UK summer holidays start far too late

[Stuckforthefourthtime]

We're already into summer, the weather is lovely and it's weeks until the school holidays start.

July is consistently the warmest month in the UK, yet the kids (and teachers) spend it on school and parents commuting and at work. www.statista.com/statistics/322658/monthly-average-daily-temperatures-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/. The rest of Europe is on holiday already.

Aibu to think they should start earlier?

But surely their school provides after care until someone can collect? That's where I struggle as holiday clubs generally finish at 3:30

There is no after school childcare or anything like that in my area. And for the first three years they get out at 2pm. So school holidays don't make much difference to me.

Private school here, ds broke up last Friday as did I (I work there). We are off now till 3rd September. It’s a long holiday and although we love it it must be very tricky for parents who need childcare.

I wish they’d break up at beginning of July at least.

I am in N.I. My DS school finished on Friday. The cost of holidays from here are usually more expensive and what we save flying from U.K. airports is usually swallowed up by the cost of the flight to the U.K. so time wise it doesn’t matter, but see your point OP about the weather. I think our timings are pretty good, although we do get plenty of rain here whatever the season

But surely their school provides after care until someone can collect?

the existing after-school care still finish too early for us, and there's a huge waiting list so many of us have to find alternative arrangements anyway.

My point is that once they start school, we have to find a way to cope anyway, so I wish they could at least have a decent summer and a good 2 months off! School shouldn't be seen as childcare, that's not why we send them there.

The summer holidays here are staggered by state so that the whole country isn't off at once.

How eminently sensible. If they did that here, it might mean that holiday prices weren't quite so extortionate.

We’re finished here in Scotland. However July is rarely anything but rainy here. May is usually lovely here as is August & September. I’d love Easter holiday to be moved to May and summer holiday in Aug/Sept.

In the US, schools have been out since the beginning of June. The start is usually late August.

There is no half term holiday in the US. Students go from late August to Columbus Day (one day) in October and then on to Thanksgiving weekend in late November (Thursday, Fri, and the weekend off) and then on to the Christmas/winter break which is two weeks. Then there are several long weekends in the late winter/early spring for Presidents Day, MLK day, etc. until Spring break, which is a week. Some schools take Good Friday off, maybe Holy Thursday too if RC or Lutheran.
The school year features longer stretches of work.

Teens in the US are able to commit to almost three months of work if they can get a summer job. It makes a huge difference to many.

Irish primary schools are required to be open 183 days a year and secondaries 167. They don't all follow the same calendar but secondary schools are usually out before the Junior Cert and Leaving Cert exams begin in early June.

Primary schools go until the third week of June more or less, and start up again in very late August/early September. I went to a private primary school and we were out at the end of May.

I remember as a child feeling immensely sorry for my English cousins slogging away during the fantastic summers of 1975 and 1976 while all the children from my road were out on our bikes and skates, enjoying the beach and having the time of our lives.

The summer holidays here are staggered by state so that the whole country isn't off at once

it's great, but it's a pain if you have 2 kids in different state (or county) or even cousins and you relay on family to help out with childcare.

Pretty sure France is split in zones for most of their school holidays.

And although the summer school holidays in the US are longer, according to friends with kids there the school day is longer than the usual UK 9-3 or 9-3.30.

the US system sounds a bit like the private school system we have here, much better all around then!

Different counties having different holidays is a nightmare for those with children in schools each side of a boundary, or for teachers and other school staff who work in a different area to the one where their children go to school.

And although the summer school holidays in the US are longer, according to friends with kids there the school day is longer than the usual UK 9-3 or 9-3.30

I’ve never known a school in the UK that started at 9! It’s usually 8.45 for primary and 8.15/8.30 for secondary.

We broke up on Friday (Scotland) so of course it’s raining today. We get two weeks in October, two at Christmas and Easter, plus long weekends in February and May.

fedup21

My primary school kids start at 8:55!

Here where I am in the U.S. we get almost three months for summer, starting about the second week of June. Two weeks for Christmas, one week for Spring break. Of course the 'Bank holidays' Labour day, Memorial day, Thanks Giving (2.5 days off), Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Day and Veterans Day.

They also get a days off for local events and the High school seniors get time off for their senior trip.

There's also a day off for 'Spring Clean Up' where the kids help clean up the town. Paint, take people's large items to the dump - that sort of thing. Teachers and kids alike wear their scruffy clothes and the
locals/farmers lend them trucks and equipment to get the job done.

There's a sense of community and also family time in considered important here. For example, no one gets in trouble if a family wants to take their kids out of school for a family vacation. We used to take our children out of school when my family visited from abroad. Some families took off skiing for a week.

Ds' (Scottish) primary school hours were 9.00 to 3.15. His secondary school started at 8.45 and on Monday & Tuesday finished at 3.50 and on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday finished at 3pm.

Mine are finished since Friday.I do think a shorter Summer break but a longer break at Christmas might be better

U.K. here. Today is the first day of our summer holidays.

Oh hang on, you are talking about England 🙄

I’ve never known a school in the UK that started at 9! It’s usually 8.45 for primary and 8.15/8.30 for secondary.

I have one child at primary, his hours are 9am to 2pm, and one at secondary where the hours are 9am to 3.20pm. That's the norm in my area, I don't know of any schools that start earlier than 9am where I live.

I’ve never known a school in the UK that started at 9! It’s usually 8.45 for primary and 8.15/8.30 for secondary.

Ours start at 9.

How eminently sensible. If they did that here, it might mean that holiday prices weren't quite so extortionate.

They do that here, as has been pointed out. Not only do different areas in Scotland have different school holidays, we stagger public holidays too.

EarlGreyofTwinings
the US system sounds a bit like the private school system we have here, much better all around then
It very much depends on your location, but US public schools can be fantastic, very comparable to the private schools of the UK in terms of opportunities, facilities, expectations, and commitment on the part of teachers and administrators. My local high school has an annual budget of almost $100m to provide education for 3,500 students, about 500 of whom have SENs of varying types.

Schools finish earlier here, it varies by county