Regarding the suggestion that schools should have a longer day to save space (28 January, page 9), most secondary schools already have to offer sessional lunch breaks in order to accommodate all pupils into the hall

This means greater requirements for pay - catering staff, teaching assistants to supervise lunch hours and greater contact time for teachers, reducing the balance of time left for preparation.

A £2.4m capital saving is unlikely to materialise (expensive spaces e.g. labs won’t be shrunk) and the ongoing increased wage bill will hit the school as a recurrent cost.

Matt Fulford, via www.building.co.uk

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