Do you WANT longer school days and shorter school holidays?

[shadowlily]

YABU- yes I want schools to have longer school days and shorter holidays

YANBU- no I'd rather keep the hours/terms we have.

I keep seeing this is being discussed in the media today, do you think it's likely to happen? Personally I think kids would benefit more from the summer holiday and being able to catch up on the activities they've missed and socialisation with friends. They've been home schooled to keep up with the curriculum (for the most part! I know this might be a contentious statement for some!) but nothing has replaced the play dates, day trips, parties etc. they have missed.

What do you think?

CharmeleanClara,

I don’t know if I’m right. But the logistics of it have defeated every government.

Longer days? Pay more staff. There’s over 24K schools in England. And nearly a million staff( all staff, not just teachers) even an extra hour is a hefty bill)

Holidays. Can’t see the entire population of the U.K. with school age children going on holiday for the same 3 weeks in the summer😂. Holiday companies would lose their revenue, prices would be ridiculous.

Maintenance/heating: extra hour or so would need heating in the winter, and buildings would need more maintenance.

Catering. Are kids supposed to go from lunch until 5? Even little kids. They’d all need some sort of break and snack. Who’s going to pay the catering staff? Most krave about 2:30.

I’m looking forward to watching Gav the twat mess this up more than the rest of his crap ( if this is possible) the cost would be horrendous.

Smaller class sizes and more support would be the best way forward.

No. No longer days. No shorter holidays. Children aren’t fucking robots.

They need to unwind. They need play dates, swimming lessons, art clubs, dance clubs, football, Brownies, afternoons at the playground, going out on their bikes, even sitting in front of the TV for a couple of hours to chill out is fine.

Why would we want to deny our children those formative after school social experiences. And that long summer holiday is what I lived for as a child.

Who would this really benefit?

Hell No!

Gavin if you are reading this, NO FUCK OFF.

Yanbu, I don't wont either of those things and I don't think DC would cope with them either.
Then theres practicalities like school buses- bus companies never want to change timetable to accommodate changes in school hours or days; staff and pupils already having holidays booked and teachers and other school staff working longer than contracted hours.

Did the numpty who proposed this attend a boarding school by any chance?

YANBU. This looks like classic deflection policy to me. They fucked up, they know it. Now when EVERYONE who’s ever worked in a school points out that it’s a terrible idea they’ll blame them “ooh look at the horrible teachers, we just want to help the children but they’re too selfish” backed up by a compliant media.
Same old divide and conquer shit.

Psychobobble
I have a friend in America and they have an interesting system in her school district. The class is divided into 6 groups and they are all staggered by 1 or 2 weeks, I forget. Each group does 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off all through the year, and then 6 weeks over Summer (but the 6 weeks start at different times so some start mid May through to July and others end of June to August) Wouldn't work here with our exam set up but it's good there because there isn't a single 6 week block that everyone is booking holidays in, and the school is always 5/6 full.

When do the teachers get time off?

No there’s enough upheaval to contend with and the possibility of self isolation once the kids go back.

@HarryLimeFoxtrot

I’d be in favour of a 5 term academic year with the holiday more evenly spread. IIRC there are 39 weeks of term and 13 weeks of holiday.

So, for example (using 2021/22 dates):
Term 1: 16 Aug to 8 Oct (8 weeks)
Holiday 1: 9 Oct to 24 Oct (2 weeks)
Term 2: 25 Oct to 17 Dec (8 weeks)
Holiday 2: 18 Dec to 3 Jan (2 weeks)
Term 3: 4 Jan to 25 Feb (8 weeks)
Holiday 3: 26 Feb to 13 Mar (2 weeks)
Term 4: 14 Mar to 6 May (8 weeks)
Holiday 4: 7 May to 22 May (2 weeks)
Term 5: 23 May to 8 July (7 weeks)
Holiday 5: 9 July to 14 Aug (5 weeks).

You’d still get a long weekend for Easter, but not an Easter holiday per se

Pupils really don't cope well with an 8 week term.

I think we should all forward this thread to our local MP.
The government needs to actually listen to the views of the public, you know, parents, teachers, support staff.. rather than come up with an idea that ticks boxes and sounds good on paper, but in reality will be a disaster

Terrible idea.
I like my 6 week holiday and I think taking weeks off of that and putting it onto October and February are horrible.
There is support for vulnerable children in food poverty in the school holidays.

My DD is 16 and hates the idea of a shorter holiday. Summer is a time to relax with her friends. The tourism industry and holiday clubs will suffer, not to mention festivals. The 6 week summer has worked for many years. Making other holidays longer is a bad idea e.g. October is cold, February is cold.
As for longer school days, it's not the solution. The kids will end up overworked and tired. After school clubs will take the brunt of it all.

@FrippEnos Teachers don't really cope well with an 8 week term either!!

It’s a no from me, I have visions of a longer school day and homework and no time for anything else. So basically punishing the kids more when they need to socialise, do sport and hobbies and generally be children.

And childcare (not such an issue for me as I’ve always wfh, but others.)

(Have only read the first page of replies when posting this)

No! I like my child and I want to see her! Plus teachers need a rest!

Reduce summer holidays to 4 weeks and maybe a week at Easter. Leave school day as it is for extra curricular activities

The people in favour of this aren’t thinking about children and what benefits them. There is not a shed of child development or neuroscience behind this.

In fact the neuroscience tells us that the human brain can only learn a limited number of new pieces of information at a time.

Having working school for 15 years I can tell you that after the first four weeks of term the amount the kids are actually effectively learning starts to tail off. 8 week terms would be mentally exhausting.

And it would be crap for childcare because everyone would be trying to get the same two weeks off and/or trying to go on holiday.

@TheHoneyBadger

Can you imagine seeing over your mum's shoulder that she wishes school days were longer and holidays shorter?

It's a pretty miserable place we're at in terms of our attitudes towards our children.

We need to organise our lives and routines in ways that work for educating and socialising happy, healthy children. We don't need to organise our children's lives and routines to facilitate antiquated ways of working.

I notice that the more we work the higher the cost of living gets and the less children get of their parents time and attention and the more miserable their childhoods become.

Shoving the kids in school more isn't the answer. We already have some of the shortest holidays, longest school days, youngest school starting age and we're doing worse than countries with different approaches. More of the same isn't the answer.

Our children must know on some level that we think of them as inconvenient and expensive and something to be fitted around work and childcare etc and that the only measure of worth they get recognised for is academic results. It's all fucked up and needs rebalancing imo. This isn't humane living.

It’s sad isn’t it. Any after school clubs or playing out would be finished. Kids have too much pressure as it is.

[quote messymarker]@FrippEnos Teachers don't really cope well with an 8 week term either!![/quote]
Yes to this as well.

One 8 week term is enough for me.

And teachers do most of the planning and preparation in the holidays. 4 weeks in the summer and 1 at Easter wouldn’t be enough time to do it.

@Frozenintime

Reduce summer holidays to 4 weeks and maybe a week at Easter. Leave school day as it is for extra curricular activities

How would this be paid for? Schools are chronically unfunded as is. If you shorten the total school holidays by three weeks, how will schools be able to pay teachers, teaching assistants, caterers, cleaning staff extra salary for those extra three weeks they work?

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

And teachers do most of the planning and preparation in the holidays. 4 weeks in the summer and 1 at Easter wouldn’t be enough time to do it.

Not to mention the, building maintenance, deep cleans etc.

If you voted YANBU, how do you propose kids should catch up academically? Genuine question.

Definitely no to a longer school day. Children already have limited time to do chosen activities such as swimming, dance, scouts etc.
As a country I believe our school holidays are short compared to the continent. If the summer holidays are shortened the supply and demand for holidays would be ridiculous. How could families enjoy quality time together when employees will all be wanting the same holidays!

Can you imagine seeing over your mum's shoulder that she wishes school days were longer and holidays shorter?

This is a bit silly. Some people actually work with only four / five weeks holiday and use childcare already.

Do you mean ideally jax or with the current government because those are two different answers.

It is also simply not true that the majority of pupils is behind, academically.