Students asking for school start time to be later
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I understand the rationale for secondary school age students, since their circadian rhythm shifts after puberty.
For primary school though, it’s a matter of parents getting the kids to sleep early so that they get the doctors’ recommended #hours of sufficient sleep for their age.
I see DS’ classmates spamming the class chat with “anyone free to play XYZ game?” at 9pm, 10pm++ and then they turn up late to school the next day and fall asleep in class. -
Personally would prefer the current timing. Students need to adjust their own timing I find.
If you start school late likely will end later as well…
My one kid rarely gets 8 hours sleep since upper primary. She do feel tired in school sometimes but I will just remind her to sleep earlier and if she doesn’t listen then she can continue to feel tired lor. My kids can wake up at 6.30am but they always want me to wake them up earlier at 6am coz they find it more relaxing to have more time to eat and talk.
I know some kids need to take school bus at 5.30am! I do feel for them esp when they still at primary. I hope they able to sleep earlier.
I saw a little thank you note on the table the other day… a classmate say thank you for being bla bla bla including waking her up when teacher came into class… yea the issue is real.
For myself, the routine of leaving the house when the sky just turning bright…really is something that leave a very nice feeling even many many years after I left school. -
I would be fine with the school day starting later, but I'm not sure it will really help. The main thing that would help is a fundamental change to parents' views on education: will they be willing to give up tuition (or limit it to only 1 subject), will they trust that the school gives enough teaching and homework without adding more? If a later start simply means that more is crammed into the evening hours and kids sleep even later, I don't see that it makes a whole lot of difference. There is also the fact that many kids now sleep late because of easy and long access to digital devices - that is not going to change just because waking time is changed.
What I would welcome if school times are changed is that a proper lunch break will have to be introduced. I have always thought it abject cruelty to force kids to eat lunch at 2-3pm after starting the school day at 7.30am. (How many adults would accept it if our workplaces told us that lunch break is at 2pm? And most adults start work at 8.30/9am!) I have written to MOE more than once on this matter, and got the usual non-answers and no action. Of course, this will lengthen the school day, so parents may find it difficult to cram all the extras into the day, and may make bedtimes later.
See some comments below.sevenseals\" post_id=\"2033035\" time=\"1628082846\" user_id=\"124401:
Problem
* Many students are dozing off in bus/MRT in the afternoon, unable even to open eyes during the journey. Sad to watch. If kids have been working or playing hard, they will be sleepy in the afternoon. Unless the total amount of sleep increases, I don't think this is going to change.
* Singapore students have to go to school in the dark before sun rises and when everybody else is sleeping I don't have a lot of sympathy with this as I used to be up before 6am all my school life. It's just something you get used to. At least it's nice and cool at that time of day. And in many temperate countries, kids do go to school in the dark for about half the school year. Since so many families have school kids, \"everybody else\" isn't that many people.
* Common sight to see pupils crying in the morning, as they were forced out of their sleep at 5 to 6am. See my comment about the total amount of sleep. My school bus used to pick me up at 6.20am, and my kids were picked up at 6am - we grumbled, but we adjusted.
* Foreign primary/secondary students studying private school/international schools can go to school at 8am/9am
* Students go to school earlier than parents and go home about same time as parents. Kids clock longer hours in school 8-10 hours (CCA, etc), especially the secondary ones.That's something that schools need to look into. Schools don't have to start later for them to decide to cut hours. If they feel that everything they do is important and can't be cut (I don't agree), then the day may just end later. Or returning to school on Sat may become the norm again like in my time.
* Other countries have daylight savings time as welfare for working adults and kids but we don't. We are pretty much on the equator, and the daylight hours vary only very little over the year, so changing times twice a year isn't necessary. In fact, we are in permanent daylight saving time as we are 30mins ahead of our actual time of GMT+7.5hrs since we changed to be the same as Malaysia. Before that change (I am old enough to have been in school when that happened), morning school kids got to leave for school in daylight, but afternoon school kids used to come home in the dark. I have lived in the UK many years, and daylight saving makes summer evenings longer (which was originally so that farmers had more time to work), but winter evenings start much earlier. In the winter months, kids also woke in the dark (some days it stayed dark till nearly 9am) and returned home in the dark (it might get dark at 4pm!). And the long school vacation is during the summer.
Consequences
* Lack of sleep can cause poor concentration in class, poor results.
* Lack of sleep can cause stunted growth
* Lack of sleep cause lethargy
* Lack of sleep can cause bad emotions, grumpiness, anger, irrational thinking/behaviour, poor judgement, bad mental health
* Early wake up time affect parents also, usually resulting in more stress (high blood pressure) for parents.
I agree about the consequences of lack of sleep, but am not convinced that waking later will solve this without greater parental discipline. And parental discipline can be applied even with earlier waking times.
...
What do parents think? -
sevenseals\" post_id=\"2033035\" time=\"1628082846\" user_id=\"124401:
Can't help but remember the old days when we used to practise past year questions set in other Commonwealth nations taking somewhat similar Cambridge exam questions set for diff time zones, esp M'sia & Brunei! Key exam admin time zones have to be synchronised to ensure the security and integrity of the questions.
History
In 1982, Malaysia adjusted their time by 30 minutes to sync with Eastern Malaysian time. Singapore followed suit.
This caused students to wake up half an hour earlier when it is still dark.
Offices then delayed their start time by hour an hour. So, difference in start time between office and school increased to more than 1 hour. 7:30am & 8:30/9am
https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/exam-administration/cambridge-exams-officers-guide/phase-1-preparation/timetabling-exams/
You can appeal to start school at 8.00am like France, 8.45am like Japan or even 9.00am like Australia, but at the end of the day, remember towards the major national exams, you still have to condition your child to be wide awake and be at his/her optimal alert level at 7.00am. He/she must start writing essays, solving problems and talking sense during oral exams if he/she is the first candidate at around 0815h or 0800h.![](\"https://i.imgur.com/YmqWYg7.png\")
https://i.imgur.com/YmqWYg7.png\">
![](\"https://i.imgur.com/P9cpR3E.png\")
![](\"https://i.imgur.com/WO2UBtq.png\")
You can always appeal to SEAB to also change our national exam start time to 0900h-1200h (AM session) and 1500h-1800h (PM session), but they probably have to cross-check with other countries in our Admin Time Zone 5 taking similar papers (or customised or modified papers by SEAB).
https://www.shoezone.com/Blog/back-to-school-whats-school-like-around-the-world -
slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2033095\" time=\"1628123397\" user_id=\"28674:
I totally agree with you! My DC takes lunch at about 3.30pm everyday, the previous meal being recess at 9.30am on most days.
I would be fine with the school day starting later, but I'm not sure it will really help. The main thing that would help is a fundamental change to parents' views on education: will they be willing to give up tuition (or limit it to only 1 subject), will they trust that the school gives enough teaching and homework without adding more? If a later start simply means that more is crammed into the evening hours and kids sleep even later, I don't see that it makes a whole lot of difference. There is also the fact that many kids now sleep late because of easy and long access to digital devices - that is not going to change just because waking time is changed.
What I would welcome if school times are changed is that a proper lunch break will have to be introduced. I have always thought it abject cruelty to force kids to eat lunch at 2-3pm after starting the school day at -
Our school has a break and recess for kids to eat…but will still feel hungry even at 1+. I pack lunch for the younger to eat while waiting for the elder sibling. I do see some students start eating snack while walking to take bus. Good to pack some light snack for them.
To add…I saw the portion of the noodles from school’s canteen 2 years ago…really little! -
Just wondering, is NYGH start time still 8am? It made the news few years ago for this “radical” move. I wonder what time the kids usually end school and reach home.
International schools, if I’m not wrong, start at 8am, with 1 hour lunch break. Sports & music training takes place after lunch, school day ends at 3pm. Kids have no tuition after school. Go home and relax, hang out with neighbors.
Is this the lifestyle Singaporean parents happy to let their child enjoy? Or does academic excellence come first? If want to cram the heavy subjects into 7h + 2h CCA + 2h tuition, then need to start earlier right? Still need to do homework. -
MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2033131\" time=\"1628133687\" user_id=\"43981:
Yes, I always packed something for my kids too, but really, why should they be snacking at 10.30am and 1.30pm, and finally having \"lunch\" at 3pm? At their age, we should be encouraging the habit of eating regular meals.
Our school has a break and recess for kids to eat..but will still feel hungry even at 1+. I pack lunch for the younger to eat while waiting for the elder sibling. I do see some students start eating snack while walking to take bus. Good to pack some light snack for them.
To add..I saw the portion of the noodles from school's canteen 2 years ago..really little! -
slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2033138\" time=\"1628135854\" user_id=\"28674:
seem like it is so common that kids have lunch late
Yes, I always packed something for my kids too, but really, why should they be snacking at 10.30am and 1.30pm, and finally having \"lunch\" at 3pm? At their age, we should be encouraging the habit of eating regular meals.MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2033131\" time=\"1628133687\" user_id=\"43981:
Our school has a break and recess for kids to eat..but will still feel hungry even at 1+. I pack lunch for the younger to eat while waiting for the elder sibling. I do see some students start eating snack while walking to take bus. Good to pack some light snack for them.
To add..I saw the portion of the noodles from school's canteen 2 years ago..really little!
The recess breaks suppos to help kids to curb hunger ? but kids usu eat non full meals in recess thats why come to lunch , they v hungry again lor
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