To think that the school year should be reformed so that there are only 6 weeks of holidays instead of 13!

[bollywoodfan]

...Yes I am finding the holidays difficult! They are too long and there are far too many imo. I don't see why children & teachers need so many holidays! They are a nightmare for parents to arrange childcare for, which also costs a lot of money. Most households don't have a sahp and the govt is discouraging this anyway. So it makes sense for there to be the same amount of school holidays as there is annual leave i.e 6 weeks
OK, before the teachers start moaning - the workload for teachers could be more spreadout as there would be a longer period of time in which to fit the curriculum. You could also have weeks where you did other things, like sports or music week, activities etc, so that it is not all book learning all the time.

Benefits: more time to learn, less workload for teachers as slower pace, less childcare issues for parents, less bored children in long holidays
Disadvantages: may need to increase tax as it would cost a bit more to keep school buildings open & staff would have to be paid more. Less time for kids to relax I suppose..although as I said, there could be activity weeks or days which coukd break up the routine

So my plan would be:
2 weeks for summer holidays
1 week christmas
1 week easter
1 week in Nov
1 week in Feb
Who's with me?

Oh fgs, you are effectively saying you only want to spend 6 weeks of quality time with your children per year?

I love the time my dc are off school. They de-stress, become themselves again. We love spending time together, love doing things other than school.

If children only had 6 weeks of holiday per year they would not be children any more. There would be no time for them to get bored and thus get creative / inventive / use their imagination.
There would be no time for them just to play and play and play (in safety) without adult interference, without adult guidance.
They would be tired, overworked, overwrought. It is hard work being in close proximity of 29 classmates all the time. Children need time away from that, to be in the safety and comfort of their own home where they can be just who they are.

No, just no!

Would you really want a 5 year old to be in school 5 days a week 46 weeks a year? How is that good for them?

Well, there could definitely be more organised day camps etc in the holidays to help with childcare for working parents.

& I have (young, childless, skint) teaching colleagues who'd snap your arm off for the chance to earn in the weeks they don't currently get paid, so would be up for running them.

Parents would have to pay individually though, or there'd have to be a rise in taxation if they were deemed a social good we should all be funding.

Teachers doing an extra 7 weeks for free - nope. Don't be daft!

No, no, no! The week before a holiday is already full of hellish exhausted tantrums, and it would be much worse if the holidays were halved. Also, holidays would become pretty much unaffordable due to everyone with kids having to take family holidays in the same short period.

YABU.

Perhaps you should have considered how "difficult" childcare would be before having children.

I'll add another yabu. You chose to have kids. It isn't like this is a surprise. I don't think summer hols are any thing like ling enough. I had 12 weeks when I was young. I want time with my children. They're young for such a short period of time.

You need to try to teach a class at the end of a long term. The kids are exhausted and need a break. It is a fact of life. Doesn't the UK has some of the shortest school holidays anyway?

YY at better childcare provision for those parents who need it.
But NN to enforced 46 weeks of schooling.

Yabu, maybe the extra tax money you think should be put in to keeping schools open longer could instead be invested in affordable childcare for school holidays for those that need it? Like more clubs open during the holidays with more places available and not as expensive.

Do teachers get paid for the 13 weeks they are off? Or just 6 weeks?

Yup, I'm with Sassy. Let's go for it. If you're going to convince the government to pay teachers more then I can reduce my hours (maybe work 0.6 instead of 0.9) and then I can see more of my DC every week.

catching teachers do not get any paid holiday. they are paid for the 39 weeks they work only. But to allow them to budget on a monthly basis these 39 weeks are divided up into 12 monthly paypackets.

School holidays have not changed. It shouldn't come as a suprise that we have them.

No they shouldn't be reduced, because school isn't a place of child care, but a place of education. Also by reducing the holidays, will mean that it will cost the tax payer more money for wages - teachers, heads, support staff, care takers, never mind other bills associated with running a school. Unless of course you want staff to remain on the same wage (which would take a lot below nmw), and for the bills to come out of existing budgets, but them parents would moan because other resources would have to be scrapped or more donations from parents would be needed.

I must type so slowly, I've xposts with a few suggesting better childcare in the time it's taken me to post that.

Oh and, not all book learning all the time

Hahahahah, when were you last in a school OP? How much 'book learning' do you think goes on now?!

Yabu and a bit bonkers. There's no way teachers(being one myself) would work for 46 weeks but have less of a workload! We'd still have to all the planning and the activity weeks you mention take shed loads of planning, are not well received and are more tiring than normal teaching!

Thanks behind

Haha, so the 'activity weeks' are a way of getting the holiday childcare covered by the tax payer at premium rates? Good thinking. I like your abolition of the summer half term too. The only half term with the chance of decent weather: great training for an adult life of misery and grind. Ace time to remove the time for that self-discipline building revision week for those taking exams.

Childhood: who needs it?

To the people who say that they love spending more than 6 weeks with the DC and why do you only want to spend 6 weeks with them, I assume you are sahps, because that IS the amount of time full-time working parents have to spend with their children now!

OP, I find it hard to believe that you have a school age child if you think they don't need more than 6 weeks holiday.

I had 8 years off and I loved the holidays. My DC are 18 and 15 and normal, albeit hardworking young people. They need every minute of their holidays. although I do think all teachers should have to work for a real life organisation for two weeks during the summer holidays and this would in turn be of benefit to their pupils

OP is not concerned about anything else but finding a way to limit the need to provide care for her children. Bloody lazy teachers, we should keep the children from 7-7 at least, 7 days a week.

Why don't you call for better holiday childcare provision? I'm sure most people can get on board with that. School is not childcare.

I wish mine had more holiday time, I love it when we can do are own thing,

Children switch off if you overload them, it would be fairly pointless from a learning point of view.