Head teachers threaten to disrupt extended schools agenda

The government’s extended schools programme has been called into question by the National Association of Head Teachers.

NAHT general secretary Mick Brookes told delegates at the union’s annual conference in Harrogate last week that, while schools supported the Every Child Matters agenda, “very few were aware that what we were being inveigled into was the administration of a national babysitting service”.

Brooks added that the financial implications of extended schools were “very worrying” and could lead to school budgets being raided.

In a shot across the government’s bow, he warned that the union would put the extended schools programme “on hold” if its concerns were not addressed.

The Department for Education and Skills wants every school to offer wrap around care from 8am to 6pm by 2010. But Brooks questioned whether this was always in the best interests of parents and children, saying that many parents wanted to see more of their children not less.