to not want shorter school summer holidays

[mum2030]

I don't get the benefit to working parents at all apart from possibly (but unlikely) cheaper foreign travel. DH & I both work and use a combination of our holidays and paid for holiday clubs/ childminders etc.

The number of holidays will be the same but surely by chopping them up into little bits it will become more difficult for things like holiday clubs/ activity clubs to function economically - e.g. how are they going to staff these things for a couple of weeks at a time at random dates - all different for different areas.

Plus I like the fact that kids have a nice long break between years to really wind down and refresh themselves. Plus it gives me time to do things like get all uniforms sorted out, get new kit for school and break a few of the bad habits that have crept in during the school year.

Inset days are bad enough when you have different children at different schools in different LEA's. But if different schools were able to pick different holidays you could end up even increasing the number of holiday days you had to provide child care for.

Hear hear.

All of the above.

Hear,hear

Absolutely! Agree to everything you have said - they really haven't thought this one through...

YANBU. Love the summer hols!

YANBU-they are kids and need time to just be. Roll on summer holidays.

I don't want the holidays to change either, but I don't think it's about the benefits to working parents or to make going abroad and buying uniforms easier. Any benefit would be to the children who wouldn't be so exhausted by the end of each term, and would then maximise their learning potential during the time they are at school.

Having worked in education for 20 years, plus having my own children/grandchildren I would prefer to see a month in the summer, with an extra week at Christmas and Easter.

I always felt that 6 weeks was too long and Christmas never long enough.

However, different arrangements in different LAs is ridiculous.

And I don't get the benefit to working parents at all is possible not the primary thinking behind any change...

I don't mind either way by my DS(15) and DS(11) both agree with NannyOgg.

*but - not by

I like the long summer break.
The silliest suggestion is varying the holidays - an utter nightmare for those with children in different authorities or teachers who work in a different one to their children or who want to go away with friends and family from different areas etc.

In Ireland primary school (5-12 year olds) get 8-9 weeks in Summer, and secondary school (13-18 year olds) get 12-3 weeks. UK Summer holidays are quite short by European standards and I can't believe some people want to shorten them even more. We are always quite bemused when we realise that kids in UK are still in school in mid july.

12-13 wks for secondary school I meant.

I agree Nannyogg...

My two are 12 and 14 and both agree with NannyOgg. The age of the children makes a difference I think.

It would make going away for a summer holiday even more expensive and difficult if all families of school age children had to pack it into a three or four week interval.

I never think six weeks is that difficult to cope with. We usually try to go away in the middle, so there's only the two weeks either side to sort out in terms of child care and other activities.

I'm a teacher and LOVE the six-week holiday. Having said that, I think cutting it down to 5 weeks would be better and moving the 6th week to the Autumn term which is notoriously long! It is common for schools to do 8 weeks, 1 week off and another 8 weeks when the weather is worsening, nights are darkening and basically we are all knackered due to Christmas festivities! Either make the October half term into 2 weeks or do a 5 week half term, 1 week off, 5 week half term, 1 week off and another 5 week half term before Christmas.

I'd like an extra week at Christmas, before if possible so we have more time doing cheesy festive guff.

By the time September comes, as much as I have fun with them and enjoy them, they're getting bored and in need of the structure of the school day so a week earlier back would be fab.

For parents of some Secondary school age children childcare isn't a concern in any case.

Presumably holiday clubs would actually become more economical, because rather than one club only for a few weeks and then nothing, the same staff could move around following the holidays and cover all the schools more easily?

I'd much rather have a shorter summer holiday and longer at Christmas and a bit more on the half terms or Easter. There always seems to be so much going on at Christmas and New Year and not enough time to do it all in.

I'd like a month in the summer, an extra week in the May half term so it can be used for a decent non-summer holidays holiday and an extra week in October.

I think the spring term is short enough and that we need more time off when the weather's good.

They need to structure the day better.

Make the academic lessons in the morning, and have sports, additional tutoring/afterschool sessions, homework sessions and general afterschool clubs in the afternoon. The staff would be split between morning and afternoon sessions, so you'd not have teachers having to cover the whole day, only their half of it.

The afternoon afterschool clubs could be contracted out, and the sessions as a whole would be cheaper than childminders due to ratios,

Holidays being equally spaced throughout the year would be a good idea, but not essential for the above idea to work.

It would be better to keep the long holidays. What a waste of potentially beautifully weather and long evenings, longer holidays at a time if the year when the weather is poor and daylight hours short, would be a nightmare.

do a 5 week half term, 1 week off, 5 week half term, 1 week off and another 5 week half term

I hope you don't teach maths.

6 weeks seems very short to me for the summer break (private school so different holiday set up), I don't see the overall benefit to changing it. I'm sure some children would find it better, I'm equally sure other would find it a negative change.