A primary school that announced plans to close to pupils on Friday afternoons to avoid teacher “burnout” has dropped the proposal due to the reaction from parents.

Ashby Fields Primary School, in Daventry, had launched a consultation about moving to a four-and-a-half day week to give staff more time to develop an “exciting curriculum” for children.

However, a statement posted on the school website over the weekend said the governors had “decided not to pursue the proposal beyond this informal consultation stage”.

The plan came amid an ongoing national debate about heavy teacher workloads, with ministers pledging to act to deal with the issue.

The proposal, which would have been introduced in September, would have seen the school close to pupils at 1.15pm on a Friday afternoon.

The school said pupils would still get more than the number of hours of classroom time per week recommended by the government, and “wraparound care” would be offered to parents who could not collect their children at this time.

A document outlining the original plans said: “We can offer our teachers more time out of the classroom to be able to collaborate with their peers and develop the exciting curriculum we want our children to receive, without ‘burning out’.”

Impact on parents

Last week, the BBC reported that schools minister Nick Gibb said it was “disappointing” if a school wanted to reduce its hours, and added that it wasn’t “a direction of travel we would want our schools to go down”.

The consultation was due to run until Friday 4 May.

However, on Saturday the school announced it would not go ahead with the plans following a consultation meeting with parents last Wednesday.

A statement from chair of governors Paul Davies and headteacher Jacqui Johnson said: “Although some parents supported the intentions behind the proposal, others raised concerns about the impact it would have on them.

“As a result, the governors and senior leaders have decided not to pursue the proposal beyond this informal consultation stage.”