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Original poster

Why do school s insist on having the 6 week break in August...

338 replies

EezerGoode · 02/08/2017 17:23

Why not have a week of every month? Or just allow each area to set its own holidays..we could all then go on holiday in June or may ,when there actually was nice weather..and it would be cheaper..we all seem to accept it often rains in August..meaning we pay top whack for holidays when it pisses down....so what is stopping headteachers spreading the holidays throughout the year so we can take advantage of decent weather and cheaper prices??!!

OP posts:
BoneyBackJefferson · 02/08/2017 17:55

Much as I agree with other teachers my point is

We can't recruit and retain teachers, so don't fuck about with one of the benefits of being a teacher.

Greggers2017 · 02/08/2017 17:56

People really aren't understanding the teachers not being able to take
annual leave comment at all. If you are a teacher and your children have different holidays to you, you will never have the option to go away together as the teaching parent has fixed holidays.

EvelynWardrobe · 02/08/2017 17:57

In NI schools finish on the last Friday of June and go back at the end of August. It's marvellous.

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 02/08/2017 17:58

The problems are:-
Siblings in different schools and so different holidays. You can't take family holidays and also never have the down time feeling as everyday someone has to be up and out. Also however often you explain that it all works out in the end the feeling that it isn't fair that they are still in bed when you have to go to school.
Teachers with children in different schools and so needing different holidays - problems as above with siblings and below with holiday clubs.
Holiday clubs only running during main holiday weeks and so working parents can't find affordable (or any) childcare.
Holiday activities (special craft sessions etc) only running when most children are off and so nothing to do if your children are on holiday at different times.
Other activities such as swimming lessons, Beavers etc running during the main terms and so either they miss their activities or you dash back from a day out to be home for 4.

It would only work if you just have children in one school and don't need childcare. It might work if you zoned it like Germany and France, but in France it is hard to attend anything other than the local school so that is probably why it works.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 02/08/2017 18:00

But surely if the summer holidays are spread over say three months- holiday companies will just up their prices in other months- meaning those without children/school aged children have less choice on when to go on holiday?

Yep

MiladyThesaurus · 02/08/2017 18:03

I suspect that he result would be increased prices for what used to be term time holidays and not much else. So it would just make things more expensive for everyone else.

And the uK weather is reliably unreliable. Growing up in Scotland, I remember it raining all July and then the sun coming out in August as soon as the schools went back. Learning to live with rain is pretty much a prequisite of living on a wet island.

DS1's (free) school started out with different holidays and a longer school day but it actually made it almost impossible to recruit and retain teachers, and also put potential families off. So now they have standard LA holidays.

KingscoteStaff · 02/08/2017 18:03

If we are changing everything, can we also change the whole year round?

The school year should run January to December.

Swap public exams to November and start university year in February.

Autumn term far more suitable for intensive study - darker evenings, worse weather and NO HAY FEVER! Summer term would be much better for sport.

Then we could have 6 weeks off in June/July OR go for that 4 term, 4 shorter holidays idea that someone suggested upthread.

Sorted.

SoupDragon · 02/08/2017 18:07

Summer term would be much better for sport.

Not for rugby it wouldn't.

Kpo58 · 02/08/2017 18:07

It would be difficult for schools to get any building work or renovations done if they only got one week per month to do it when the kids are off. The ICT department are also busy updating/upgrading/mending computers as it can be difficult to do with the kids in the classrooms.

PotteringAlong · 02/08/2017 18:08

People are misunderstanding the teacher parent comments.

I'm a teacher. I can't take annual leave. If my children have different school holidays to me I would never, ever get holiday time with them. It wouldn't be practical therefore to be a teacher and a parent. It's not about paying for childcare "like everyone else", it's about your ability to spend time with them.

SandyDenny · 02/08/2017 18:09

It would be a nightmare for teaching parents if schools had different holidays

Teachers do themselves no favours with stupid comments like that, do you have no concept of what it's like for all of the rest of us non teachers to manage school holidays. Of all the reasons not to change that one is the most ridiculous imo.

WaxOnFeckOff · 02/08/2017 18:10

Scotland generally break up at the end of June for 7 weeks - doesn't stop it pissing down for the entire 7 weeks. For the last few years we've had our best weather at some point in May. Schools don't have any holidays in May as it's too close to the end of the school year and all the older pupils are doing their main exams in May.

pieceofpurplesky · 02/08/2017 18:10

Kingscote sounds so simple just to change an entire structure .... it wouldn't work.
One of the counties trialled the eight week term thing and it only lasted a year - too many parental complaints and still expensive holidays. Can't remember which one

treaclesoda · 02/08/2017 18:11

I didn't realise that in England the local authorities decided on school holidays. I'm in N Ireland and here the holidays are set by the individual schools, so it has never been an expectation that your children have the same holidays if they go to different schools. The summer holidays are generally all of July and August but the rest of the holidays are very variable, with the only definite holidays being things like Christmas Day or Easter Monday. There is always some overlap of course but it's pretty common for my kids to be off school for a few days before Easter and go back straight afterwards, whereas my neighbours kids go to school right up until Easter and then have a longer break afterwards.

It works ok because no one expects it to be any different, we know that's what it's going to be like.

peachlimeorange · 02/08/2017 18:12

Sandy other posters have explained the meaning.

coddiwomple · 02/08/2017 18:12

I can't think of anything worst than a week a month. It would cost a fortune to go anywhere for a start! The most expensive part of the holidays is the transport, once you are on site, it can be pretty cheap. Can you imagine flight tickets every month or so? Me neither.

My kids benefit much more from a long break than a week here and there, and so do we. Even as an adult pre-children, I found 2 or 3 weeks off much more relaxing than one. By the time you arrive, unpack, and start enjoying yourself, it's already time to leave. Good god, I wish my kids had 3 months off, it would make life easier for everybody. It's also easier for us to find a summer au-pair than it would be to find a new one every month!

I hope kids finally get June and July off as well as August!

lljkk · 02/08/2017 18:12

In weeks after exams finish is when schools tend to do

work experience weeks
special activity weeks
induction for new starters (capacity only after yr11s have disappeared)
prom
some sports & residentials
rehearsal for Leavers' Assembly (yr6)
DoE outings
(DC school) trial weeks to try a new GCSE but drop out & swap around if it doesn't suit
probably other things I have forgotten.

All could be rescheduled, but not as simple as saying "no reason" to not stop school as soon as exams finish, too.

PotteringAlong · 02/08/2017 18:12

sandy so you never have any annual leave with your children then at all, do you?

paxillin · 02/08/2017 18:13

I think a really long holiday helps kids switch off better than a week each month would. You'd have the same issues covering childcare, no job is going to give you a week off. The year would be bland if all seasonality was removed.

Headofthehive55 · 02/08/2017 18:14

I think an extra week at spring bank would be good but shortening the summer break means that less working parents can go away with kids in the holiday. (You have to take turns at being off). I have children across 2 leas and three educational establishments. The Autumn term often doesn't coincide. 😬

I think July is better for the summer break, not August.

Allthewaves · 02/08/2017 18:15

Summer childcare is my easiest chilcare to sort as loads of summer schemes/programmes - my work run one. My work also employ people from at least 6 different lea's.

pinkdelight · 02/08/2017 18:15

It would just mean there is no off-season for holiday companies who could charge more across the board.

BoneyBackJefferson · 02/08/2017 18:16

SandyDenny

RTFT properly.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 02/08/2017 18:18

Teachers do themselves no favours with stupid comments like that, do you have no concept of what it's like for all of the rest of us non teachers to manage school holidays. Of all the reasons not to change that one is the most ridiculous imo.

You do yourself no favours when you don't read the explanations that other posters have given!

HTH

musicposy · 02/08/2017 18:25

OP, I've just been saying this exact same thing. DD2 is 17 and sat her AS levels in stifling heat. Now it's the holidays and we can enjoy a bit of time and it's tipping it down. And I know the weather is unpredictable in the UK but this does seem to happen to a lesser degree most years. Then we'll get a lovely few weeks in September when we have an Indian summer.

DD and I were saying it would make sense for the whole thing, countrywide, to be brought earlier by a few weeks, including school exams - so shift the whole year. It won't happen, of course, but it's a nice thought. The timing of the 6 weeks we have now is a hangover from harvesting and that's not relevant to the vast majority of the population any more.

FWIW, I don't think it's a stupid thread at all. If things are never voiced they never change.

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