To think a 5 term school year is a shit idea

[Edenspirits]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.heart.co.uk/news/school-years-could-be-split-into-five-terms/

Honestly, I actually think the kids need time out of school in normal times where there is so much bloody pressure.

I know this year has been awful but honestly, what do they need to ‘catch up’ on apart from playing with their friends?

This endless pressure drives me insane. Kids don’t even start school in some countries until age 7 yet we have ours doing SATS and all kinds of nonsense. There’s literally no joy in our education system.

Aibu?

@Ijustdontcare

I always thought a 6 term with two week breaks would be ideal and the perfect balance. So looking at next year it would go like

Term 1) 6th Sep - 22nd Oct (7 Weeks)
Two weeks off 25 Oct - 5th Nov
Term 2) 8th Nov - 17th Dec (6 Weeks)
Two weeks off 20th Dec - 31st Dec (Xmas New year)
Term 3) 4th Jan - 11th Feb (6 Weeks)
Two Weeks off 14th Feb - 25th Feb
Term 4) 28th Feb - 6 Apr (6 Weeks)
Two weeks off 11th Apr - 22nd Apr (Easter)
Term 5) 25th Apr - 1st Jun (6 weeks)
Two weeks off 6th Jun - 17th Jun
Term 6) 20th Jun - 29th July (6 Weeks)
5 Weeks off for summer.

This would reduce summer by one week and the time kids are in school by 2 weeks but give a much better balance and opportunity to recharge for kids and teachers.

This looks brilliant to me. I’d be very happy with this set up. The Easter break one might have to be moved slightly from year to year due to Easter being on a different date each year though.

What holidays would they actually have?

I mean, I know you all love a bit of hysteria on here but beyond provacative click baity media there is no actual firm evidence this is an option so maybe exercise some critical thinking or are you all just bored?!

I suppose with Easter, those two weeks could be fixed eg 11-22 April (or whatever for that year) and schools are just off for GF/BHM over Easter.

My eldest DS’s school operated a 5 term year always has done. He did 8 weeks in, 2 weeks off, with 4 weeks summer holiday. They would add an extra week every few years (usually Christmas) as they would end up with extra days.

But the only real problem was all other schools in the area were on the usual school term times so it meant I had very little time to book holidays. DS was never off at the same time as dc2 & 3. I would have last two weeks July first two weeks August and 2 weeks at Christmas. So made things difficult to book, I never understood why both schools didn’t have the same term times as they were both run by the same trust.

Although I wasn’t too keen on the 4 week summer break, ds didn’t mind.
I’m not sure any of mine would’ve coped in primary though as they were usually flagging by the end of term.

I presume this is another leak to gauge response before any official proposal is laid out.

As others have said, this 'changing the school year' comes up regularly. Probably annually. There's no will to add another week at Feb 1/2 term, both due to it usually being cold and miserable, but also due to the fact Spring 1/2 terms are sometimes only 5 weeks each anyway, on the years when Easter is early.
An extra week at Sept 1/2 term would be welcomed by most Yr7, KS1 and EY teachers I think, as the Autumn Term is far too long and the dc are usually exhausted.

In terms of "catching up" - that needs to be decided on a school by school basis, but funding more staff across the year , to provide some small group input or additional support in the classroom, not by dragging dc - or staff- in, in the holidays.

8 week half terms are exhausting, let me tell you. I think children would be too shattered to make the best of the final week.

I think they should not be longer than 6 weeks- everyone is knackered after 6 weeks and the final week is shit for everyone

So maybe 4 weeks in summer and the rest distributed

3 weeks Christmas
2 weeks February half term
(This means 5 weeks off in winter when it's most buggy/Covidy/ flu-ey)
4 weeks summer
2 weeks Easter
2 weeks October half term

Is that Maths right ?

Yeah there seems to be massive popularity for an extra week to be added onto that October half term week. The term is too long. It’s normally a time of year that’s full of activities and excitement too so both primary and secondary school children could enjoy it. And the weather isn’t usually horrific (unlike feb half term).

Summer holidays do still have to be reasonably long though. 4 weeks is way too short. You’d never be able to get all the GCSE or A-Level or other exams marked in time.

@TheMoth

My holidays go like this: Week off to see the kids I actually live with and catch up with friends. Few days faffing/ sorting work. Week away. Niggling fear about a level. Back. Work. A level day. Results analysis. Gcse day. Good for nothing day before. Results analysis . Final week: wish I'd done more work over the summer. Back on the treadmill.

I think people forget all the admin that goes into gcse and a level.

Mine is week 1 - sleep. Week 2 (usually) hospital appointments (got to get in when the consultants come back from their first summer holiday with their privately educated kids). Week 3 - back in work 3 days Week 4 back in work 2 days Week 5 back in work 3 days Week 6 back in work 2 days

Term time only plus 10 days set by the school. No time for a holiday. The other holidays are usually taken up with hospital appointments and treatments because more people cancel then due to lack of childcare, so I've actually got a chance of being seen and without work flipping out that I'm never there.

Sometimes they add on extra days to make up time taken for hospital appointments I can't get during holidays (because I need them earlier).

I don't want to lose my two weeks of sleeping and hospital appointments for no extra money.

@LaurieFairyCake

I think they should not be longer than 6 weeks- everyone is knackered after 6 weeks and the final week is shit for everyone

So maybe 4 weeks in summer and the rest distributed

3 weeks Christmas
2 weeks February half term
(This means 5 weeks off in winter when it's most buggy/Covidy/ flu-ey)
4 weeks summer
2 weeks Easter
2 weeks October half term

Is that Maths right ?

No break between Easter and Summer is a hell of a long time for kids.

You're quite right, we need a Whitsun week too

So I genuinely think that with 6 x 6 week terms they would all be more productive

They need to catch up whatever education they missed.

No they don’t. They just need to adjust whatever assessment they do at the end of their schooling.

Instead of insisting all kids do extra, they should spend more time and money closing the attainment gap that was already bad and will now be worse. But the vast majority will be just fine.

Changing the school year gets discussed every few years, the problem is always that the exams cycle has to feed into college and university applications timetables and it's logistically very difficult to change.

Teachers contracts run from Sept 1st so we couldn't start next year before then, realistically the 2021/2022 academic year is planned already, dates of holidays published, training may be booked, teachers have to hand in notice by Easter to be available for September - it's much less flexible than other sectors. I'm not saying it could never ever change, but you'd probably have to tweak exams schedules and it would probably take a couple of years to plan because of that.

I agree that school is pretty joyless, it's far worse under covid restrictions, even when we're in person certainly at secondary kids are sitting in rows, facing the front, breaktimes are shorter or at awkward times to accommodate separate bubbles, practicals aren't happening, college placements, school trips, visits from specialists all gone. We've even put the therapy dog on zoom.

I think kids need to catch up on sports and fitness, on play and social times.

I think most kids have been working on academic study. In normal times kids miss chunks of school every now and then, catching up when everything is settled and they feel secure just happens for most kids, learning isn't a linear process it happens in bursts. There isn't a neat equation where time spent in school equals exam grade achievement.

I could write an essay on what's wrong with the current curriculum. It is dull, it's too exam focused and its ridiculous that we have high stakes testing at 16 and 18. Why?

This isn’t just about COVID catch up though. It’s a while since I read it but I recall Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers cited data which showed that achievement gaps between more and less disadvantaged children grew most in holidays not term time. The longer the holiday the worse for the most disadvantaged children. Relatively that’s when they lose most ground. There may be conflicting research, I don’t know, but food for thought.

I went to a high school that did 5 terms. They were seven to eight weeks with two weeks off between each term. Summer was still roughly six weeks.

I loved it. The worst bit was being off school at a different time to friends in other schools, but overall I really liked the structure.

I never felt pressured around exam time. We still had the same amount of time of teaching but with the breaks in between to relax and catch up if we needed to.

I wouldn't be completely opposed to it.

I have a slightly different view on it
As I have 1 DC who has had way more time off pre covid.
She missed an 16 months straight.
Was she behind when she went back ... yes has it effected her massively long term ( education wise ) she was offered no catch up scheme, extra classes etc but she is catching up obviously not she has also had much longer off than most the last year as she wasn’t allowed in to school since March at all.
But I’m really just not concerned ( she is primary school age )

More time in school in the summer when it's pleasant to throw all the windows open and outdoor lessons can be increased.

Yeah, no. Every time I tried to do outdoor lessons in a number of schools the head put a stop to it. Because if I did it, everyone would want to and we couldn't realistically fit the whole school onto the school grounds and expect progress.

Windows open? Ever been in a classroom with 30 teens when a wasp makes its way in? You don't get teaching done that way. And that happens WAY more often than windows actually being able to be opened widely enough to allow air to circulate. Most of the time teaching in school in summers is spent listening to children complaining they're too hot, constant water bottle spillages, fights about uniforms etc.

Why can’t they just repeat the year for everyone, so 17 GCSEs 19 alevels then uni. Literally put all the generations back one year.

What’s happened was unprecedented, so much education lost, why not literally give them all another year, can go over everything they may or may not have learnt in lockdown. Bridge the gap between the fortunate few children and the less advantaged.

I say repeat the year, also really they’re going to miss two years, but just fit everything into another 1 with shorter terms and less breaks, just for 1 year.

My DS actually went to a school that did 4 10 week terms (can’t remember exactly) it was great!
We had 2 week breaks and 4 weeks off in August approx

Obvs would lose all the cheap holidays if everyone did it

I might be missing the pint?

Children, of any age, need a break after about 6 weeks of learning. I’ve seen this over 30 years of teaching. A six week half term results in effective learning throughout. Seven is a push. Eight weeks of uninterrupted schooling result in the last week being a real struggle.

@WriteronaMission explained it better
5 x 8 weeks terms =40
4 x 2 week breaks = 48
1x 4 week break in August = 52

Having 2 weeks off meant half terms are a proper break, and 4 weeks was enough to feel ready to go back in September

5 terms seems ok to me! Not too different from what we already have to be fair. Summer hols only loose a week. Christmas and Easter are the same. I'd be ok with it.

We have four terms. Long summer holidays followed by four terms around 10 weeks long separated by two week holidays. Two weeks is a decent break for teachers and kids. For kids from shared homes they can spend a full week with each parent, which is good.
I much prefer to the UK system, where one had barely recovered after half term before plunging back into the next, sometimes 9 weeks, session.

Four or five term models probably work for children, probably for parents who don't need time off work for childcare (SAHMs. SAHDs, one parent working from home, grandparents help), probably if they don't go away for a holiday to paid accommodation in the summer. Teachers possibly OK with it.

However, price hikes for school holidays or availability if it were a four week summer break would increase the feeling of unfairness and probably lead to more parents taking their children out of school for a holiday in term-time. Or for UK based holiday accommodation and hospitality, reduce income or occupancy levels and maybe even make it unattractive to continue.

Exam timetables having to be changed is probably the least difficult bit to do.