School heads offer pupils a lie-in after England’s Euro 2024 final

Schools are giving pupils and teachers a lie-in on Monday morning after England’s Euro 2024 final.

England play against Spain at 8pm on Sunday, with the match set to end later than many young football fans’ bedtimes.

Gary Spracklen, who is in his seventh year as head teacher at the Prince of Wales school in Dorchester, Dorset, said the start time was “quite late” for his pupils aged between three and nine years old.

He said he “didn’t want the excuse of being tired” to affect their schoolwork on Monday, so the school will start at 11am rather than the usual time of 8.45am.

People are embracing the moment

Gary Spracklen, head teacher

“It just made sense to us, we wanted to join the whole nation in getting behind our national team,” he said.

He said his pupils have been supporting the team during the competition in Germany.

“There was universal praise for the idea and we’ve been supporting England right through the tournament, through qualifying, and we made films to support them,” he said.

“We made a Vindaloo video with the children and the parents at home, we’ve got all the nations’ flags at the front of the school.”

He said the “only negative” was that not all parents had been given the same time off by their bosses.

“So I think they were going to take my letter into their places of work and see if they could get a lie-in as well,” he said.

“I think a few schools in the area are doing it, I think it’s spreading and I think as that excitement builds others will probably reflect and hopefully join us in making that offer to their young people”

“People are embracing the moment.”

The children wrote amazing letters and their persuasive techniques were wonderful

Alison Crawshaw, head teacher

Sam Kaye, head teacher at Wooburn Green Primary School in Buckinghamshire, is also offering children a “soft start” where pupils can come in until around 10.30am instead of the usual 8.30am.

“The children were obviously very excited – a lot of the children have been following the Euros,” he said.

“We’ve done sweepstakes in some of our classes.”

He said the reaction from parents had been “positive all round”.

However, students at Digby the Tedder County Primary School in Lincolnshire, who wrote a letter to their head teacher asking for a later start on Monday, were not as lucky.

Alison Crawshaw said: “The children wrote amazing letters and their persuasive techniques were wonderful.

“However, I did explain to the children that even though it is an incredibly exciting time and we would want to celebrate and be proud, whatever the outcome, I wouldn’t be able to authorise late starts for other sporting events and this wouldn’t be fair and inclusive.”