Bankstown Senior College becomes the first Sydney school – and only the second NSW government school – to adopt a four-day school week this year.

The move will provide mature-age students with increased opportunities to pursue employment opportunities and manage family commitments along with their education.

The college principal, Col Harris, said the condensed school program, which runs Monday through to Thursday during a two-year trial, caters for a diverse student population ranging in ages from 15 to 65.

About 90 per cent of the 360 students come from a non-English speaking background and many students work to support themselves and their families.

Some act as translators for other family members.

Mr Harris said students were sometimes absent from school because of their other commitments.

“By condensing the program into a shorter time frame it gives them the flexibility to do what they would like to do, and make some adult decisions about what they need to do, over the remaining three days,” he said.

The move to a shortened school week means Bankstown Senior College follows Illawarra Senior College, near Wollongong, in adopting a four-day model.

Like the Illawarra school, Bankstown Senior College offers study in Years 10 to 12 to a large number of students re-entering the education system.

About 80 per cent of the school’s population is over the age of 18 and the school incorporates the only intensive English centre in NSW for adult students.

Mr Harris said consultation with students had revealed financial pressures were a significant factor why some did not complete their secondary education.

Transport was another issue for students who have to organise travel from distant suburbs such as Penrith, Jannali and Campbelltown to attend the school.

Under the revised program students attend the school from 8.30am to 4.30pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and 8.30am to 3.30pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays, leaving Friday free for employment, family commitments or further study.

Teachers meet all curriculum and teaching requirements through the variation in operating hours.

The education department’s deputy director-general (schools), Trevor Fletcher, said the change in operational times provided greater flexibility for students to increase vocational opportunities and will “assist in supporting attendance and participation in the college’s educational programs”.

Year 12 student Abdul W, 20, who arrived in Australia from Afghanistan in 2006, plans to devote the extra non-school day to study and more shifts as a guard with a security firm.

“The four-day week will be good because I will have another eight hours to work and study,” he said.

Seventeen-year-old classmate Antonia G, who switched from an independent school to the college for its “more mature learning environment”, said the program would allow her to earn extra money through her part-time job at a book store and give her further motivation in her studies.

Antonia, who hopes to become a social worker, said she enjoyed the school’s multicultural mix.

“I came here for the education and found a lot more, you meet great people … and everyone really gets on well,” she said.

A department spokesman said there are no plans to extend the four-day model across the educational system as the shortened week suits schools with a majority of mature age students.