PARENTS have flooded the council’s education department with strong opinions over the controversial proposed four-and-a-half day school day week.
More than 1500 responses were sent in by parents/caregivers in the first 48 hours of a consultation being launched by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
As of September 20, there were more than 6000 responses received in total as others shared their opinions too, including children and young people, staff, and other stakeholders such as community councils and trade unions.
Education chiefs have revealed that this is the most engagement any council consultation has had since the start of the pandemic.
The consultation began in August, runs until October 11, and its findings will be reported to the council’s education committee on November 8.
However, a consultation progress report has been produced for councillors by chief education officer Jim Brown, which will be tabled at the full council meeting next week.
Mr Brown wrote: “There has been a range of views offered within the website, forums, drop-ins and directly to trade unions and the management team.
“What is clear is that people are keen to have their view heard, are actively engaging and have taken time to write and contribute to discussion.
“This is the highest response rate of any strategic consultation carried out by the council since 2020.
“This level of participation is welcomed as stakeholders are being heard, and will continue to do so until the published date of the closure of the consultation.”
There are ongoing focus groups and engagement with the joint trade unions, along with 16 drop-in consultation events held so far across Dumfries and Galloway.
The education chief also confirmed there had been extensive online engagement overall. This has included 1378 responses from children and young people, 2426 responses to the parent carer survey, 898 responses to the staff survey, 520 responses to the general stakeholder survey, and 60 emails were received sharing views and asking questions.
The proposed restructure of secondary school timetables across Dumfries and Galloway would see pupils and staff benefitting from an early finish on a Friday.
These plans were drawn up to “improve work-life balance” for both teachers and benefit pupils.
The school day would start slightly earlier, with period one at 8.50 am. The total learning time for the week would 1650 minutes (just under 28 hours) and all 16 high schools locally would be operating under one single timetable.
If approved, the changes would be implemented from June 2025 – with plans to bring primary schools into alignment too.
However, concerns have been raised about the impact on parents’ working and childcare arrangements.
