18th April 2023
Dear Parents and Carers,

Proposed amendment from September 2023
to Berkeley Primary School’s opening times

The Government's 2022 white paper laid out plans for all mainstream state-funded schools, such as ours, to provide a 32.5 hour week, or 6.5 hour days, by September 2023. Currently, we are short of this target by 15 mins. Therefore to meet the new requirements, we need to extend the school day.

Following consultation with our Berkeley Primary School Governing Body, we propose from the start of the 2023/24 academic year (Tuesday 5th September 2023), our school day will start at 8:45am and close at 3:15pm. This will bring us in-line with the new 6.5 hour day. The gates and school doors will open at 8:40am for the children to start making their way into the building and will close at 8.50am (after this time you will need to bring your child into the main office and register them with the office staff).

These times were chosen after much discussion, we considered: - the start and finish times of our local primary school St. Augustine Webster (they start at 9:00am and finish at 3.30pm) to avoid congestion on local roads by starting / finishing at different times. - that due to the soft start we already have (opening gates at 8:45), we feel this change would not impact parents and children much as the majority of children come into school at 8:45 currently.

We appreciate this may impact you in terms of childcare or working arrangements and therefore we would welcome any feedback you may have. If you require any further information or have any questions, comments or suggestions please email me at: head.berkeleyprimary@northlincs.gov.uk by 28th April 2023.

Best wishes
Anna Cvijetic
Headteacher