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?

My kids primary school was 9am-3:20pm and their secondary is 8:50am-3.30pm.

We broke up at the beginning of June in Kuwait

yeah lets give the teacher more time off....just what they need (waiting for the backlash!)

Schoolhours in the district my friends kids attend in the US is 8.15 to 3.15 at elementary levell. It doesn't really matter if your kids' school starts at 8.45 or whatever, the amount of time all children spend in school is the same.

It doesn't really matter if your kids' school starts at 8.45 or whatever, the amount of time all children spend in school is the same.

There is nothing statutory about how long the school day must be in England so this can actually vary quite widely between schools.

It doesn't really matter if your kids' school starts at 8.45 or whatever, the amount of time all children spend in school is the sam

Maybe in the US, but not Scotland (don't know about rUK)

We have some US friends whose dc go a a local state school and there summer break was delayed by a couple of days because they had so many snow days and had to make up time.

Thank you, @AlwaysSkint That's very civil of you.

There is nothing statutory about how long the school day must be in England so this can actually vary quite widely between schools

True, my first secondary school finished around half 4, another finished at 2.20 and my privste school was around 4/4.30

*private

Agree. Hate going back in sept then it’s practically winter a few weeks later

Very true, @AlwaysSkint My 'day' children finish school at 5.30 every day (it's compulsory until then), and also do Saturdays at school...

This is true, we don't have Saturday school but DC often have things starting at 7:30-7:45 and after school clubs/music etc running until 4:45. So they have long school days.

We're in Spain. School finished 21st June, it starts again mid September. It's far too hot for school in the height of summer. We spend a lot of our time in the pool and because it's a decent amount of time we can do house sits/swaps for 4-6 weeks at least in the summer so we and the DC can see other places. DH works remotely which makes this possible.

We do have summer school available if we want, except for August everything is shut then.

My child breaks up on Friday
(London indie) can't wait!

Im so torn about all of this. Part of me thinks school should be all year round with activities tailored to the season and more flexibility for individuals to decide when to take breaks and another part of me thinks that longer holidays would be a good thing, especially if more can be done to support children and families accessing appropriate care and leisure activities during the holidays.
Generally though Im more concerned about what subjects are taught and how much outdoor time there is than when the holidays are. I think a lot of pupils are expected to do far too many academic subjects and arent getting enough time for developing practical skills, exercise and having breaks throughout the day.

In Scotland here too and weather is pretty shite all the time so makes no odds when we have our holidays. No longer restricted to school hols here anymore either so we went away at the end of June.

Im so torn about all of this. Part of me thinks school should be all year round

Why? Did you have summer holidays when you were young? Did you not enjoy them?

@fedup21
I did have summer holidays when I was young and like most things there was usually good and bad bits. So many people struggle during the school holidays in all sorts of ways though.

Totally agree. My DD is year 6, SATs finished before half term and this half term will be 7.5 weeks, 7.5 weeks of doing nothing important and it feels like it has gone on forever! They have had their residential and their secondary taster days and we still have over 2 weeks to go and we are all shattered!