School term dates

[KnobJockey]

There's debates going on at the moment about whether to extend/ change term dates this summer to aid learning, which obviously a lot of teachers are upset about.

Not getting into the working side of it for teachers (as in, not getting into whether you should be working for extra for no pay this year, not whether the working hours work for you), does the current school holiday setup work, or should it be looked at?
By that I mean- long summer holidays, 2 weeks at Christian holidays, 1 week at others. I DON'T mean do you think teachers should work more, or any kind of teacher bashing, I just wondered if a lot of people think this opportunity to rework the school year should be grasped.

YABU- the current school holiday system works

YANBU- I think the 15 weeks school holidays should be spread out differently through the year

No vested interest in this currently, I have a 6th form teen who sorts herself and a toddler, I just find this an interesting subject and I think the time is perfect to look at the potential issue.

I wouldn’t object to knocking off a week of summer and adding it to the may/June half term. It seems like childcare is much easier to arrange for the Easter and summer holidays as they are that much longer. My child had much more fun in an all signing all dancing activity camp in august than she did during the wet and miserable October half term. For the upcoming half term, we’ve managed to get her into a sports camp. My husband is actually off but we thought it would be rubbish stuck at home in crappy weather while I’m working and shushing them every 5 minutes. Can’t say that I would fancy a 2 week half term every year. The only people that do want it for skiing and that’s not really representative of the broader population.

The issue with the June half term is exam time tabling

3 weeks at Christmas is unnecessary. The only half term it would be worthwhile adding it to is May. Who realistically wants longer holidays in Winter ?

@LaurieFairyCake

Quite simply because of Covid we may need to have them more at home over winter as summer is when the virus drops

Add a week to Christmas and a week to February half term holiday (and we can all go skiing) if we have to do this

Yes. I've been reading and listening to discussions about this over the weekend. We have to accept that we are going to have to make permanent adjustments because of covid.

In the summer cases will be lower and classrooms can be ventilated more easily. And it would be better to have scheduled two-week half terms in October and February than be forced to revert to remote learning every time there's a winter surge in cases.

There's obviously a lot to talk about with such a change so the sooner it is addressed, taking into account all views, the better.

I don’t think 6 weeks is to long but I do think it’s a bit off with the weather - it’s boiling in June and not that nice I’m August...

I would like to bring summer break forward from august to june/july.

August is not the best time for holiday, it's often wet. Children being off school in August is a throwback to a time when they were needed to help with agriculture .

The UK often sees its best summer holiday weather in june/july, I think it would boost uk holidays if people were off then, plus longer days & lighter evenings is better for meals outside etc.

You could then bring half term forward 2 weeks to be at the end of september when weather can still be rather nice, rather than mid october when it's getting cooler.

Ireland has a 12 week school holiday for secondary and 8 for primary and is classed as a fantastic education system. Student illiteracy levels are very low, and over 90% of students take 6 or more a levels, 3 of which have to be English, maths and a language.

Longer time in school doesnt always equal a good education system. A societal attitude to education does, and as a teacher who has worked in 3 countries I can firmly say the UK's problem lies with general attitude to education (not all but a huge percentage of society in comparison to other societies) as opposed to the layout of the school year.

Children being off school in August is a throwback to a time when they were needed to help with agriculture

No, it isn’t. It’s a much repeated myth though.

I think the time is perfect to look at the potential issue

It's really not.

Taking into consideration you just mean redistribution, then probably it could be considered. But not now.

Kids of all ages have had their leaning disrupted (and I don't meant from learning safely and remotely during lockdown - I mean from having supply teachers while staff test for symptoms, being sent home to isolate repeatedly as close contacts, being confined to one room in secondary, having fewer breaks between lessons at school, being in the wrong set because of consistent groupings, missing peers, having no access to subject specialist facilities - let's face it Sept-Dec was even worse than now!)

But we need to get these kids all to make progress and learn what they need to know before they move on this year. Some need qualifications. Let's focus on that rather than more timetabling and upheaval.

Our kids have had enough of uncertainty and are tired. They can't just keep going all summer because they might have fallen behind.

Personally I would make summer 4 weeks and may and oct half terms 2 weeks long.

@sunflowertulip

I'd like 5 weeks in summer and 2 weeks for oct half term as it is a long term. Apart from that I think it is ok!

Summer is 5 weeks anyway. Very few schools manage 6.

Making may longer causes problems for exams

FIve eight week terms, with holidays of 2 weeks and four in the summer.

We have to accept that we are going to have to make permanent adjustments because of covid

Oh lord no not another one. Rubbish.

The world is not permanently going to live in fear of Covid. It may reduce life expectancy a bit if lots of frail 80+ year olds die earlier than expected, but children arent going to permanently be home schooled in winter lol. The vaccines will sort it even if there are annual boosters like flu. Coronaviruses are usually more stable than flu too.

I'd shorten summer by a week and have 3 at Christmas - so go back a week later.

Even if not long term for next 2-3 years as they are predicting this spike in cases as it freezes for a few years.

I’d personally go for a shorter summer and add the time to October half term (to have a 7 and 7 rather than 7 and 8) and Easter. I say that purely as a parent though, thinking how it’d be nice to have a real break at those times. I also teach secondary and I can tell you that by the end of the summer term, kids are so ready to break up!! Plus those weeks between exams and results are so needed at the moment (I know exam boards never have enough markers and are marking right up to the line!) and the ones after results for enrolment are needed too.

It’s a genuinely really good question to raise, and one that is worth taking seriously. The worry is, in an effort to “do something” to help kids catch up (catch up what exactly? At KS2, GCSE and A level we use norm-referencing, not criterion-referencing!!) they’ll mess it up and do it badly!

Summer- 6 weeks 3 days
October- 1 week 1 day
Christmas- 2 weeks 1 day
February- 1 week
Easter- 2 weeks
May- 1 week

These are the amount of days off my eldest would have off if she was still at high school for the 2021-22 year, so exactly 14 weeks, my apologies for being a week out. I appreciate some of these may be inset days, but I believe in the majority of schools they are tacked onto the end of holidays, so to all intents and purposes, the kids are on holiday for an extra day or two. Just because it's been pointed out I'm wrong a couple of times, thought I would acknowledge it (again 😁)

The 5 spare days will be INSET. Students do 190; staff do 195.

I personally would like to see less standardisation of the holidays, let local authorities have an input, or (shock, horror) the school's themselves. I think shifting the summer holidays to start a week earlier, give them a week or two less, and have a week off at the end of September, move October a week or two later. Maybe anyway, just pondering on it.
I also think that May would be a good holiday to have 2 weeks off.

I also think that May would be a good holiday to have 2 weeks off.

This is the worst time for an additional week of holiday for exam years

@MrsHamlet but they can be taken whenever the school choose, can't they? So in effect, they could give the kids a random week off?

If I had to move a week May would be nice for 2 (although seemingly problematic for exams so a non-starter) and then I could live with 3 at Easter but the thought of an extra week in winter doesn’t fill me with joy. I’m not sure how that would benefit most children in the long-term.

Who really wants 2 weeks in Feb when it is damp and cold or Oct/Nov for that matter! Everyone trying to visit indoor places! Lets have the holidays when we can mostly be outside!

@Letseatgrandma like I said, personal opinion, I've got no skin in the game here and I'm not trying to pick holes into why any particular week can't work! I'm purely asking if they should use this period to see whether it needs reviewing- and currently 42% of people voting think it should be.

I just think of the huge amounts of threads that are started as people can't find & afford childcare for summer/ kids are restless after 6 weeks off/ their learning has fallen off a cliff and struggle with going back/ not enough time off at Christmas/ holiday costs are extortionate in August/ child poverty in school holidays is a concern, and it made me wonder whether some of those could justify a review of the system.

This conversation pop up on a yearly basis on mumsnet and everyone fancies different combinations of weeks off here and there. People who go skiing, fancy more in February/Easter, whereas others prefer being off for 6 weeks in summer as it is. It won’t change-they’d end up pissing off as many people as they would if they left it.