Corby's top performing secondary plans to shorten school day and change term dates - with some parents unhappy at the changes

The school, which has been regarded as one of the best in Northamptonshire for most of its three decades in existence, has always had its own unique term system and a longer school day.

It operates on a five term structure and, each day, pupils attend for an extra half hour than those at other schools in Corby.

Results at Brooke Weston have consistently been well beyond the national average and it is the top-performing school in the town across all measurable areas.

But now parents have been told that due to issues with recruitment and retention of teachers, as well as national funding problems, the trust wanted to shorten the school day by half and hour and alter term dates to fall in line with the standard six-term school year.

A letter to parents said: “Currently, our unique five-term model makes it difficult to recruit talented staff who have families in other local schools. It can also create difficulties for our own families with children attending different schools.

"For students, it also creates challenges and difficulty during exam periods as our students are required to sit exams during our scheduled holidays.

“In addition, our extended school day places significant pressure on school budgets as we need to resource these longer hours or ask salaried staff to work longer school days compared to their peers without additional remuneration.”

Under the proposals, the school would retain the same number of teaching days per year – 190 – and would have a two-week half term in October, like many other schools over the border in Leicestershire. The school day would continue its 8.35am start, but would finish half an hour earlier at 3.05pm.

Parents were invited to a consultation evening on Tuesday (October 28), but some have told this newspaper that the proposals are a worry.

One told us: “This is causing a lot of concern for parents, who have often made great sacrifices to get their children to Brooke Weston.

“It transpires that the school has a recruitment and retention problem, and is in financial difficulties.”

Parents have told this newspaper that staff have already taken a 25 per cent cut in preparation time in order to increase student facing time, and are covering for vacant positions, including two drama and one music teacher whose roles are currently not being advertised.

A parent said: “Covering for at least three vacant positions will only increase the strain on staff.

“Brooke Weston has always boasted about the unique educational offering it provides and their results prove it works. These actions will just make Brooke Weston just like any other school.

"However, as all schools have a recruitment, retention and financial crisis, there is no evidence that these changes will solve their problems. But, they do go against the years of Brooke Weston propaganda about how being different is their strength.

“As a student eloquently put it, the school drums into them the negative effect of being one or two minutes late to a lesson but they seem perfectly happy to knock 30 minutes off the school day with no consideration of the adverse effect on their education.”

Earlier this year the Brooke Weston Trust told staff at its 12 schools to tighten their belts, amid financial pressures. This month it was announced that long-term trust leader Dr Andrew Campbell was retiring. Clare Haworth, Principal of Brooke Weston Academy, said: “"Like many schools, we are responding to national challenges around funding and teacher recruitment, while aiming to offer the same breadth of support and high-quality opportunities that Brooke Weston Academy is known for.

“Our current term structure, which is different to all other schools within North Northamptonshire, is creating challenges for staff recruitment, particularly if they have children, as well as for our families with children at different schools.

“To ensure we can continue to attract and retain the best staff, we have launched a formal consultation on proposals to align our term dates with other local schools and adjust the school day from September 2026. Students will continue to attend school for the same number of days each year, and even with a slightly shorter overall school day, Brooke Weston Academy students will continue to receive more classroom teaching time than other students locally and nationally.

“As this is still a consultation, no decisions have yet been made, and we will review the feedback carefully being making any final decisions.”

The consultation is open until November 10.