JUNIOR schoolchildren in Dolgellau could lose their afternoon breaks, it has emerged.

At a Dolgellau Town Council meeting, councillors debated school finishing times and how they differed between infant and junior school departments.

Currently, there is a 15-minute distinction between the town’s infant school finishing time (3.15pm) and the town’s junior school (3.30pm) despite the fact the buildings are only located across the road from one another.

The question had been raised whether this difference could be reduced so parents with children in each school were not left outside “waiting in the rain”.

Many proposals were put forward including earlier starting times and removing junior schoolchildren’s afternoon break.

“Legally and historically, Key Stage 2 (KS2) students have to be in school for more hours than KS1 pupils,” explained Cllr Ywain Myfyr.

“That’s why there’s currently a distinction between closing times.

“It can be changed but it’s an awful lot of hard work - one option could be to take away the bigger kids’ afternoon break so the schools finish at approximately the same time.

“I’m not suggesting we do that, I’m just saying it’s an option.”

Cllr Bob Gunton believes that the issue needs resolving.

“Let’s do something for the parents who are stuck out in the rain for about 20 minutes waiting for their children to finish school,” he said.

“This has been a problem for years and we have the opportunity to do something about it.”

Town and Gwynedd councillor Dyfrig Siencyn was not sure about the scale of the problem. He said: “This is only a problem for parents with children in both school isn’t it?

“How many parents does it affect?

“I don’t know the answer, it would be interesting to find out.”

Cllr Gunton replied: “In my experience, it’s always the same amount of cars and parents waiting around to pick up their children. It’s been an issue for a long time.”

A letter has been sent to the schools’ head teacher to see if the finishing times can be changed to reduce the children and parents’ waiting time.

The school confirmed they had received the letter and that the matter would be discussed at the next governors’ meeting.