Prestigious school considers homework ban to reduce depression

A prestigious independent school is considering abolishing homework as it moves to tackle an "epidemic" of teenage depression and anxiety.

Principal at Cheltenham Ladies' College, Eve Jardine-Young, told The Times (£) that over the next five years the practice of homework will be reviewed and could eventually be stopped altogether.

She warned that the average age at which depression was first diagnosed had almost halved from 29 in the 1960s to 15-and-a-half early this century.

Teachers are being trained to recognise the signs of mental illness and from September pupils will attend weekly meditation classes and be given twice as long to walk between lessons.

Cheltenham Ladies' is looking into university-style "flip learning", where pupils read up on material before classes, as an alternative to homework in two or three subjects.

Ms Jardine-Young also said that smartphones, tablets and laptops are making it difficult to keep stress from the outside world coming into the college.