Millthorpe and York High Schools to change start and finish times

As The Press reported back in January York High School in Acomb, which has about 750 pupils, has been consulting parents over plans to change the school day to start at 8.30am with teaching ending at 2.35pm.

Meanwhile Millthorpe School in South Bank wanted to change the start and finish times for their school day from the current 8.30am-3.25pm to 8.15am-2.35pm from September.

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The schools are part of Excel Learning Trust - formerly South Bank Multi Academy Trust and has an additional four schools in the city: Carr Junior, Knavesmire, Scarcroft and Woodthorpe and Inspire Academy.

The consultation ran from January 31 to February 23, during which time both schools gathered feedback from parents, students, and staff.

Now, having taken all feedback into account, the schools have made some important changes to their original proposals and from September 2025, the following changes will come into effect:

• Both schools will start at 8.40am (with gates opening at 8.25am).
• Pupils at both schools will start their day with form time.
• Both schools will finish at 2.45pm.
• A host of enrichment opportunities will be available to all students, every day from 2.45-3.30pm.
• York High will introduce ‘movement time’ at the beginning and end of each lesson, and this will be extended to all lessons at Millthorpe, enabling students to get to their next class without the worry of being late.
• Millthorpe students will have staggered break and lunch times to accommodate the larger number of students.

Gavin Kumar York High principal, said: “Thank you to those who shared their thoughts with us. It has been incredibly helpful to hear such a wide range of views and gather invaluable feedback.

"We’re really looking forward to implementing the new schedule, particularly the introduction of a whole host of enrichment activities, which will have a positive effect not only on students’ wellbeing but also in engagement in their learning.”

Kavina Rothenburg, acting principal at Millthorpe said: “We’ve had lots of really useful, constructive feedback and my team and I would like to thank everyone who has fed into the process. In addition to receiving lots of written feedback, Mr Kumar and I also both met face-to-face with parents, students and staff, which gave us the opportunity to answer questions and give reassurance, but more importantly to listen to their views. Given the feedback, we have made some important changes, most notably to our start and finish times and keeping form time at the start of the school day.”

The outcomes of the consultation, together with detailed information about the new school day timings, have been communicated to parents, students and staff this week.

Gavin Kumar (Image: York High)