Missing a week of school in May year 6 or October year 7. Which would you choose?

[Stickthatupyourdojo]

TLDR: What do you think is the better option? Our eldest missing a week of school in year 6 in late May before the half term (but post SATS), or a week of school in year 7 before October half term (so first term of secondary school)?

We’re planning a 2 week family holiday to Japan and aiming for 2028. We will time it to include a week of school holidays to minimise disruption. We have a large age gap between our children (smaller gap was the plan but we got there eventually!) and 2028 should be a sweet spot for both of them to be an age to really enjoy it, plus allow us to save up and plan properly.

Balancing the weather (summer holidays will be too humid) and aiming for at least partly school holidays has identified either May half term or October half term 2028 as the best options for us. The children will be 5 and 11 for both. I want to pick the least disruptive option for my eldest, whether that’s end of year 6 celebrations starting to ramp up, or forming friendships and adjusting to secondary school. Youngest will be either in reception or starting year 1. I’m leaning towards May, after SATs.

The 2 week Easter holiday is unlikely to be suitable for us due to pre SATS school activities. It’ll also most likely fall during the peak cherry blossom season where you need to book up a year in advance and we won’t know the school’s dates until 6 months before. Thanks for any advice.

I think May Y6 for sure.

May, not at the start of High School

May

May.

Certainly not October year 7 when navigating high school, new lessons, friends etc- that will have much more of an impact.

Year 6 after SATS, might miss a fun thing but it would be worth it .

I’d say one week POST sats in year 6 is much less disruptive than at the start of secondary school personally.
Just bear in mind tho, a lot of schools arrange nice things for year 6 after the SATS and they might miss out on some of that but a trip to Japan sounds fantastic.

May - but check about leavers production or school journey. Both are less important than Japan of course but you may get an ear bending for missing those.

May....but five year old is too young to appreciate japan. Wait til they both older

If you have to do it at all then go for the May.

I found when both mine were in Y6 that was the time they started to feel the magnitude of leaving primary and wouldn't have wanted to miss a week of school / time with their friends. Maybe if Japan was on the table they'd have felt differently.

No way would I consider Y7. It's imperative (in my opinion and experience) they spend as much time at school during that first term transition. Plus they kick off so much more at secondary about term time holidays.

Is there a reason the 6 weeks holiday won't work? Will 2 weeks give time to get over jet lag etc before being back in the thick of things at school?

Definitely do not take time out in the first term of Year 7. Yes illness can happen etc but a week is a really long time at that particular place in the calendar so it's important to be there as much as possible.

I'd say May

I’d say May, for all the reasons given above but also because we have family travelling in Japan at the moment and they’ve had lots of rain! October is also typhoon season and while these can also happen in May, they’re far more likely in the autumn.

May.

With regards to Easter you could pretty much work out the school holidays dates, based on when Easter 2028 falls.

Usually the Easter weekend is the middle weekend of the two week break but if Easter falls particularly early then the holidays could start on Good Friday or if Easter is particularly late then they tend to go back the day after Easter BH Monday.

May year 6 post SATs. All the kids will be winding down. Just make sure you’re avoiding any high school induction days etc. Don’t disrupt Yr 7 in Oct

We’ve taken ours out for 1-2 weeks all the way through school except exam years.

I really wouldn’t worry about 1 week.

Is it possible to push back to the May of Year 7?

When do they do residentials and school play in Y6. Also remember they may still be doing writing work which will be part of their year end results

Definitely y6. We did this to travel and DC missed some things like the y6 play and disco but they weren’t bothered. They certainly didn’t miss out on any learning as they did v little at school after sats and instead went to interesting countries!

oct of y7 is important for settling into high school and making new friends. DC would miss some learning as well

After SATs was also when DS’s school did in depth sex education lessons. And you might want to check when induction days are.

Would the 5 year old still be too young to remember and appreciate the trip, when older

Personally I'd go in the summer holidays and just work around the heat/humidity. We did Florida in August and it was nowhere near as bad as we thought it would be (and I'm a pale skinned redhead)
That way you're not worrying about missing any school, and plenty of time to get over any jet lag.

If you really feel you wouldn't be able to cope with the weather then I'd go May of year 6. Most of the leavers fun (the show/disco etc) tends to come in the second half of the summer term so I'd go the week before May half term and half term week.

Definitely not Oct year 7 (unless your area/secondary school has a 2 week half term) - the transition to secondary is a big one and missing a week at that stage wouldn't be a good idea.

May without a doubt.

Thanks all. May definitely the clear contender so far which is very helpful. I’ll investigate the summer holidays a bit more in terms of weather as that would be much better timing. Age wise pushing back further would suit the youngest but eldest is desperate to go to Japan and im conscious of not delaying doing stuff with him while he wants to due to his sister. She will get 1:1 time when he doesn’t want to be seen in public with us and rather be out with his mates.

will definitely avoid year 7. Thanks all

Easter. SATS preparation isn’t a reason to miss an entire week of the end of Y6 and definitely not a good idea to miss a week of Y7.

Absolutely neither. My daughter would have been devastated to miss any of the fun things they do post SATS. It’s such a pivotal time for them, and often quite emotional. I’d wait until 2029 or even 2030

Varies though? My son was pretty miserable & said ‘I thought it was supposed to be fun after SATs’. Not much to miss for him - one leavers trip IIRC.