Tyneside headteacher says 'let pupils start school at 11am'
Mar 9 2009 by Robert Weatherall, The Journal
A PIONEERING headteacher claimed parents should allow their children to sleep in every morning – even on schooldays.
Tyneside head Dr Paul Kelley is hoping to convince parents and governors to radically alter the traditional 9am-3.30pm routine.
Instead of having teenage pupils settled at their desks first thing Monday to Friday, Dr Kelley wants to push back the start of the school day by two hours and start lessons at 11am.
He claims altering the hours children spend learning would make them more productive and could make them more sociable, bringing to an end the ‘Kevin The Teenager’ phenomenon.
Dr Kelley, headteacher of Monkseaton Community High in North Tyneside, has enrolled some of his pupils in a study run by Russell Foster, a professor of neuroscience at Oxford University.
And the initial findings suggest most teenagers go through a genetic phase to be sleepy and unresponsive in the morning. Tests carried out on 200 of his pupils showed they performed better at memory tests in the afternoon than in the morning.
He said: “It seems that the body clock of teenagers is different to those of adults. They are working on a body clock which runs around two hours later than everyone else.
“For generations people have wondered why teenagers seem to be lazy in the morning and prefer to stay up late at night. Some people have suggested it is a lack of discipline but the latest scientific studies now suggest that it is something beyond their control.”
Apart from memory tests Prof Foster, also carried out a range of other studies.
Dr Kelley said: “Studies of their bodies and the hormones they produce through the day show that they lag behind the rest of us. Waking them up in the morning to fit in with a normal 9am start the rest of the working world is used to, deprives them of sleep.
“It is like torturing them through sleep deprivation. We all know what it is like when we haven’t had a good night’s sleep. We are lethargic, unresponsive and bad tempered. Teenagers are constantly being deprived of two hours’ sleep each night so no wonder they can often be labelled grumpy.
“The whole of their body clock is affected. If they go to bed early they simply won’t be tired.”
One of those who took part in the study was Tayler McCullogh, 15. He said: “I’m extremely hard to get up in the morning. one or two people like to get to school early, but most of us would be up for going in later. I’m sure it would make a big difference to our learning ability.”
Dr Kelly now hopes to convince parents and school governors to alter the school working day. He said: “It is the duty of a school to look after the welfare of its pupils and educate them. I think altering the school day would go along way to meeting these goals.”
Professor Russell Foster said: “This is preliminary data but what’s exciting is that it matches more detailed studies carried out in Canada and the US. Teenagers get up late not because they are lazy but because they are biologically programmed to do so.”
Teenagers are deprived of two hours’ sleep each night – no wonder they can be labelled grumpy
