Only 6% of schools opened late after England vs Mexico

Only 6 per cent of schools planned to delay their start time today in response to England’s World Cup game being played in the early hours, a survey found.

Schools had faced calls to open late or allow children to attend after registration following the last 16 match between England and Mexico, which kicked off at 2am BST.

However, data from Teacher Tapp showed that the vast majority of schools saw out a relatively normal day: around 86 per cent of teachers surveyed said their school had planned no changes.

Some 8 per cent of the 7,448 teachers polled reported that their school would show the match in full or highlights.

No respondents said the school day would finish later to accommodate pupils who wanted to watch the game.

Authorised absence after England’s World Cup match

Only 1 per cent said their schools would authorise absence for pupils who were missing due to the match.

England beat Mexico 3-2 in a dramatic game that finished after 4am.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, had urged ministers to let schools be flexible about start times today, so that pupils could stay up late to watch the match.

But the government pushed back, with skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith suggesting young people may miss out on important learning.

Hill Avenue Academy in Wolverhampton told the BBC it would be opening an hour and a half later than usual at 10am.

“Why wouldn’t we want our children to be passionate about supporting their country during the World Cup?” headteacher Daniel Steventon told the BBC.

He added that the later start showed “understanding and flexibility” and that there had been an “influx of emails” from parents welcoming the “really lovely idea”.

Separate data based on 12,139 state schools across England has also shown the extent of school absences today.

Attendance is nearly four percentage points lower than this time last week, and unauthorised absence has almost doubled compared with last Monday, according to management information system Arbor.

Year 9 had the lowest attendance rate today, at 79.14 per cent, followed closely by Year 10 at 79.65 per cent. Both had around 10 percentage points difference between this week and last week’s attendance rates.