Rotterdam school pupils are attending an extra ten hours of lessons a week from Thursday, according to press reports.

Children from the Agnes school in the deprived Rotterdam neighbourhood of Feijenoord will attend classes for 36 hours a week, rather than the usual 26. The aim is to improve their results and to decrease the number of pupils leaving school before the age of 16.
The extra time will be used for lessons in Dutch, arithmetic, how to study, philosophy, gymnastics and homework.
Teams
Part of the project, known as Children’s Zone, are neighbourhood teams that make home visits to parents and children from the Agnes school to help with any problems, leaving teachers to concentrate on teaching.
Children in groups 7 and 8 are the first to get a school week of 36 hours. Others will follow later. Rotterdam council has 34 primary schools where it wants the extra hours introduced.
Children’s Zone is used in New York where pupils from deprived areas have achieved better results when they are given ambitious goals.
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