Responding to a new report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) which calls for the government to consider supporting schools to extend the school day to improve access to extra-curricular activities at secondary school for state school and vulnerable pupils, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“Many schools already offer a range of optional extra-curricular activities for pupils, from sport and the arts to other hobbies.

“There is no doubt that they can be beneficial for pupils. However, current school budgets simply do not cover the costs of these activities.

"Any expansion of these sorts of activities would require significant government investment at a time when many schools are still facing severe financial pressures just to cover basic day-to-day learning after a decade of real-terms funding cuts.”