NAC U-turn on 4-day school week

The desperation of North Ayrshire Council to save money became starkly evident earlier this month when it proposed to reduce the Primary School week to four days instead of five. Lambasted by MSP Kenneth Gibson and many others, they quickly dropped the idea, but in its place came a suggestion from Councillor David O’Neill that children might start Primary School at age six. This, he said, ‘has been widely discussed by education professionals across the UK for several years now and is an idea which is more likely to be explored.’ With all due caution, he added, ‘Our key priority is to raise educational attainment in local schools and any proposals to alter the current education service would require to be fully investigated and discussed by Elected Members before any decision would be reached.’

So that’s all right, then.