Should the time of day school starts and ends be changed?

[brenden]

Aside from the points already posted for not changing school times, logistically, it would be impossible to shift to 10am start uniformly with working parents. Certainly, most of you would be fine getting yourselves to school, but primary school and early secondary school creates another problem entirely with drop offs in particular

Point taken, but is there a reason we can’t just keep it normal up to Year 9 and have the late start implemented from then on? (Or even Year 10... not sure when delayed sleep onset starts kicking in adolescents).

[zofromuxo]

Well it depends really.

Templestowe College has different start times and end times, so maybe an experiment should be conducted for this debate.
But if we look at this from the "science" side: Yes, times should be changed. It is a biologically fact that teenagers have a change in sleep times due to the delayed onset of Melatonin that triggers the body its time to sleep.
This Ted talk and the reading list has a strong starting point on this debate.
We know that sleep has both beneficial effects for us when properly enforced and negative effects for us when not properly enforced.

However, I do feel that teenagers do have a responsibility to sleep properly as well. I mean seriously looking at your phones in your bed, having inconsistent times going to sleep and waking up doesn't help you start the day well at all. I also agree with Aaron that in life not everything goes your way. You do have to get up at 5:30am to get work on time that starts at 8:00am.

It also depends because schools have different start times and end times as well. My highschool had a start of 9:00am and finished at 3:15am. That suited most of us and those that wanted it changed were notorious for partying on the weekend well into 5:00am. You can see how that didn't help their case. But also sometimes some people do have a long commute to get for school as well.

So in the end, should they change? Honestly, I would say no in the end. But there are strong arguments for both sides of this debate.

[Willba99]

From a country point of view, a 9am start at school means a 6am wake-up for some kids (an hour and a half bus, travel to the bus stop, and time to get ready after waking up) - which, for teenagers, is quite an ask (much has already been said about the different circadian cycle for teens). I've always thought that a 10am-4pm day would mean a more reasonable wake-up for kids who have to travel an hour plus every day.

Maybe different start times for country schools?

[PhoenixxFire]

Well it depends really.

Templestowe College has different start times and end times, so maybe an experiment should be conducted for this debate.

It also depends because schools have different start times and end times as well. My highschool had a start of 9:00am and finished at 3:15am. That suited most of us and those that wanted it changed were notorious for partying on the weekend well into 5:00am. You can see how that didn't help their case. But also sometimes some people do have a long commute to get for school as well.

So in the end, should they change? Honestly, I would say no in the end. But there are strong arguments for both sides of this debate.

TC is my school. I talked about it earlier in this thread - early start ran, late start did not have enough student interest to run. Having said that, the classes that ran in the early block were year 11 English, Year 12 English, and gym. So the three most popular classes.

I like the way my school runs it, it gives students options (and also teachers). Logistically it’s pretty simple - students and teachers that start early go home early. Students and teachers that start late go home late.

10-4 sounds awesome however that is 45 minutes shorter than my current school time each day.

@aaron I don’t agree that we have to start school around 9 because it prepares students for work - teenagers are biologically different and so they should not be forced into the same standards. Also the majority go on to do at least 3 years at uni where they are definitely not forced to get up early every day.

We obviously wouldn’t force babies to stay awake the entire day because they won’t be able to nap when they get to school, so why should we force teenagers to wake up early just because they will have to when they get a full time job?

[EEEEEEP]

@aaron I don’t agree that we have to start school around 9 because it prepares students for work - teenagers are biologically different and so they should not be forced into the same standards. Also the majority go on to do at least 3 years at uni where they are definitely not forced to get up early every day.

Haha, I beg to differ with you there

Engineering, law, science, biomed and medicine people do many many hours (23-26) at uni (weekly) and often do have morning lectures.  Many people also work part time, while studying at uni.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that many people wake up early for most days of the week (if not every day).

Lets say... 15 hours of uni, then 15-20 hours of work. That's nearly a full time worker's hours ^^.

[Bri MT]

Aside from the points already posted for not changing school times, logistically, it would be impossible to shift to 10am start uniformly with working parents. Certainly, most of you would be fine getting yourselves to school, but primary school and early secondary school creates another problem entirely with drop offs in particular

I've been walking to school since I was 7 (and prep times are weird anyway). I think teaching self sufficiency and independence is good - even if it is in a minor way such as getting yourself to school.

[Sine]

Personally would've liked 10-4 but It's definitely good life experience  to do things that are not to your optimal preference even if they are somewhat annoying.

As for the changes to the 9-3 parental dropoff. Probably isn't the safest thing (especially long distances) for children of that age to go alone. Although I lived around ~ 1 block away from my PS.

[fatima_t]

my school starts at 8-20 to 3-20 but its fine because everyday I have at least 1 free period

[The Special One]

No? Why would I want to finish school later? I don't see what I would gain from this, would screw up my healthy snack, recess, lunch schedule too.

From primary school to secondary school imho the school times are perfect the way they are.