The walking dead - Zara Roberts, City and Islington Sixth Form College
It is known by most people - parents and teachers included, that 7 hours of sleep is the bare minimum that students should be getting.
But this in itself is wrong.
Students should actually be aiming to get up to 9-10 hours of sleep to be able to function properly during the day. Unfortunately,it comes as no surprise that a staggering 90% of students are chronically sleep deprived, making them more likely to develop depression, perform badly at school and also have developmental issues.
The average school week spans from Monday to Friday from about 8:45am-3pm. On top of this students are given homework - whilst this is beneficial, it is very time consuming also. Students often argue that with the amount of time they spend at school and at home doing work that their social lives will suffer - which is a valid point as humans are social beings and to some degree we all socialise. To compensate for lost time students often miss out on vital sleep which is no good for them.
A shorter school week would ease the workload that many students have, allowing them to do more work across a longer period of time and have a social life simultaneously. A large majority of college students are reported to be happier as their weeks are more flexible, compared to secondary schools.
This is because most colleges have worked out a perfect timetable, so students can 'work and play' and not deprive themselves of sleep (apart from when deadlines are due.)
Zara Roberts, City and Islington Sixth Form College
