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?

LOLZ!

Are you high, OP?

DS is off from 22nd June until 12th September and we are really looking forward to it. I remember summer holidays as a whole stretch of lovely weeks of nothingness to fill with playing in the garden and running around with friends sigh>

As a teacher I’m assuming l would get a large pay rise to pay for those extra weeks?

Also l do all my planning in the holidays so l probably only have 4/5 weeks holidays .

I think it’s a shite idea😂

No, but i think there should be subsidised summer scheme style holiday clubs available as holiday care is shockingly expensive. I also think we should have more facilities for kids older than 12, not all 12 year olds are mature enough to be left alone all day but in my area atleast there is nothing available for kids past 12 at all. Structured school and learning though shouldnt be increased.

Do you actually have children??!

UMMM! The running costs of the building
Heating
Electricity
phone lines/broadband
stationary
equipment
Etc

Teachers and support staff wages will increase as they are already only paid 4 weeks holiday, their wage is stretched over 12 months

The reality that school staff will effectively be raising other people's children until the age of 16/18 (not acceptable)

Your proposal although sounds great to some on paper will cost hundreds of thousands a year extra from local councils and tax payers to implement.

The main reason being, they are children and have the right to a 'Childhood'.

My kids are more likely to be ill towards the end of a half term and even more likely towards the end of a full term. They're keen students, very academic but just burn out. Teachers similarly limp from holiday to holiday.

Apart from student and staff burnout, it's a ridiculous idea. How would you plug all the random knowledge gaps at secondary level where students missed work whilst away? Who would teach whilst teachers away for 4 weeks? And most jobs with similar education and responsibility levels give 5 weeks holiday anyway.

Imagine teachers only getting four weeks break in a year, and teaching for 48! I don't know when they'd even get time to wash their pants, never mind go on holiday 😂

They'd just leave them at school for 52 weeks of the year.

Oh god that’s true. Some parents don’t seem to want to have to look after their kids at all.

It would be enormously expensive to open schools for an extra 13 weeks per year, in terms of staffing and running costs.

Are you the poster that wanted to forget about bank holidays?

YABU, we have even more summer holidays in Ireland for kids than you do in the UK as far as I know but I would never try and take that away from my kids. Summer holidays are some of the best times and memories of my life. They'll be adults and working for long enough!

I would like the holidays to be rearranged so the summer is 4 weeks, Christmas 3 weeks and Easter 3 weeks rather than the current 6 weeks/2 weeks/2 weeks.

Your system would be unworkable as everybody would be off at different times and you'd be asking school staff to work holidays like Christmas and New Years (since everyone doesn't celebrate those)

Kids and teechers taking time off whenever they liked? There would be huge gaps in the curriculum! It would be a disaster! It is bad enough when a ks4 or5 kid goes on holiday during term time and you have to catch them up, but a whole classful at random points through the year?! My head would explode! (Btw, Im not against taking yerm time holidays for the most part, every family deserves quality time together, but during year 11 it is a nightmare). If you count my degree and my NQT year, it took my 5 years to train to be a teacher. The highest point on a mainscale teachers salary is about 38k. Ill never earm a bonus or drive a company car. The holidays are the bonus attached to my job. If you took them away I wouldnt do it. The holidays balance out the tough term time pace. They are the perk that gives me time with my kids. That works both ways as my kids are off with me which I love. Yabu!

I find it really hard to understand why children are so utterly exhausted from school that they need holidays. It seems to be a very recent thing

If children only had 4 weeks rather than 13 weeks holiday, don't you think that politicians will just make the curriculum harder?

No no no! School serves a useful purpose but there are so many educational opportunities it cannot provide. I need the school holidays to ensure the DC donthe stuff school doesn’t.

Christ this is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard. The kids would be knackered and families would get hardly any family time.

I would prefer more holidays in school for what it’s worth.

It wouldn't work. Schools run so smoothly (most of the time) because they dictate when staff can take their annual leave. If staff were allowed to book leave one day per week for 20 weeks or 2 days a week for 10 etc that'd cause a massive issues. There would be no consistency for the children , how on earth would children with send cope if their 1:1 was off on random days?

It's an awful suggestion op. Sorry.

I'd like a shorter summer holiday and more vacation time during divali, end of ramadan etc. I don't think it is fair anymore to have all the holidays based on one religion.

I find it really hard to understand why children are so utterly exhausted from school that they need holidays. It seems to be a very recent thing

Does it? It's been 20+ years since I was in primary school and 12+ since I left for good but I still distinctly remember feeling like I was crawling by the end of term - totally worn out by it! And then the excitement and fresh start feeling of the new term when it came. I think it's normal for children to need a break from the constant learning / testing / sports / activities / social exposure / regulation etc

I actually don't see why it wouldn't work tbh

Sprinkles I’m guessing you work full time 52 weeks a year and never feel even slightly tired? Please tell us the secret of your amazing energy supply?

Why are some people so desperate to see less of their children?

I find it really hard to understand why children are so utterly exhausted from school that they need holidays. It seems to be a very recent thing

Perhaps it’s the constant fucking testing they are having to endure.