TEACHERS and campaigners clashed yesterday over government plans for schools to offer “wraparound” childcare that would have pupils spending 50 hours a week in school.

All schools will have to open from 8am to 6pm within the next four years in an attempt to give state school pupils the same opportunities as those in the private sector. Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, told The Times yesterday that the initiative was so popular that 2,500 schools had signed up ahead of target.

But as the Archbishop of Canterbury expressed concern about the growing pressures on children at school, head teachers, staff, unions and campaigners questioned whether it was good for children to spend so long in school. Dr Rowan Williams said that children faced too much “pressure to achieve” and had to take too many tests.

Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education,said: “This will destroy childhood and deprive children of the chance to enjoy other people or things outside the school environment.”

The longer school day is designed to help working parents and to give children access to activities that they might not otherwise have.

But on the day that the Church launched an inquiry into the state of childhood, education campaigners claimed that sending pupils to school for so long would deprive them of the chance to learn from other situations, and deny them the space to think about and absorb the lessons of the day.

“In many ways it is an abuse of children to stick them for that many hours of the day in school. Children need to get out and see the world,” Mr Seaton said.

The Children’s Society inquiry has been set up because of concerns about the rising levels of depression among children, and Dr Williams said that early research had suggested that pressure in school was a factor. He highlighted “relentless testing” as well as advertisements aimed at children and “family-unfriendly” incentives for working mothers.

“Allowing families to work more flexibly ought to work for the good of a family. The trouble is that very often it is presented or understood primarily just in terms of getting women back to the workplace.”

The Government’s Extended Schools programme is designed to offer children a range of extracurricular activities out of normal school hours, It is intended to enable youngsters to develop new skills and talents and discover activities at which children shine.

“Independent schools have always done this,” Ms Hughes said. “They have given children opportunities to excel by offering them a wide range of activities.

“In the long run it helps build children’s confidence and self-esteem. Their academic results improve as a result.”

Ms Hughes’s remarks coincide with the publication of a new report today, led by Alan Dyson, of the University of Manchester, which has found that extending school hours by offering breakfast clubs and after-school activities can help boost academic performance, attendance and behaviour.

But Richard Thornhill, head teacher of Loughborough Primary School in Brixton, South London, one of the government’s flagship Extended Schools, gave warning that it would not be good for children to spend 50 hours a week at school. “We strongly encourage parents not to leave any child full-time five days a week,” he said. “It removes the opportunity for parents to get really involved with their own children. We cannot replace parents at school. We cannot replace the love and care and nurture they should get from their parents. Giving a child the freedom to have down time does not work very well at school because we have to have rules and regulations.”

David Willetts, the Shadow Education Secretary, agreed that children might suffer from being kept at school for so long. “It’s bad for children who are unhappy at school to keep them there,” he said.

Others welcomed the move. Frank Gulley, headteacher of Temple Sutton Primary School in Southend-on-Sea, which provides ten hours of services each day for children aged as young as six weeks, said: “It would be great if all children went home and had a smashing experience and sat down for a meal with their parents, but they don’t. Many of them just go to a childminder or are sat down in from of the television.

“If we were providing all lessons and no play it would be bad for them. But we provide many opportunities for play, do sport or learn an instrument.”

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