Can School Extend Easter?

The real issue here is the lack of funding for schools. In a sensible world there would be a moving package as part of the new building budget and professional movers would be paid to do the removals. Not teachers who should be teaching and not moving furniture.

No - they might not have. Our school is currently meant to complete next February but it's running 2 weeks behind. If they can't catch up that time the move will have to happen in April. However if anything else slips or there's any issues with the snagging, that might go into the summer for the move. In any scenario school will close for 3-5 days and the days will not be made up elsewhere. And the contractors and council representatives at the school meeting last week said they will aim to give parents a few weeks' notice but they can't promise it as things can change a lot - and they can only do this over a school holiday with the way the actual move everything else will happen (furniture, kit, books, etc etc). So it needs to be before or after Feb break, before or after April break or before or after summer break - they have no idea which one.

If they're able to make a massive push and finish for an earlier break that's a huge advantage as they have a year's project to knock down the old building but can't start that until we are all out of it. So if it drags into 'after' summer holiday then it's hugely problematic for the budget. So if they're able to make a last minute call to move earlier they will do it.

In any case, even if the days were made up elsewhere it wouldn't solve this specific problem. Am sure there's a solution as the entire catchment will be in the same situation.

Those who think that this should be done while the children are in school, even doing it class by class would you want to move house while responsible for 30 children?

would you want your child to be walking down the corridor to the toilet while tables and cupboards where being moved?

The staff would much rather be in the classroom doing their job but sometimes these things can’t be avoided. If building works over run then the work needs to be done during term time

There IS a provision which allows for additional days due to issues such as building work delays, etc. as is the case here.

The school hasn't just decided to close for no reason.

Who will pay?

It appears that state schools legally have to provide a minimum of 190 days when it is open for students. I think your best approach is to contact the school governors and ask how the additional closure impacts that. It seems a reasonable question.

(There may be loophole when it involves building work etc though).

My DC's school added an extra day to the end of the Christmas holidays 3 days before the end of term. They can do it but I wasn't pleased. Thankfully they're at secondary so don't need babysitting while DH and I are at work.

It's not inset days. Read the OPs posts. Inset days are for staff training, not for moving furniture.

I would still contact the LA and ask their thoughts on it.

Yes they can, it will be inset days. Our school moved into new building too, but they did it during the summer holidays, using a professional moving firm! Staff just labeled boxes and items with their new class room numbers. I sympathise with you as I know it's difficult covering the holidays with annual leave. I actually ended up leaving my job because of it, and the number of sick days mine had! I took a long break and when they started secondary school, I went back to work.

🤣 at teachers just doing it in the holidays as if they don't have kids or holidays booked etc

This would not work. At all. There are no extra staff to keep ratios up to do this.

Well if staff are having to move buildings when do you expect them to do this? Teachers don't get paid for the majority of their holidays and can't be expected to give more up.

It’s accepting that sometimes things happen out of schools control.

no school wants to shut when they should be open but with the best will in the world no headteacher can control everything and sometimes a unexpected closure is all that can be done

Ok but you need to realise school isn’t childcare.

School isn’t childcare, but it’s factored into
parents childcare plans. My child by law needs to be in education and society’s way of facilitating that is to say they need to be in school for 190 days per year.

Those days I don’t need to provide childcare myself or arrange with an external provider because they are required to be in school. In fact it would be ridiculous to pay someone for childcare my kids can’t access, because they are required to be in school. I do ensure my child is cared for outside of their appointed school days.

When school, at short notice, cannot meet their legal duty to open it leaves parents trying to piece together childcare they shouldn’t actually need because their child should be in school. That is complex and difficult for many parents who don’t have alternatives sitting around waiting in case a child needs care because their school isn’t open on days it should be.

Except in the very limited circumstances set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999, schools must meet for at least 380 sessions or 190 days in any school year.
I don't know how this fits with the school needing to be open for 190 days. I would check in with the local authority.

I feel your pain, we had 24 hours notice that my DDs school wasn’t opening for 3 days after summer break because building work had run over. I needed to find 3 days childcare for my DD who has complex needs and can’t tolerate random childcare and can’t be left alone for more than an hour or so. She also really struggled with understanding why she couldn’t go to school.

Like you my leave is planned around the school holidays and we’d just come to the end of the long summer break. While school isn’t childcare most people’s work is centred around their kids being at school. Apparently it’s perfectly reasonable to give no notice of closure, not provide any alternative provision and leave parents to get on with it. I had to use unpaid leave, which then caused an unexpected financial impact again, right at the end of the long summer break where we’d already spent more than usual keeping things covered.

I get it’s sometimes unavoidable but let’s not pretend there’s an easy fix and that it’s not problematic for parents to find extra cover at short notice.

Ok but you need to realise school isn’t childcare.

They must have known they were going to plan to do this way more than 3 weeks in advance though.

I very much doubt it. The builders have probably just told them when they expect it all to be signed off. School staff really don’t sit around scheming to get more holidays and fuck the parents off, even if some posters seem to think they do.

Is the school an academy or LA maintained?

I always think the childcare comments are weird, as if parents would pay for year-round childcare just in case the school decided at the last minute to close for unplanned days. School is childcare. We certainly get into enough trouble if we take kids out for unauthorised days?

That’s nice, I didn’t mention hate. Ironic that you assumed the worst of me. I referred to cringing because I’m too nice and end up saying yes and then feeling stressed because I’m doing too much. But if you feel superior to me, no worries.

What resources would you like your child to go without to pay for removals?

Teachers in England get 4-5 weeks of holiday pay like anyone else, this pay is spread evenly between pay packet. So they are unpaid for 8-9 weeks of the year, but to being paid on a pro-rata basis recieve the same pay every month, rather than two months of £0 pay.

So working parents shouldn't have children? 🤨

Then why would someone in that position have children?