Mumsnet Talk

I wish the authorities would change the school holiday system so we weren't all forced to pay stupid money for our annual jollies. I know it's an age old problem that we have all moaned about for years, so why does it never get fully addressed?

My proposal would be to shorten the summer holidays to four weeks and allow each pupil to have ten Lieu days a year, the form teacher would have to authorise the lieu days to ensure that the holidays were not taken during exam time for example, but otherwise they'd be able to use the holidays when needed through-out the terms, maybe for the odd day out here and there or used all at once for a two week holiday.

Well I think it's a good idea....what do you think?

Err, what about all the work they miss while away - especially in something like maths. The poor teacher would then be continually having to help children catch up the work they have missed so they can understand last weeks topic before moving on to this weeks.

shorten the hols,yes!

but no to teachers authorising days off for 10 days in lieu....i have 4 dc in 3 different schools,all doing exams separate times. what if some teachers said no to chosen dates??

Not a good idea. Sorry. They'd all spend their time catching up with what they'd missed, and the teachers would be driven to distraction.

If we want to grumble about paying stupid money, I'll grumble about paying stupid money for mine to go to school, only for them to have 21 weeks off every year!!

As a result of the frightful fees scenario, we don't go on holiday, so paying extra for holidays is one less thing to worry about. Now there's a silver lining.

What do I think?
Make sure that your children don't take days off willy-nilly and then if you need a holiday in term time put in a request form. Most reasonable schools will authorise it and for those that don't, listen to their objections, decide if they are reasonable and if you think not take the holiday anyway.

Bearing in mind that the travel companies claim that holidays aren't more expensive during school holidays, just cheaper during term-time, I suspect that they would just use this system as an excuse to charge higher prices all year round...

Greenshadow....so many parents I know already take their kids out of school for their holidays anyway, the way the current systems works means the parents a) have to have a really good reason to get authorisation to take their kids out of school, or b) lie and pretend they have very good reasons for taking their kids out of school in order to get the required authorisation. Or if they fail to do either of those, the holiday will be recorded as an unauthorised abscence and will reflect badly on the school. I think Lieu days would cover that, and remember that they would only have 4 weeks summer holidays..so wouldn't actually lose any school days.

and I'm sure most parents wouldn't book their holidays during their kids exams would they?

Well said RustyBear There's no way that prices would drop.

Well I think

6 terms each 6 weeks long
Christmas & Spring holidays @ 2.5 weeks
Plus 3 half terms @ 2weeks
Plus summer @ 4 weeks
plus bank holidays & Easter etc.

Sorted

Would teachers get the lieu days?

Surely if the school holidays were changed, then the holiday companies would just adjust their peak times to correspond.

I agree with Katymac. Much better for the children to learn in regular blocks, with regular breaks in between.

Holidays are too expensive for us to go every year so we go every few years and have a holiday at home the other years. I'd rather do that than have schooling suffer.

and what about the teachers own holidays?? those teachers with children that is.....

You'd still get peak times with Katymac idea though.

I'd use my lieu days here and there just to enjoy a nice day out with my kids every so often.

Ah well, I still like my idea...even if no one else does, lol

In France the school holidays are staggered - actually they are a bit here, because Scotland and Ireland have different dates. But how it works over there is that, say, the South starts hols mid June and goes back end of July, middle starts end June goes back mid August, north starts mid July goes back end August IYSWIM.

It means that holidays are staggered so you don't get the huge peaks in demand that push up the prices in the school hols. Yes, they go up, but not quite as much.

Surely that's more to do with the weather?

Could be but it's not as simple as South first, Middle next. It's more of a patchwork IIRC.

Probably not then

When/where I was a child we went to school for 37 weeks. DC go to school for 39 weeks. I'd like to see them lose 2 weeks of school (really spent doing Nativity play practice and watching DVDs). I don't care when.

Some of us don't do "annual jollies", so OP's gripe not something we can relate to.

i don't think the OP's idea would work, but think they should still agree the 10 days like they used to.

As a teacher I have no choice in when I take my holidays. We do not have a right to take a holiday -it is our choice if we wish to take one abroad or at home. The holiday companies are trying to make a profit - you do not have to take a holiday with them. It would be good though if all schools would agree when the holidays were - it is difficult if you have children in different schools who have different holidays.

I think if the summer holidays were shortened then holidays during that time would become even more expensive. It's just basic supply and demand.

It would also mean that more parents would not be able to get time off work during the school holidays.

What annoys me is teacher training days and the fact that each school has different ones. So when you have children at different schools they have different random days off.

I don't understand why teachers have been allowed to get away with taking 12-13 weeks paid holidays every year for more than 50 years. No other so called profession gets anywhere near as many holidays and there are a lot more occupations that are far more stressful than being a teacher. e.g. armed forces, ambulance service, police, nurses etc.

It's about time the so called teaching profession was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. But no doubt they would threaten to go on strike (very professional) if anyone dared to mess about with their terms and conditions. I for one would like to see them go on strike as I am reasonably sure they wouldn't have the public on their side.