For anyone who feels that the six week summer holiday is too long…

[Forgottenmyphone]

consider yourself lucky and thank your lucky stars you don’t live in Italy!

I would take this with a pinch of salt as Scotland does not have 8 weeks off in state schools!

I'd prefer a longer summer holiday tbh.
6 weeks is too short.
But......there needs to be government funded childcare/summer camps/summer school schemes available if the holiday was longer.

Yep secondary school here in Ireland is 12/13 weeks and primary school is 9.
My two are 15 and 12.. 12 year old is starting secondary in August.
Summers were difficult when they were younger as they needed to be constantly entertained

I’m in Scotland and my kids were off for about 7.5 weeks last year….

We don't get 6 weeks in my borough anymore. Last couple of years it was 5, this year it's 4

I checked and 14 weeks is right for Italy. I thought it was bad enough when we moved to the USA and got 10-11 weeks! It's so long, and we get far fewer breaks during the year, just a week or so for Christmas/New Year and a week for spring, plus several long weekends.

We are in a private school in England and we get almost 9 weeks. We're fortunate to be able to pay for holiday camps and to have a good variety nearby - there doesn't seem to be enough time to do all the interesting ones we want, have some lazy family time and fit in a summer holiday too (and this year also fit in an easy week of time at home for potty training and recovery from a medical procedure). I'd be quite happy with a longer summer break for us.

But......there needs to be government funded childcare/summer camps/summer school schemes available if the holiday was longer.

You mean tax-payer funded. Your kids, you pay,

Childcare is loads cheaper in Italy though - a lot of it is state funded so they don't charge much.

Is that primary or secondary in Italy?

Ireland here and my darlings in secondary are finishing now 31st May till 2nd sept so 13.5 weeks off.

@Ifailed yes tax payer funded.....just like education is 🙄

I don't live in italy but it's definitely correct for where we are in Spain. Kids finish this year on 21 June and aren't back until 10 September, 15 September for secondary.

Because of some (luckily) paid training at my school (teacher) last year, we only had four weeks. It was nowhere near enough and I feel like I've been suffering the whole school year because of it. I really believe teachers and pupils need that "reset". And yeah, I'd like longer. We are really lucky as we are both teachers we get that time all together with the kids and it's genuinely a highlight of the year.

Yup, I love the school hols. I'm not a teacher but I work term time only and am honestly gutted about the 4 weeks this year! I love the summer and that time with my kids ❤️

It did when I was at school. Finished end of June, went back beginning of September. I thought it might well have changed over time.

My Italian friend told me about their long summer holidays, but I think I envy the Italians more for having continual assessment rather than the pressure of exams at the end of the school year. 😫

Not sure about longer holidays. As a single working parent my kids would have just spent longer in kids clubs. I work in the public sector where leave is generous but still only 6 weeks compared to the many weeks of school holidays.

Yean ten weeks where we live, however childcare during this time is very affordable, plus its completely normal for businesses to slow down hugely in the summer as most people will use almost all their holiday entitlement in the summer holidays, so it isn’t too hard to cover the holidays.

Scottish primaries (state) have 6 weeks off, there is usually then two insets so it will seem like an extra half week! Once every 7 years there is a 7 week holiday, but that's the exception.

Why does the government have to pay for everything?

I live in Canada where the summer holidays are 9-10 weeks, plus two weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks during spring. We get 10 paid days off a year so virtually all kids do holiday camps unless they have a SAHP. I think because it’s so common that the provisions are better and more reasonably priced than I’ve seen in the UK.

My son is autistic and wouldn't cope in any holiday club so it's literally putting my work on hold for 7 weeks.... It's really a long time. And quite difficult for him to understand.

Yup. Italian school summer hols are horrific. DS (10yo) breaks up on the 6th of June and goes back on 12th September. This is for primary, middle and high schools. Only the infant schools (3-6 year olds) break up a bit later -end of June. Can confirm it's a fucking nightmare.

@Overtheatlantic if your comment is in response to my suggestion of government funded summer childcare/camps etc - why is it different to the government funding schools?
If schools are open for July for education the government funds them.
If schools were closed as being an education facility but open as a summer school/camp for parents who wish to use that service in July - the government could fund them.
Same money really - just used in a different way.
Not all children would attend so the funding could be spread over to cover August as well.

WHEN do the government pay for anything is actually my query. Im not in the UK though.

4 weeks in some boroughs in England?! Just basically August? That's rough for people getting away on holiday.