But it's clearly made its mark on Education Secretary Ruth Kelly, who now wants State schools to open their doors to pupils from 8am to 6pm and offer a range of breakfast time and after-school activities as part of her extended schools initiative.
Sounds good and there's much to applaud. But I can't quite shake off an impression that this new dawn to dusk service has more to do with meeting the childcare needs of working parents (who seem to work ever longer hours in the UK) than it does with providing meaningful opportunities for young people to grow and develop. For some young people it may even have the feel of enforced detention. They may be there under protest - feeling miserable, bored and abandoned by their parents.
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