My children's school now has holiday clubs from 8am to 6pm during school holidays, apart from two weeks in the summer and a week at Christmas. This enables both parents to work full time and for the childen to be looked after in a happy, safe environment. As a working mother of three, this has solved all my childcare problems. I am happy and so are the children. Christine Elliott, Uxbridge

We have been bombarded with articles in the press seeking to explain the behaviour of "hoodies". Overwhelming criticism was levelled at parents who had abdigated responsibility for their children's behaviour. How does this fit with government proposals to have children spend as much as 50 hours a week at school? For the very youngest it will be almost bedtime when they get home. That makes for a very long day, and can only be detrimental to their relationship with parents. Eleanor Rule, Canterbury

This scheme will benefit middle-class working parents, like me, who are prepared to pay for their children to be supervised before or after school. I doubt if it will benefit those "alienated from society" who will have neither the funds nor the inclination to sign up their children. However, as most current after school clubs have great difficulty finding staff to work the hours, I can't see that it will ever be available to all children. Elaine Wintle, Cambridge

Thank goodness for this. Our daughter starts school in September; at the moment she's thriving in a private nursery. My husband and I both work in flexible jobs, but cannot see how we would be able to continue without relying on friends or neighbours. I'm fed up with people trying to make us feel bad about working and having children - get back to the 50s or wise up to the realities of modern life. Jo O’Hara, Alderton, Wiltshire

One important and enjoyable aspect of parenting is the duty to nurture our children. This, apparently, is to be taken over by a soulless state. In return, we get to work longer in order to pay the State more money. What an exchange! Cheryle Shevlane, Hatfield

I'm currently doing my A-levels, and while staying at school a couple of hours longer may seem like a good idea, by the end of the day we're all tired and can't concentrate. Making us stay even longer isn't going to help. Kids already dislike school and making them come earlier and go home later isn't going change that attitude. Name and address withheld

I appreciate that some people need the option of after-school activities, but, like cartoons on TV, some parents will take the easy way out and let someone else provide the childcare. Roberta Mason, London

I only see references to "working mothers", but nothing is said about working fathers. They are invisible in the debate. It seems we fathers are only useful for paying bills and getting blamed when things go wrong. Gabriel Dezon, Theale, Berkshire

Does Ms Kelly truly believe that more time at school will improve the behaviour of children already alienated from their families and society? More mothers properly financially supported to be at home with the kids would get better results. Some effort should be made to encourage a sense of social responsibility in the parents, before you impose these daft ideas on our children - and make them (and their parents) feel even more inadequate and unwelcome in society. Theo Fenning, Norwich

With ever increasing state intervention in the rearing of children, when will the Government introduce political indoctrination into the syllabus? Answers on a postcard to the Kremlin. John Atkins, Nairn

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