Are English kids off school just now?

[ssd]

Im in Scotland btw, i think we had a long weekend the end of may

yes

Yes, off all this week.

Some are some aren't varies across the country. I'm in Scotland and had a long weekend not this weekend last but the one before

Yep, in my area (Lancashire), off this week and schools who have 2 weeks holiday at this half term were off last week too.

Is it called half term then

Here its just the may weekend

Officially its the late spring break, between the end of term 5 last friday and the start of term 6 next Monday.

But to just about everyone it's really just half term.

Yes, half term because it's half way through the term - English school summer term runs through until mid / late July.

Yes ours are off this week, my brothers were off last week. It’s half term.

Yes it's half term, in my area it's always the week of the late May bank holiday, although it's a week late this year imo, it's usually 20-something of May.

Ours are off for two weeks, this week and next (only one week at easter).

@ssd

Is it called half term then

Yes, it’s half term week in England. This one tends to be standard because of GCSE exams and is always the week with the 2nd May bank holiday

In this part of England at least, yes. Called May half term/summer half term. Here it is always the week starting with the late May bank holiday. They don’t break up for summer holidays until the end of the third full week of July.

We always used to call it Whitsun - but I rarely hear that these days

@ssd

Im in Scotland btw, i think we had a long weekend the end of may

Yes, we are off school for May half term. I'm currently in holiday in Scotland - I teach so away for half term - and noticed there were schools open today here.

I'm in Scotland and my kids were off school Friday and Monday. Back to school today. Just a long weekend not half term as we've not got long until school finishes for the summer.

They have 2 extra in-service days next week as well for SQA reasons - lots of assessment marking I suppose

Here in my bit of Scotland, we had last Monday off (24th) for in-service then secondary schools had yesterday and today off for SQA marking.

@NotSorry

We always used to call it Whitsun - but I rarely hear that these days

That's because the bank holiday isn't automatically at Whit any more.

Because the date of Easter is determined by the first new moon after the vernal equinox (don't quote me - I'm unclear on the exact details but it depends on interaction of solar and lunar cycles) it can vary by over a month. Pentecost (50th day of Easter) - also known as Whit - comes 7 weeks later and so can also vary by over a month.

At some point in the second half of the last century, the second spring bank holiday - and the half-term holiday that often went with it - was removed from the association with Whitsun and attached to the final Monday in May.

This week is common to every school in England and Wales. It's the only one that is. Usually it would be in the middle of the exam period so every school has to adhere to the same half term so that students don't miss exams or have to sit them in their break.

Yes it's half term and yes it's pretty much England wide (other school holidays tend to vary from area to area but this particular half term always encompasses the late May BH so is pretty universal)

Yes, and the May half term doesn't really vary across England like the other half terms as it always coincides with the late May Bank holiday. So I'd reckon pretty much all state schools are off for half term this week

@merryhouse

thanks for the explanation!