Asked by: Nick Hurd (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to encourage the extension of the school day to create more opportunities for young people to access extracurricular activities.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The government has made it easier for all schools to make changes to the length, structure and content of the school day so that every school in England has the flexibility to decide when their school day should start and finish. We trust headteachers to decide how best to structure their school day to support their pupils’ education.
Asked by: Nick Hurd (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage the development of character and life skills in young people.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education is investing £5 million to expand the capacity of schools and voluntary organisations in order to deliver character education. We are committed to ensuring that all young people develop a range of character attributes, such as resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment. We want to ensure all young people are prepared for life in modern Britain.
Asked by: Nick Hurd (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of (a) young people's access to extracurricular activities designed to help their personal development and (b) opportunities for increasing the availability of such activities.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department is committed to implementing measures to support schools to build character, resilience and grit in their pupils. Participating in extracurricular activities is one aspect of building character in young people.
We are supporting head teachers to decide the activities they offer and how best to structure the school day in the best interests of their pupils. We are investing £5 million to expand character education, which includes funding projects that offer extracurricular activities that help prepare children for successful adult life. We have also made it easier for all schools to make changes to the length, structure and content of the school day so that they can expand the range of activities that they offer where it would benefit their pupils.