To think we should do away entirely with school holidays?

[SkaPunkPrincess]

Just musing and wondering why we don't just do away with them entirely?

Run schools like a regular workplace in that they operate 52 weeks of the year, Teachers and students to get 4 weeks allocated holiday allowance per year and parents can use this at their discretion. Staff would be able to be more flexible and they would have more time in the year to teach children at a more realistic pace?

Am I missing why this isn't a genius idea?

I want more school holidays!

So, when do you expect children to act like children then?

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂who will teach the kids when the teacher wants to go on holiday? How will teachers ever find time to catch up with marking/ lesson planning? when will kids be able to take part in out of school activities such as dance/gymnastic competitions, football tournaments? Don’t you have any DC or know any teachers? Or are you just living in your own little bubble?! Dont get me wrong a good education for my DC is important , but its not THE most important thing... being a child and having time away from school to spend with family and have fun is!

Yes - you are being unreasonable for all the reasons in this thread.
Reminds me of the parents in my son's school who asked (I am not kidding) suggested the whole school half term break be re-set to start on Thursday so they could use the cheaper fights to go skiing. Even better - they asked the scout group of they could add that day onto the planned camp so the kids would be take care of while they were on the slopes. School etc is not free childcare to go round our adult work schedules, no matter how important our jobs are - who knew!

No, employers have to be more responsible and considerate to their employees. The whole work life balance is atrocious in this country and all the government and corporations care about is making as much money as possible, that does seem to be slowly changing, though it’ll only go so far.

The idea is terrible for many practical reasons and clearly you aren’t a teacher or know any teachers. The biggest reason your idea would never get past the first hurdle though is money, it would cost billions to make this change.

Our school nursery is moving to pretty much what you describe, OP. The staff aren’t too delighted with the idea, but the move has been forced due to the planned increase in hours which 3-5 year olds are entitled to. The infrastructure can’t support the increased hours, so instead they have to offer year round care and longer days.

1. teacher cover nightmares
2. the curriculum assumes all kids learn x at the same time so you can assess and move on to y.
3. people will always bemoan staff going away - little timmy needs continuity.
4. exams
5. term is tiring. Especially for small children. They need the break and staff need to recover and prepare. YABU

Any other teachers seeing this and thinking oh god noooooooooo
I personally love the exhausted look on parents’ faces when they return the kids to us after having them for the school hols. I can’t give that up

This is like, a joke post yeah?

There's a reason why the average newly qualified teacher lasts 3 years before jumping ship. You can work less hard elsewhere for somewhere for more money! Take the holidays away and even less people will want to do it. Also, the kids need a few decent breaks a year. A week hete and there just isn't enough.

Yabvu. Teaching is very emotionally demanding and Teachers and kids need regular breaks. Teachers are only paid for 39 weeks of the year, their salary is just split over 12 equal months. Where is the additional money coming from to pay the additional 9 weeks (over another two months salary every year. In case you have not noticed teachers are leaving the profession in droves due to burn out. Take away nine weeks holiday from the ones we have left and lose another 30%. You are full of shit ideas and clueless OP.

Good luck in getting teachers to give up 60 per cent of their leave, and attracting people to the profession as a consequence.

What a brilliant idea - wonder why it’s not been thought of before? Obviously you have no idea how schools are run and how disruptive this would be to a child’s education with children in the class and staff taking time off to suit.

Sprinklesinmyelbow It’s not a recent thing at all. My kids are all over 26 and all got tired at the end of term and half term.

In Northern Ireland we get 8 weeks summer holidays which I think is far too long a break tbh I think how it's done in England is perfect and we should follow suit!

No, there really ARE people think schools are just glorified babysitters, and who bitterly resent having to spend time with their kids

You may have kids OP, but have you ever worked in a school???

Clearly not, or you wouldn’t have suggested such a “genius” idea!!!

I love the long school holidays when we can all go on holiday together as a family for a month. This gives him the opportunity to practice his French in France. DS can also go to a cricket coaching scheme for a week. Having children is about loving them and loving spending time with them and watching them learn and grow. Why should we all give up our relaxation and fun just to accommodate you OP?

The biggest reason your idea would never get past the first hurdle though is money, it would cost billions to make this change

I assume the OP thinks teachers should work for the same pay...I mean, teaching’s not a PROPER job, is it ? They all go home at 3.30, don’t they?

I think that the summer holidays should be shortened, my son had 7 weeks off last year. A month would be more than adequate, given that they have 4 half terms.

Not rtft only the OP but YAB massively U

If we truely cared about what was best for children and wanted to improve education in the UK we would make school hours SHORTER not longer, with more time outside of school engaging in child led free play.

OP, please watch this:

Unfortunately for UK children our government doesn’t have children’s best interests at heart. Hence why our DC have one of the earliest school starting ages in the world (4years.., as opposed to 6-7 years) and follow a reductive and instructional curriculum.

Oh and the government does see school as a form of childcare, hence the 4 year old starting age. They want the workforce back in work ASAP

www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029435-000-too-much-too-young-should-schooling-start-at-age-7/

secure.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/action/consumeSsoCookie?redirectUri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelancet.com%2Faction%2FconsumeSharedSessionAction%3FJSESSIONID%3DaaaeoYjUHByYA5YY45low%26MAID%3D2fpWfhOdcSp%252BOXk7EqwVYA%253D%253D%26SERVER%3DWZ6myaEXBLF7C%252B0zm%252FX%252BaQ%253D%253D%26ORIGIN%3D724946352%26RD%3DRD&code=null&acw=&utt=

I work in school admin and if anybody tried to take away my 6 week summer break I'd be gutted! The only reason I do that job is for the holidays.

Rollocks that last link didn’t work:

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(17)30092-5/fulltext

Is this post for real??

Hell no. I love the way my DDs school work.. Each half term is 5 or 6 weeks long (never any more) Holidays are 2 weeks at Oct, 2/3 weeks @Christmas, 1week in Feb, 2 weeks @ Easter 1 week in May and then 8 weeks during summer. So we have a lot of holidays but it works really well (for us anyway). DD (yr9) is exhausted at the end of every term so no way would I want less. She does 8.30 - 3.40 every day so has a longer day but still only 5 x 1hr lessons so has more time to spend on extra activities. It used to be a private school but isn't any longer but has kept most of its holidays (am guessing due to staff contracts). I'm really hoping it doesn't change