Why do schools finish early before a long holiday?

[Dumpelstiltskin]

This gets my goat as a working parent.

All schools in my area finish at lunchtime when they break up for Christmas and Summer. DC don't even get lunch so DC on free school meals and KS1 DC miss out on a lunch which the school has already been given the budget for, I presume.

They are due a long holiday, why is it necessary for the school to have a half day?

[SecretSpy]

My local schools don't finish early.

Agree that they should still have a free lunch on a school day though, some of those children will be going home to families who will struggle to feed them over the long holiday

[NeedACleverNN]

Must just be your area because apart from prom day in secondary school and that's just year 11, all the schools around here finish at normal times

[situatedknowledge]

It's a mixture here. Voted for school by school years ago. Some wanted short last days, others didn't.

[MargaretCavendish]

From my teacher husband - because the kids are always impossibly excited on the last day of term; keeping them in some sort of order for a few hours is more than hard enough! It's also common to have events for only some children but all staff in the afternoon - a leavers' assembly, for instance. His school finished early yesterday (inset day today) , though at 2 so after lunch.

[Mamadothehump]

No early finishes in my area.

[Mirandawest]

DDs primary school always finishes at the end of the day. DSs secondary school finishes at 12:15 at Christmas and in the summer. No idea why really

[miraclebabyplease]

We don't but quite often it is so teachers can move out of classrooms. Then they come in on their holidays to create a classroom ready for September.

[Beeziekn33ze]

So teachers can have a staff meeting and then socialise in my experience. When I began teaching school just ended at the usual time on the last day.

[BikeRunSki]

Never heard of this.

[emc2003]

My school (primary) finished early for children, although after lunch. Staff still worked the full day. We are getting some building work done across a few classrooms and we spent the afternoon preparing the classrooms for the builders to stat work the following day.

[FuzzyWizard]

I'm in an LA school. The time we finish is early (12pm) and dictated by the LA... They stagger them (between 11:30 and 1:30) so that the kids from the local schools aren't all turfed out at the same time.

[Chasingsquirrels]

Our primary doesn't but secondary does at the end of each term (not half term), the day is periods 1&2, break, periods 3&4, lunch, period 5 - on short days they finish after period 4 so 1.25pm instead of 3.05pm

[FuzzyWizard]

I'm secondary btw. I don't think it's the same in local primaries.

[Lilaclily]

We finish an hour early
I assumed it was because the kids are so hyper
Plus it's nice for the leaving year 6s to start celebrating early , think they have a big picnic

[nothruroad]

So staff can go to the pub and collapse exhausted in bed by 7pm.

[Notthisnotthat]

Early finish here too, but any child on free lunches get a packed lunch.

[Perpetualstateofchaos]

My ds1's primary does this it was a nightmare when I was working full time thankfully my parents would pick him up if I couldn't get the day off. Free school meals children did come home with a packed lunch though I'm not sure if they still do.

[NickiFury]

Ours does. One hour earlier.

I get that childcare is a headache for a lot of people, but the moaning about it seems endless on MN this year. I am really lucky it isn't for me, but the reason it isn't is I have children with additional needs and can't work so things are pretty tough. I make the best of it.

[EnjoyTheSimpleThingsInLife]

Our school finishes today at 1.30pm (after lunch). I suppose they finish early because the last week they don't really do much work anyway so no point being in all day.

[Dumpelstiltskin]

I wouldn't mind an hour earlier so much Nicki but finishing at 11.50 means it hardly worth sending them in but if I didn't he would be marked as unauthorised absence! I have an older DC with a disability too and have only been able to go back to working recently now he is 14. Yes it is tough and in this society where women are judged if they don't work when their DC are of school age, I think we are entitled to 'moan' when schools create extra childcare headaches for no valid reason!

[mygrandchildrenrock]

Schools only claim for the actual lunches provided and eaten, so no your school won't have had the funds for lunch on the last day.
Having said that it would have been better if they'd provided lunch before they broke up. None of the schools near my school finished earlier than 2 pm.

[NickiFury]

But school is not childcare as MN is so fond of saying.....

[x2boys]

My kids go to two differennt primary schools as ds 2 has autism and learning disabilities and goes to a special school ds1 finishes at 1.30 today and ds2 finishes at 1 which is a ball ache as ds2 gets transport ro and from school and will be arriving home at about 1.30 and i cant be in two places at oncetbh i did wonder why the hell i was getting tnem up this morning rushing around for them to spend the morning at school doing not much !

[ConkersDontScareSpiders]

I asked why the finish early at my school. Head teacher just said 'it's a Hertfordshire tradition'