On a quiet residential street in south London, a state school is rethinking one of the most entrenched pillars of British life: the five-day week. As classrooms sit empty on Fridays, teachers and pupils at this pioneering institution insist learning has not suffered – and in some cases, has improved. Their experiment places them at the vanguard of a growing, but largely under-the-radar, movement to compress the working week. While four-day models have grabbed headlines in corporate trials and tech start-ups, this school’s shift hints at a more profound question: if the rhythms of work can change, why not the timetable of education itself?
How a south London school is redefining the working week for teachers and pupils
In a cluster of low-rise buildings just off a busy south London high street, a state secondary has quietly upended one of education’s most rigid traditions: the five-day timetable. Staff now work to a compressed pattern that protects their pay, planning time and progression, while pupils enjoy a streamlined schedule focused on what actually drives learning.The week runs slightly longer from Monday to Thursday, freeing up Fridays for a mix of targeted intervention, enrichment and remote tasks. Corridors are calmer, cover lessons rarer, and exhausted teachers – once scanning vacancy lists – are instead talking about staying. Leaders insist this is not a gimmick but a structural response to spiralling workload, recruitment shortages and the risk of burnout that has pushed many experienced educators out of the classroom.
Parents, initially wary of a “lost” day, have been won over by early evidence: attendance has crept up, behavior incidents are edging down and teachers report feeling more present and prepared in lessons. A typical week now looks leaner but more deliberate, with curriculum teams using the freed-up time to refine resources rather than firefight. To explain the change, the school shares a simple breakdown of gains observed so far:
- Teachers – more focused planning time and reduced evening marking
- Pupils – fewer transitions, longer learning blocks and clearer routines
- Families – structured Friday activities instead of ad hoc childcare scrambles
- Community – new partnerships for clubs, mentoring and local volunteering
| Area | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Teacher absence | Frequent short-term cover | Noticeably reduced |
| Pupil focus | Flagging by Thursday | Stronger through week |
| Planning time | Evenings and weekends | Protected, scheduled blocks |
Inside the timetable changes reshaping learning outcomes attendance and staff morale
What looks like an extra day off is, in practice, a tightly engineered rethink of how time is used from Monday to Thursday. Lessons have been lengthened, transitions between classes trimmed, and low-value activities stripped away, freeing up blocks of time for deeper learning and targeted support. Teachers describe a calm, more purposeful rhythm: fewer fragmented periods, more chances to complete practical work, and a clearer sense of progression across the week. Early internal data suggests a subtle but noticeable shift: late arrivals down, detentions for low-level disruption reduced, and more homework being submitted on time. Pupils,especially those in exam years,talk about feeling “less rushed” and “more switched on” during core subjects,as the new structure prioritises literacy,numeracy and revision workshops when concentration peaks.
- Attendance: marginally higher on core subject days, with fewer midweek absences
- Behaviour: staff report calmer corridors and more focused starts to lessons
- Morale: reduced burnout, with staff using Fridays for planning, training and rest
| Indicator | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Average attendance | 92% | 94% |
| Staff sickness days/term | 4.1 | 2.7 |
| Reported low-level incidents/week | 60 | 38 |
Behind those figures lies a shift in professional culture. With administrative tasks and curriculum planning largely moved to the non-teaching day, teachers say they spend more of their classroom time actually teaching rather than firefighting. The extra breathing space has allowed for cross-department collaboration, sharper assessment strategies and more responsive interventions for struggling pupils. Informal peer observations are becoming routine, and leaders note that Friday development sessions now feel less like compulsory add-ons and more like shared problem-solving. The result is a staffroom that is tired,but less exhausted; a student body that is stretched,but not frayed; and a timetable quietly redrawn to prioritise learning quality over the sheer quantity of hours in the building.
What the data shows on four day weeks in education benefits risks and blind spots
Early adopters in the UK and abroad are generating a small but intriguing pool of evidence. Studies from rural US districts, where shorter weeks first took off, report modest improvements in attendance, reduced staff turnover and, in certain specific cases, a bump in staff recruitment to hard-to-fill posts. London and Midlands academies piloting the model describe calmer corridors on “longer” teaching days, fewer last-minute sick calls and parents reporting better-rested children. Yet test-score data is mixed: while some schools see no dip in attainment, others record slight declines in maths for younger pupils, suggesting that how the fifth day is structured – and who gets access to enrichment – may matter as much as the timetable itself.
- Benefits: smoother staff recruitment and retention, reduced pupil fatigue, potential savings on transport and utilities.
- Risks: longer teaching days that may hit younger or SEND pupils hardest, childcare gaps for working families, uneven access to enrichment.
- Blind spots: limited long-term data in urban, high-poverty areas; sparse evidence on impact for exam-year groups; little tracking of non-academic outcomes such as social skills or safeguarding.
| Area | Emerging Trend | Evidence Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment | Generally stable in early pilots | Long-term GCSE/A-level impact |
| Staff wellbeing | Reported betterment in work-life balance | Autonomous, large-scale surveys |
| Equity | Concern over childcare and food insecurity | Robust data on disadvantaged groups |
Practical steps for schools considering a four day week from planning to parent buy in
Shifting to a shorter timetable begins with a clear-eyed audit rather than a leap of faith. School leaders can start by mapping the existing week, hour by hour, identifying which activities are core, which can be integrated, and which may be reduced or removed altogether. From there, leaders should develop several timetable models, stress-testing each against staffing patterns, safeguarding requirements and exam pressures. A simple impact matrix-showing how each option affects learning time, staff workload and budget-can help governors and trust boards see beyond headline fears. Throughout, it is crucial to engage unions early, clarify how directed time will be reallocated, and explore partnerships with local providers for enrichment or wraparound care. Transparent documentation, shared in plain language, builds credibility and shows that the move is rooted in evidence, not fashion.
| Focus Area | Key Questions | Suggested Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | What learning must be protected? | Integrate topics, extend core lesson length. |
| Safeguarding | Who is more vulnerable on the fifth day? | Coordinate with youth services and local clubs. |
| Finance | Are savings realistic and sustainable? | Model scenarios for transport, utilities, staffing. |
Winning over families is less about slogans and more about sustained, two-way communication. Schools can host open forums and listening sessions before any decision, sharing prototype timetables and early research on outcomes from other settings. Parents are more likely to trust the process when they see that leaders have anticipated their concerns.Helpful approaches include:
- Clear messaging: publish FAQs covering childcare, lunch provision, exam classes and support for pupils with SEND.
- Pilots and review points: start with a limited trial and publicise how success will be measured, from attendance to staff retention.
- Community partnerships: co-create low-cost Friday programmes with sports clubs, arts groups and faith organisations.
- Regular feedback loops: use surveys, parent councils and pupil voice to adjust the model rather than defend it at all costs.
Concluding Remarks
Whether Grendon’s experiment becomes a turning point or a footnote will depend on what happens next: on funding settlements in Whitehall, on the political appetite for structural reform, and on whether other schools can replicate its results at scale.
For now, though, the south London primary stands as an early case study in a quiet but mounting rebellion against the traditional timetable. In its classrooms and staffroom you can see both the promise and the pressure of a four-day week laid bare: improved morale and fresh energy on one hand, tighter margins and unresolved questions on the other.
As more heads, trusts and councils watch closely, the debate is shifting from whether a four-day week is possible to what it would take to make it sustainable – and fair – for teachers, pupils and parents alike. The real test, still to come, is whether this small south London school is an outlier, or a glimpse of the future of British education.
