Primary school awards pupils 'extra time' to watch England football final

Coates Lane Primary School in Barnoldswick announced on its social media pages yesterday that it was allowing its pupils to go into school up to 10-30am on Monday if they wished to stay up late to watch the football.

Headteacher Sarah White announced to parents that if their child was a football fan and would be staying up late to watch the Three Lions in their final against Italy, that they could stay in bed a bit longer, and wouldn't be marked as "late".

Mrs White said: "After seeing another school post about it, we decided to do the same for our pupils. On Thursday this week, we had a lot of children arriving to school late or very tired after watching the semi-finals so we thought we would join the celebrations and give our community the opportunity to arrive later to school on Monday… if they want to.

"It's 55 years since the men’s England football team reached a major football final so we’ve said let them watch and talk about it...talk about pride and resilience and possible disappointment. This is a learning opportunity!"

Gareth Southgate's young team have won the nation's hearts in their historic charge to the final, which will be played against Italy at Wembley on Sunday, kicking off at 8pm.