By Jordan Baker
St Luke’s Catholic College, a kindergarten to year 12 school in Marsden Park, opens at 6.30am and closes almost 12 hours later. When formal classes finish at 2.40pm, primary aged students can stay for “master classes” run by teachers at after-school care.
On Fridays, parents can opt to pick their primary-aged children up at midday. And three mornings a week, senior high school students can opt for a supervised study session at 8.30, or they can stay in bed and start at 10 - a decision driven by research into sleep and the teenage brain.
A music class at St Luke’s in Marsden Park exploring percussion, beat and rhythm .Credit: Wolter Peeters
The principal, Greg Miller, is keen on bold, “out of the box” thinking about how to rethink the traditional structures of education - the kind NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet wants schools to do more of to help families better juggle work and children.
Parents are mostly happy with the approach, Mr Miller said. “The majority appreciated that they were consulted and that they have choice. Some parents, particularly in the k-6 arrangement, really like the option of being able to pick them up at midday [on Friday] and scoot away for the weekend.
“Some build their working day around it. Nearly half of our working parents have to travel more than 30 km to get to work, so the extended day suits them from that perspective.”
School hours are already flexible. The NSW Education Standards Authority requires students to do a certain amount of learning, but does not prescribe when that learning needs to happen. Many private schools, for example, have longer holidays because they also have longer school days.
High schools, where students are considered old enough to make their own way home, make good use of this flexibility.
Trinity Grammar has introduced a fortnightly lesson-free day for year 12. Even before the pandemic, Sir Joseph Banks High restructured timetables to allow senior students half days. Last year, Pittwater High shifted its day forward to finish at 2pm, although some parents were not happy.
Change is harder at primary schools, where students need supervision. About 10 years ago, Merrylands East Public brought its day forward to finish at 1.15pm because many of its students had stay-at-home carers who preferred an early finish.
Few schools followed suit as parents’ work hours vary, and it can be difficult to find consensus.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the Merrylands approach of changing hours was one way schools could answer Mr Perrottet’s call, as the Department of Education invites proposals for a trial to begin in term three.
It might suit schools situated close to major industries that employ many of their parents, such as hospitals or the airport.
Another option was to offer more activities before and after school. “It’s about how do we provide more opportunities such as homework clubs, activities, something that has educational benefits and what families need,” Ms Mitchell said.
Illawong Public School near Menai used its COVID-19 tutoring money to begin an after school homework club, Ms Mitchell said. Homework completion had been an issue, and the school found students were more motivated to do their work.
At another school in the Hunter Valley, a before-school program called Milo and Maths involves older students tutoring younger students. “It’s useful for parents but it’s also doing something meaningful,” she said.
Ms Mitchell said she did not want to replace after-school care. “After school care is so essential, but how do we work with them, how do we look at what else we can offer?” she said. “It’s intended to be something we do in collaboration with others in this space, not to make them anxious about their viability.”
In the north-west of Sydney, other Catholic schools are also looking at offering parents flexibility and ways to enhance the after-school period as St Luke’s has done, said Maura Manning, the director of learning for the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta.
“It’s about the learning, and it’s about the needs of the community,” she said. “In one of our communities where we have less advantaged students, they’re looking at that early start in the morning because breakfast is fundamental to how the students begin their day.”
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