The majority of students hate Monday mornings. After a weekend of lie ins and relaxing, they have to wake up to the dreaded alarm clock. Personally, I wanted to throw my alarm clock out the window every school morning. School just seems to start too early, most students would say. Having to get up bleary eyed and walking like a zombie is certainly not a student’s idea of fun. However, is there a reason that schools actually start as early as they do? Even though it may not seem like it, starting early for school could be beneficial for many people.
If you find yourself scoffing at this idea, carry on reading to discover potential reasons schools start so early. You never know, you might find that after learning about these, you enjoy hearing your alarm clock in the morning- or that might still be a bit of a push.
1. Early school starts help parents
One of the main reasons that schools start early is to allow parents to get their kids ready for school and to drop them off. Most jobs start at 9:00am or a little after.
As a result, parents are able to drop their kids off at school before they go to work. This means that the school run will not interfere with the parent’s work journey and hopefully they will get to work on time!
If school started later, then parents may struggle with getting their children to school. They may even have to change jobs and find a career which fits a later school time.
The students will have to wake up earlier too, meaning younger kids especially will have more time to calm down and prepare themselves for school. Sometimes younger children can find it hard to part with their parents.
If you are a parent and want some tips on how to make these drop offs easier, check out this article from Parent Map.
2. Early school starts help with childcare
This reason for starting school early is similar to the first reason, in the sense that it helps parents out. As already stated, most jobs start at around the same time as the school bell.
This means that parents can be confident that their kids are out of the house and at school when they are at work. As a result, parents don’t have to worry about childcare.
If school started later, then this may have been an issue, as parents may have had to pay for childcare at the start of the day, before school. However, it is true that some jobs start earlier than school starts.
As a result, some schools have breakfast clubs where students can be dropped off earlier, around an hour before school officially starts. Breakfast clubs are not only good for childcare, but they also allow students to gain a healthy start to the day, by eating the correct breakfast.
You can find out more about breakfast clubs on this article from the government website. Regardless, the school is still technically open at a very early time in the morning, meaning that parents are able to get accessible and free childcare.
This is also the case for after school, as many schools also have after school clubs. This allows parents to pick up their children at a later time, after they have finished work.
3. Early school starts prepare students for jobs
Most jobs start relatively early in the morning. This means that school starting early can make students get used to these early starts. As a result, a student’s transition into the adult working world will be much smoother.
If school started later, then getting a job for the first time would be quite a shock for an ex-student! They would be used to lie ins and taking things slow in the mornings, not the rushing early starts that we are all familiar with.
This means that early school mornings prepare students for real life after school. Going out to work wouldn’t feel much different from school because all students would be used to the early mornings! Therefore, it is very useful to have school early.
If you want to discover some more reasons for why school starts early, check out this article from EducationV.
4. Early school starts allow for after school clubs
Most of the after school clubs are not created as a solution to childcare however. Many after school clubs are created to entertain students and allow them to try new hobbies. These generally take place immediately after school finishes, for an hour or slightly longer.
School starting early is an important strategy for after school clubs, as it means that students have more time in the afternoon to attend them. If school started later, then students may not have time to go to these clubs.
This could have negative consequences, as it could mean less exercise due to many after school clubs being sports related. It could also mean that students experience less fun, as they are unable to attend clubs which allow them to take part in exciting hobbies.
Further to this, starting school early means that these after school clubs can still occur in winter. During winter, the days becomes shorter, and it gets dark quicker. Consequently, if school started later, it would make running outdoors after school activities more difficult.
You can discover the different after school clubs from schools across the country, if you use this search tool from the government website.
5. Early school starts allow for a greater social life
Even if students don’t attend after school clubs, starting school early still has its benefits. This is because it means that students have long, free afternoons after school.
This can allow them to do activities that aren’t school related, such as going out with friends or spending time with their families. If school started later, then students would have less of a social life outside of school.
Their lives in the working week would just consist of going to school and then coming home again, with no time to do anything in the afternoons. This would not be making the most of their childhoods!
Being social has actually been linked to better mental health, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics. This increases a child’s quality of life. As a result, making time for social life is essential to maintain one’s wellbeing.
6. Early school starts allow students to get more done
Having longer afternoons not only allows more time to go out with friends, but it also allows time for other activities. You may not like this idea, but it also allows more time to do chores and run errands.
There are lots of things that need to be done to run a household. Starting school earlier means you have a whole afternoon to be productive and can help your parents out around the house.
You can also get more done in the sense that you can book appointments during these free afternoons, such as the dentists and doctors. This means that you won’t be missing school time, which would most likely happen if you started school later and then finished later.
As a result, you would get more done at school. If you are struggling to do all of the things you need to, despite having these evenings to get things done, check out this Think Student article for tips on managing your time.
7. Early school starts gives students time for homework
If school started later, then school would finish later. This means that students would have less time to do homework when they got back in from school. Teachers may end up setting less homework as a result.
This could potentially have knock on effects, as it means that students are doing less schoolwork overall. This could lead to students getting lower grades and not reaching their academic potential.
This may seem over-dramatic, however, it is a possibility! Starting school earlier allows students to complete more school work and be more productive academically. As a result, students will most likely perform better and complete all of their homework.
Make the most of the time you have after school and don’t leave homework to the last minute! Many students believe that homework is pointless and hate to be given it. However, homework has many useful purposes, such as teaching students to be responsible and to time manage.
If you want to discover why else homework is important, check out this article from Course Mentor.
8. Early school starts give teachers more time
Not only does the school day starting earlier increase the afternoon length for students, but it also gives more time for teachers! You may complain about all of the homework that you have.
However, have you ever thought about the poor teachers who have to mark this all for you? Starting school at an earlier time allows teachers to have more free time in the afternoon.
This means they have more time for marking papers which you may have completed earlier in the day. As a result, their time for marking won’t eat into their weekends and evenings.
You must remember that teachers also have lives! They need time to relax too! The school day starting early gives them time to relax, as they would be able to complete their marking earlier.
This is because some teachers could have up to 15 hours of marking per week! If you want to discover why they have such a large workload, check out this article from the Teacher Tapp website.
9. Early school starts allow students to wake up earlier
School starting at an early time forces students to wake up earlier. Much research has emphasised the benefits of waking up earlier. Overall, waking up earlier can make students more productive, as they have more time to do activities.
For example, it can allow extra time to do exercise, which is great for physical and mental health. Waking up earlier has also been linked with good grades, being more creative and ambitious. If you want to discover more reasons why you should wake up early, check out this article from the Power of Positivity website.
Many students would see having to wake up earlier as a negative because what teenager doesn’t love a good lie in? They may even sleep later anyway and then rock up to school late.
This is not the best thing to do, as even the smallest time off can have a negative impact. If you want to discover how much school you could be missing due to different amounts of time off, check out this article from Think Student.
10. Early school starts make students go to bed earlier
If school started later, then students would probably go to bed later! As a result, having that lie in in the morning would probably make no difference to a student’s concentration and thus, their grades.
People who go to bed earlier are more likely to get better quality sleep. As a result, they will have lower stress levels. Going to bed earlier can also lower your risk of getting frightening diseases and can boost your immunity.
Going to sleep earlier could also improve your mental health! This is because sleeping can prevent being overwhelmed by negative thoughts and can improve someone’s problem-solving skills. If you want to discover more benefits of going to bed early, check out this article from HuffPost.
11. School busses help reduce congestion
Now this idea is scraping the bottom of the barrel a little and certainly isn’t the strongest reason why schools start early, but it may have some influence.
Starting school earlier can help reduce traffic congestion on the roads. Students who get the bus to school often have to board the bus quite early. This means that the bus journey often just avoids the morning traffic, caused by adults travelling to work.
This means that the bus journey to school takes a shorter amount of time and means that adults don’t get stuck behind big school buses! Starting schools earlier also allows a greater spread of different times for different schools to start.
This again reduces traffic congestion, as school buses travel on the roads at different times. If you want to discover the general time for when primary schools start the day and when they finish, check out this article from Think Student.
A double decker bus could hold up to 90 people. Because of this one bus could be preventing 90 other cars from being on the road, therefore reducing congestion. This is particularly important for those schools that may start slightly later and coincide with rush hour traffic.
*Please note that all the reasons presented in this article are potential and thus are based off the opinions and views of the writer, rather than an official basis.