Forest Gate community school cut down to four and a half days after the head saw reports on teacher burnout
On Fridays, the pub next to Forest Gate community school in east London starts filling up from 1pm. It has not always been this way, but ever since the school went down to a four-and-a-half-day week, it has been flooded with exhausted teachers keen to take advantage of their shorter week as quickly as possible.
Other teachers use the afternoon to spend more time with their children, go on a mini-break, catch up on work they would have done at the weekend, or attend the local mosque. The important thing is that the afternoon is theirs to choose how they spend it, says Simon Elliott, who leads the multi-academy trust that runs Forest Gate.
