Sussex schools are being given more than £12 million during the next three years in a radical scheme to extend their hours.

Schools will be expected to open to pupils from 8am until 6pm under the new "dawn to dusk" strategy designed to help working parents and enhance pupils' education.

The extra hours will be used for a variety of extra-curricular and social activities such as homework clubs, sport, music tuition, museum and gallery visits and language lessons.

Yesterday Education Secretary Ruth Kelly announced that Brighton and Hove Local Education Authority would receive £2,478,224 between 2005 and 2008.

East Sussex will get £4,218,182 and West Sussex £5,671,472.

By 2010, all primary and secondary schools will be expected to provide additional hours but Ms Kelly said teachers would not work longer.

Instead, the money will be given to private companies to undertake the additional responsibilities and will subsidise some, but not all, services.

Debbie Crossingham, the headteacher of Westdene Primary School, Brighton, welcomed the move.

She said: "The amount you pay for a childminder is more than you would pay for an after-school club and they are probably more reliable."

Parents paid about £8 per child per day for the club at Westdene.

However, Lesley Corbett, headteacher of Carden Primary School, Brighton, said a similar scheme at her school folded this year because parents could not afford the costs.

She said: "We are keen to support this but if there is no significant saving or subsidy then the costs may outweigh the amount parents earn in that time, especially if they have more than one child."

An East Sussex County Council spokeswoman said it would be working with schools to see how an after-school programme could be implemented.

A West Sussex County Council spokeswoman said: "We will carry out an audit of current services and use the additional funding to work towards better and more comprehensive services."