To think the schools break up far too late?

[justnotaballetmum]

They do, don't they?

It is nearly the end of July. The best weather (ha, I know, but stay with me!) has gone. It's practically August by the time they are released and distinctly autumnal.

Wouldn't it be better to break up start of July and give them a couple of extra weeks?

Schools near me broke up around 24th June and I think they go back 2nd week in august - just right probably as August here is never good.

Mine broke up on the 15th July and back on the 5th September. Seems perfect really

I will always be in favour of some sort of provision being made for working parents, but I do feel having children in school and expected to be learning at this stage in the year is crazy.

Mine have been off since end of May(Secondary schools, Ireland).
I love the long holidays but self-employed so no issues with childcare.
I've just noticed that the "back to school" tv ads have started and that must be awful for those kids who haven't even broken up yet in Wales & England.

But that Autumn term until Christmas tends to be very, very long. Wouldn't want it any longer. And I'm not convinced by your weather argument. July and August tend to be very similar? And Sept is often lovely...

I will always be in favour of some sort of provision being made for working parents

I was listening to something on the radio the other day about struggles faced by low paid workers and there was a woman on whose job was in a school on term time hours so she was only paid for 39 weeks a year, which I believe is pretty common (her DCs were grown up and she wanted extra hours but couldn't get them).

Surely one solution to help people like this, along with providing organised holiday childcare would be for workers on these types of jobs to be able to work extra in the holidays running play schemes/providing childcare/whatever is appropriate?

Obviously still making sure she has the legal minimum number of holidays and making this sort of thing voluntary, to not disadvantage parents who prefer to work term time only, but it seems that working like this would help solve more than one problem?

It is long, I agree, but I don't personally find July and August similar. By August - well, late July actually - there are back to school signs everywhere, Christmas decorations start to emerge and the nights are drawing in by mid August.

It is as if summer happens while the kids are at school still, which is a shame.

Mine broke up 15th but last week of school was school trips away all week. Back 7th. So 7 1/2 weeks of holiday but 8 1/2 weeks off school work!

Yes, I think the origins of the school holidays and timing of them lies within the agricultural calander. In Ireland we had July and August off for the Summer, and even as a child I was bored two or three weeks in (and a bit shy going back; I rarely saw school friends over the holidays). Shorter holidays more frequently would probably have been better. In secondary school we had June, July and August (unless you had public exams which were held in June).

Where I live in Switzerland, the kids got the following holidays this year -
1 week - Christmas and New Year (24th Dec-2nd Jan)
2 weeks - Winter Sports break (mid-Feb)
2 days - Easter (just the Fri-Mon)
6 weeks - Summer holidays (3 July - 15 August)
2 weeks - Autumn Holidays (1-15th Oct)
Then there were 6 other odd days through the year for public holidays and teacher training.

I imagine if you moved the holidays the "back to school" signs would also move! And why on earth are there Xmas decs in Sept???

I think the problem is that Xmas is too late!

Noooooo! My ideal would be 4 weeks off in the summer and all other breaks 2 weeks. Half terms aren't long enough and the summer is too long.

(Would also like to live somewhere where max temp is about 20oC.)

Well mid June to mid July was dire this year so glad they are breaking up now!

My son doesn't break up for summer until tomorrow. His school is the only school in this town that is so late for some reason!

They also get two weeks off at October. But they are in school each day an hour more than the other schools.

Ooh, I like the Swiss school system, Venus! Shame it's so expensive there - what do you do there, if you don't mind me asking? :)

My DC have been off school for a month already (not in the UK), and it's an expensive PITA

lol NO. It's hard enough to sort childcare for 6 weeks let alone longer

Grannie I don't understand what you mean by saying childcare doesn't come into it as its the parents responsibility- of course it's the page at responsibility. That doesn't mean we want to change our routines and Costs for even longer than the 6 weeks we have to already

August is not autumnal

We used to go away cheapest week - week before they go back and it can be - weather can start to feel autumnal some years and the evening are starting to get dark.

Having said that one year the trees were losing their leaves and their was a nip in the air first week they were off.

For past few weeks getting one of my children to sleep is hard - despite thick blackout curtains - getting them up in winter in bloody hard as well - they seem very attuned to the sun levels.

I also have a lot sympathy for exam takers in hay fever season - having suffered that myself - I remember despite medication some years sitting exams with tissue next to streaming nose and red streaming eyes.

Truth is any change would mean a massive re-organisation - not just schools but FE Colleges and Universities starts and terms - exam boards - so suspect we'll only ever get minor tinkering.

DD's American cousins broke up in mid June - that's nuts! DD broke up 13 days ago and she's enjoyed herself but it does make child care more complicated.. Did mean I could take her to Ladies Day at Newmarket races which she really enjoyed!

"the root of school holidays was agriculture so the kids could help on the land and harvest fruit etc so i guess they dont do this so much now. "

Plenty of farmers kids have been skpping school since about the start of July round here to help out (older ones, mind you)

Beginning of July to mid August would be better i think. They could give them two weeks at Autumn half term but then make Xmas holidays slightly shorter eg. The three days off between xmas and new year plus all the bank hols and weekends usually brings it to 11 days at xmas.

Schools need to break up earlier the last week is always spent in primary at least watching movies and letting year 6 go on trips and making a big deal of them leaving while the lower years are bored and generally in this city over heating. We break up tomorrow and have been counting down since 20 schools days to go.

I don't buy the whole bored argument it's good for children to get bored and discover new things and find themselves.

School is not childcare its education so parents work commitments should not come into play at all while should some children suffer just because others parents don't want to pay for more childcare.

Dontyoulovecalpol, You might not want to change or spend more but I don't think childcare is a reason for kids still being in schools in late July. They are tired and hot and the little ones really struggle. Childcare isn't their problem.

Of course childcare is my responsibility as a parent but that doesn't make it easier to manage. It is very difficult for 2 full time working parents to cover all the school holidays throughout the year. It is also very expensive. We take 1wk together then they're all in clubs 8-6 for the rest of the time. They are probably more exhausted come September than they are in July.