School holiday dates

We get 2 weeks in May/June and 1 in October. I wouldn’t like it the other way round

I presume it’s a private school.

looking at the school holidays, we now have:2 weeks in october3.5 weeks at Christmas 1 week in February so 6.5 weeks during the most miserable, cold, wet time of yearthen the rest align with everyone else I expect, Easter, may then summer holidays.

Has the OP explained how they get 3.5 weeks at Christmas though?!

We have made up the learning time this year by extending the school day so that there is the same amount of learning time in 37 weeks as there previously was in 38

Academies can do this as they aren't constrained by the 380 sessions of school each year. LA schools can't.

Actually I think I address the question in a different thread about school terms.

I just found the relevant part of the results of consultation.

"We have made up the learning time this year by extending the school day so that there is the same amount of learning time in 37 weeks as there previously was in 38."`

Same amount of learning in fewer days.

I addressed this point earlier. It's an academy.
They gained the week by shortening breaks and lengthening the day a bit.
They absolutely do have an additional week of holiday.

this makes no sense. It doesnt make a difference to how many weeks the children have off. Theyre not having an extra week, they are moving a week. It is still 190 days in school.

Private Schools.

1 week Feb
1 week May
8 EIGHT weeks for summer
2 weeks in October
3 weeks in December

that’s our school.

As a parent and also work on education I think longer at Christmas is a great idea. The children are usually exhausted at the end of the autumn term and seem to barely rest over Christmas and come back still wiped out. It was noticeable this year when they had almost a week extra off with the snow that they cam back much brighter and absence for illness in January was lower than usual. I'm all for an extra week in October too, that autumn term is a hard one all round.

Highly reccomend gran canaria in October. Book easyjet flights, v reasonable

At one point my authority were considering changing the term dates up a bit, and shifting of GCSEs and A levels is the reason that died a death. I don't actually think it would have been possible to change the exam dates in one authority - people with friends, or cousins, in other authorities could so easily find out what was going to be in the exam ahead of time if this nonsense had gone ahead. Once the secondary schools pointed out that the proposal would have meant that the summer half term would have been bang in the middle of exams, it was dropped and never brought up again.

My son's school moved to 2 weeks in Oct and said it was due to that term being the longest and the one with most absences due to illness (kids and teachers). The 2 week 1/2 term breaks it up and bit.

They did also say that it meant people could go on holiday when it was cheaper, but 1) my employer didn't give me an extra week of leave and 2) I don't think that's really an argument that schools should consider. Their job is to educate, not try and mange family holidays.

Itll be primary school. By the time they get to secondary no more tacking inset days on to may half term!

Well it’s not a state school with those holidays so just save your money, cancel the petition and move them out of private education! Simple

@ackarackaru where are you that gets a 3.5 week Christmas holiday? I have never known this outside of private schools.

What type of school is it? Where's the extra week going? Are there lots of children of migrants who may want to travel back home over winter?

3.5 weeks off over Christmas sounds like private school.

Our local authority has 1 week October, 2 weeks Christmas, 1 week Feb, 2 weeks Easter, 2 weeks May/June and 5 weeks in the summer. But only in primary school. Secondary has to revert back to the more usual model because of exams.

We had a good run of cheaper hols, mostly in the UK but now I've got one in secondary which makes 2 weeks in October sound quite appealing. Not so much 3.5 weeks for Christmas.

I think any complaint would go to the head of the academy trust on this one

2 weeks off in October and 3.5 weeks at Christmas does sound like it makes for a much more sensible length Autumn Term than the 15 or 16 week nightmare that most schools get.
@ackarackaru will you answer the question about where you are that has such a long Christmas break ?

This must be a private school, surely. 3 x half terms here (South West England) are 1 week each, Xmas and Easter 2 weeks. Summer 6.

The high/ grammar schools have one week I believe (well certainly in our area), it’s the primaries have two. The older ones then break up a week earlier and get 6 weeks in summer.

Which is admittedly awkward if you have children in both schools. Also for secondary teachers with children in primary I suppose.

I’m no longer teaching and only have one child currently in primary so it very much works for us at the moment, but probably not a perfect system overall.

FWIW it’s the last week of May and first week of June, rather than 2 weeks in June. Once when I was teaching they trialled one week at Whit and extra in the summer and everyone hated it so much it didn’t happen again!

Exactly! All the exams would need to be moved! Not sure why they get 3.5 weeks at Christmas!

How does the two week summer half term work for years 11 and 13, they have exams

It is a bit shit when a single Academy goes rogue with school holidays as lots of families have kids in neighbouring primary schools or (like me) work in a school but not the one my kids are at. It probably means the academy attendance will be great but families will take their other kids out of other schools in order to benefit from cheaper holiday prices.

I remember the consultation in our county

I asked many other send parents their views before completing it. DD also did it as there was a consultation for children too, which I think is great.