to be a very important feature in helping adolescents concentrate and enjoy their learning, something that may actually be undermined by changes to the school day."

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation is a "chronic health problem" among adolescents.

The Foundation highlights youngster's busy schedules of school and afterschool activities and part-time jobs, homework, social lives, family time and early school start times as factors affecting their sleep, as well as biological changes affecting sleeping and waking patterns.

And, with children as young as 10 owning mobile phones and tablets, regular use of these devices at night also interfere with their sleep patterns, leading to exhaustion and potential health problems.

Retired teacher Anna Evans, of Ilkley, has seen at firsthand the effects of sleep deprivation on performance in the classroom. "Children who are tired are generally irritable, emotional and less able to retain information," says Anna. "It used to amaze me how late pupils stayed up on school nights. I'd hear them discussing some TV programme that I knew had been on late the previous night. Parents have a responsibility to make sure their children have a regular bedtime routine, at a sensible hour, and that they're getting enough sleep.

"I don't think children should be allowed to take phones and other devices to bed. They're so fixated by social media, if their smartphone or whatever is next to the bed, the temptation is to use it. Some kids even keep their phones under their pillows!

"Sleep deprivation has serious consequences. I'm not sure that changing school starting times is the answer - surely they will still be tired at 10am or 11am. It's up to parents to monitor and limit their children's use of technology, and to ensure that they get a full night's sleep."