To think all school holidays should be universal within England?

[CakeBossBaby]

I currently have children at 3 different schools. My daughter broke up on 4th April and returns this Tuesday.
My son only broke up yesterday and has next week off until 25th. My 3rd child has yet again different holidays! Its like this every term.

How are we supposed to have days out or God forbid a week away somewhere when holidays aren't coordinating and we cannot get a full week where all kids are off apart from Summer when prices are extortionate.

Why do schools all within 2 miles of each other have su h drastically different holiday schedules?

Shouldn't holidays just be set days for all schools within England?

Does anyone know why schools hoose heir own dates?

Many academies can set their own holiday dates. Are they all in the same LA area , if they are must be unusual.

I actually think dates should be staggered by region (but roughly standardized within each region). This might reduce the number of days when far-flung cousins can get together, but it would really reduce price gouging. The difference in dates between England and Scotland is already a factor enabling people to get some cheaper deals.

The LAs will have standard dates but academies can set their own.
Round here the academies are mainly secondary schools but they have the brains not to diverge more than a day or 2 from the LA dates as they understand that people will have primary school kids too.

Easter is the one time of the year when dates can vary, owing to Easter moving around. Having Easter at the end of the holidays means more time back in school before GCSEs kick off.

Many schools follow the council dates. Are these schools in different counties?

I'm a bit surprised about the school who broke up yesterday, so the Easter hols isn't two full weeks. Presumably they'll have more time tacked on elsewhere.

Most schools have become academies (and there is a push for those who arent to become so). One of the things was to decide upon their own school term dates (I imagine within reason).

You do sound very unlucky though - for the most part my two children (who go to school in different boroughs) are aligned - even the same 2 week October half term

We have different holidays to most of the rest of the country and are also on the border of 3 counties, so many people have children with different holiday patterns.
As a county we were asked to vote this year on whether to stay as we are or fall in line with the neighbouring counties. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of keeping them as they are.
The reason being, I suspect, that it means finish a week earlier than everyone else in the summer and our October half term is different, so we can get cheaper holidays then. That was my reason anyway! We couldn’t afford to go on holiday at all if it wasn’t for this.

I sympathise with you, but surely, overall, it's better if school holidays are staggered, to avoid everyone trying to take holidays at the same time, which would lead to even higher prices

We're in Scotland. Northumberland in july is full of Scots, as our summer term ends around 30 June

Local authorities do have fixed dates, but academies can set their own.

It's swings and roundabouts. Parents whose children are all at the same academy (which must be more usual than 3 different schools?) like the different holidays and it means they can get cheaper holidays/don't have to fight with colleagues for the time off.

Catholic schools often want different holidays to celebrate Holy Week in school as well.

Terrible idea for anyone who wants to go away (holidays but also just travelling to see family), and for locations reliant on tourism.

With so many holidays already aligned, and stricter rules about holidays during term time, even cheaper breaks are now out of reach of many families, and the trains, buses and roads are completely overwhelmed at holiday times.

Better to stagger them more, really.

@notanothertakeaway

I sympathise with you, but surely, overall, it's better if school holidays are staggered, to avoid everyone trying to take holidays at the same time, which would lead to even higher prices

We're in Scotland. Northumberland in july is full of Scots, as our summer term ends around 30 June

I didn't even think of that

It does often get proposed, but as said it's unworkable for Faith schools. If the school's come under different LEA's, then the holiday dates wil be different. Places would be swamped if all the children were off together.

Borders need to link together too. I teach in one country and my kids go to school in another. If Wales go ahead with their stupid idea of shorter summer holidays and random weeks tagged on elsewhere, it will turn into an absolute nightmare.

I feel your frustration, we have family living away who often have different holidays to us.

But I'd say its also fairly unusual to have 3 children all in different schools.

I have 3 kids in Wales ( 2 different boroughs) plus a DH who's a teacher in England. Every year I have to do the cross reference to make sure any plans fit in with everyone. When the kids were younger there was a lot of different holidays but with the event of the academy we seem to have aligned. I'm hoping all my kids are out of education by the time the Welsh Government attempt to fuck it all up (again).

@greenteafiend

I actually think dates should be staggered by region (but roughly standardized within each region). This might reduce the number of days when far-flung cousins can get together, but it would really reduce price gouging. The difference in dates between England and Scotland is already a factor enabling people to get some cheaper deals.

Prices won't go down if holidays were staggered. Just the 'off peak' rates will increase to match the 'peak' ones.

So it's more likely that no one will benefit, and those without children or not working in the school sector will just suffer as a result too.

Staggered holidays make it difficult for people who live near to regional/les boundaries. I know of a number of teaching staff who already have different holidays to their children. It makes life. Ore difficult for extended families, including blended families as well as cousins, etc, too.

3 diff schools is unusual

Terms seem to vary over county

So I’m in kent and dd finished fri 1 April and back tue 19

Friends in herts finished week later so fri 8 and go back 25 so actually have whole Easter week off which makes more sense to me

Assume 2 schools yours go to are like that

What’s the third holiday dates

Prices won't go down if holidays were staggered. Just the 'off peak' rates will increase to match the 'peak' ones.

That's demonstrably not true. For starters, look at how prices rose dramatically when the fines for term time absence came in. If you're running a family focussed destination or activity, and have 13 weeks of the year to book family holiday makers, you need to charge them far more to break even than if you can spread it over 18 or more weeks due to staggered breaks. The trains will also be far more crowded, and the roads busier and more dangerous.

This isn't about wealthier MNers wanting cheaper Centre Parc stays or ski trips, it's about larger numbers of everyday families wanting a camping space that doesn't cost the same as they used to pay for a static caravan, people not having to hit the roads during the massive train delays happening this Easter bank holiday, or those living in tourist destinations struggling with increased poverty during the very long off season.

I have two children at two different schools, as mu youngest is disabled and goes to a special school, both schools are in the same LEA so holidays are roughly the same ,when ds1 was at primary school they used to get just over a week at Easter and two weeks in the end of May and June half term which always differed to ds2 holidays
My boys have both been off for two weeks and go back on Tuesday next week.

YANBU

It is a complete pain for teachers with children with different holidays too.

I hear you! I have 3 schools all within a 5 minute drive of each other and all have different school holidays.

Come september I will have a child in each of these schools

Staggering can help but I think schools in the same LA should have identical holidays, academy or not. It just helps with families who have children in different schools.

We have a academy trust covering both primary and secondary and they coordinate their holidays and most Inset days, making it easier for parents.

Write to your local council as they usually set the holiday dates but academies can choose their own within limits and schools choose their inset days

@Greyornavy

YANBU

It is a complete pain for teachers with children with different holidays too.

You do realise that most parents in the UK - often on lower annual pay than teachers - get 4-5 weeks holiday, while their children get 13 weeks? I appreciate it's an annoyance, but if other parents can manage this much extra cover, don't think this is worth losing the benefits of not having every family in the UK trying to visit family/go on holiday in the same narrow windows.

Quite a few years ago I stumbled across a programme about a holiday site, cant remember which one and the manager was saying if they had to rely on school holiday bookings they would go out of business. Out of school holiday time 3/4 of the booked accommodation was people taking advantage of the newspaper £25 holidays and the only money the site made was what was spent in the bar etc. That was just about enough to keep them going.
Staggered holidays would be a good thing for them.