By Thomas Fox, Luke Collingwood and Callum Walker
The earlier start to school was put into action at the start of this school year but is this change really for the and how is it affecting the pupils of Fortrose Academy and is this?
A new start means that instead of school starting at 9am it now starts 15 minutes earlier. This change is mainly to save money by putting seven classes in the school day instead of six. This makes the learning of pupils more concentrated and it means pupils can take more classes further up the school but what is the effect having on the pupils sleep hygiene and concentration? My colleagues surveyed the pupils of Fortrose Academy to find out what they think. They put their results in a table. (see over the page)
The results of this survey show that pupils from Fortrose Academy don’t like the earlier start but enjoy the day and like the Friday afternoon off.
The earlier start goes against what we know about the teenage brain at this point in time. Neuroscience research has revealed clearly that the teenage brain does not fully start operating until 10am. The new start is making students work for longer before their brains are actually ready to work.
The new scheme saves money for the council as now they don’t have to have to pay teachers to work on Friday afternoons but how do they feel about this?
Mrs Davidson, English teacher says “I like the Friday afternoon off a LOT. The shorter lunchtime is tough for staff as we have so much to do and never enough time, especially if you are an English teacher.” When asked about the pupils she replied “I think the earlier start and Friday off is actually giving the students something to look forward to at the end of the week, I do however know that it won’t really work for teenagers – they need to sleep for longer”
In conclusion the new start has its pros and cons but so far is working without too many immediate problems.
Making a Survey
So many of us take part in surveys, mostly online but so few have actually tried to make one. It is surprisingly tricky to make a survey and collect the results as we found out. It took us several attempts to get the questions specific enough and phrase them so that we can get the type of answer we wanted. Although a few of the results had answers that didn’t quite give the information we were looking for as a majority the survey was a success. The information when collated in a table gave a clear representative of what the pupils of Fortrose academy thought about the earlier start.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being horrible and 5 being amazing, how would you now rate your school day now that school starts earlier?
Year Groups
What they think of the day (1-5)
Are they enjoying the afternoon off(Y or
N)
S1 (f)
`2.8
Y
S1 (m)
3.6
Y
S2(f)
3.4
Y
S2(m)
3.1
Y
S3(f)
4
Y
S3(m)
3
Y
S4(f)
2.9
Y
S4(m)
2.9
Y
S5(f)
3.5
Y
S5(m)
3
Y
S6(f)
2.5
Y
S6(m)
2.3
Y
The results of this survey show that pupils from Fortrose Academy don’t like the earlier start but enjoy the day and like the Friday afternoon off.
The earlier start goes against what we know about the teenage brain at this point in time. Neuroscience research has revealed clearly that the teenage brain does not fully start operating until 10am. The new start is making students work for longer before their brains are actually ready to work.
The new scheme saves money for the council as now they don’t have to have to pay teachers to work on Friday afternoons but how do they feel about this?
Mrs Davidson, English teacher says “I like the Friday afternoon off a LOT. The shorter lunchtime is tough for staff as we have so much to do and never enough time, especially if you are an English teacher.” When asked about the pupils she replied “I think the earlier start and Friday off is actually giving the students something to look forward to at the end of the week, I do however know that it won’t really work for teenagers – they need to sleep for longer”
In conclusion the new start has its pros and cons but so far is working without too many immediate problems.
Making a Survey
So many of us take part in surveys, mostly online but so few have actually tried to make one. It is surprisingly tricky to make a survey and collect the results as we found out. It took us several attempts to get the questions specific enough and phrase them so that we can get the type of answer we wanted. Although a few of the results had answers that didn’t quite give the information we were looking for as a majority the survey was a success. The information when collated in a table gave a clear representative of what the pupils of Fortrose academy thought about the earlier start.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being horrible and 5 being amazing, how would you now rate your school day now that school starts earlier?
Year Groups
What they think of the day (1-5)
Are they enjoying the afternoon off(Y or
N)
S1 (f)
`2.8
Y
S1 (m)
3.6
Y
S2(f)
3.4
Y
S2(m)
3.1
Y
S3(f)
4
Y
S3(m)
3
Y
S4(f)
2.9
Y
S4(m)
2.9
Y
S5(f)
3.5
Y
S5(m)
3
Y
S6(f)
2.5
Y
S6(m)
2.3
Y