Summer holidays - outdated

[Wednesdayafternoon]

So I was just scrolling through Facebook and I saw some pictures after school club/breakfast club to my sons school put up and it just got me thinking how crazy it is that schools just completely shut down for like 6-7 weeks.
They have all these facilities during term time to support working families because there is obviously a need to for it, but in the holidays... ahh f*ck it!
Obviously o know there's summer schemes but at a massive expense and also different hours and locations.
My sons school isn't offering one so he's attending some random school for 3 days over the summer mainly just so he's socialising!
I'm extremely lucky as my mum is a great help to me during the holidays. And obviously I'm very much looking forward to spending more time with my boys and no school run... hurry!!!
But I just find it crazy that schools close for such a significant period of time.
Obviously I know school isn't childcare but it school itself enables parents to work so it kind of is 🤷🏼‍♀️

What time do you think teachers finish at because it isn’t when the children do! We are often in meetings till 6pm. Our contracted hours work out the same as a 9-5. The job has changed drastically in recent years and the amount of paperwork is overwhelming, I’m sure your parents would get a shock now. I’m sure other people do take work home but as I said in MOST other jobs.

I agree I have always said I’d love either an extra week in Oct and one at spring break with only 4 weeks at summer. Or an extra week at October with 5 days I can book off in advance, again a 4 week summer.
It’s disgusting the way they are paying certain school staff these days to save money. Especially when longer standing members of staff are paid for 52weeks and are doing the same job.

2 weeks leave in January? You can hardly go to the seaside then!

I'm a teacher and would love to keep the number of holiday weeks the same but distributed differently, ie halve summer holiday and add a week to each half term break so we'd get 5-7 weeks in school, then a fortnight off with an extra week in August.

A 1-week half term break goes quick when you have to: plan the next period of work, go to dentist, get car MOT, do all the stuff at home that you don't have time to do in term time etc. If we properly refreshed with 6 weeks' work then a 2 week break we wouldn't be so shattered as to need a long summer break. That's how I feel, don't know if other teachers would agree.

If the current heatwave was anything to show for, uk holidays need to be longer not shorter in the summer.
Here school finishes End June, back September 15th. Meaning avoiding majority of hot days in the summer whilst at school. 10 weeks usually.
school isn’t longer in the day either, 7.30-11.30am is usual.

Average teacher works 60 hours a week and teachers are leaving in their droves. There is a real retention and recruitment crisis in teaching in England, the holidays is one of the few perks. No Tory gov will be paying teachers more anyway so the holiday won’t be reduced as teacher are only currently only paid for the statutory minimum of holidays and are not paid for most of the holidays.

And why should teachers agree to fewer holidays? Presumably we wouldn't see any more pay. Pay is being eroded year on year already. How about you start supporting teachers and the education staff rather than slating us?

OP as you rightly say, school isn't childcare. As PP said, everyone should be able to access quality and affordable childcare all year round.

I’m sorry but Schools aren’t childcare, it’s not up to the state to fund and look after your child 5 days per week for 52 weeks of the year.

I think it's a bit shitty to use the length of the summer holidays as yet another stick to beat teachers with.

It's one of the very few perks of the jobs.

The teacher hate on MN is actually quite worrying.

FWIW I'm a working parent of 3. Not a teacher or in education at all.

I'm fine with the length of time off for kids, what constantly annoys me is the gap between how much annual leave workers get and how much time off school kids get.

It's a nightmare to coordinate, especially if you have children different ages. Most summer provision for school aged kids is 9-3 with limited options for wraparound, which isn't long enough hours for a working day, and in many areas there arent enough childminders available.

Which 2 weeks are you proposing shortening the holidays by? Some schools had to close in the heat this week.

Our secondary had 38% attendance on Tuesday and the kids were hot, tired and grumpy. Very little meaningful learning happening. Would you suggest the kids go back in mid August or stick out the end of July- both have the potential for very hot weather?

Teacher here, I'd rather a month during summer, and stick an extra week on Feb and June half terms.

If school summer holidays were four weeks long, how many working parents wouldn’t be able to get any time off at all during that period? Holiday prices would be through the roof, so increasing numbers of children would have no proper holiday at all.

My DC are grown up now and as solo parent I had to arrange care for every day I wasn’t on annual leave, but they do need a break. If I remember rightly their former nursery provided care for the first year or two, especially for older DC when younger DC was still FT.

My dad’s a retired head teacher and it wasn’t much of a holiday for him. Often he’d take the pupils on a summer trip for a week or so (once or twice my mum and I went too and that was our holiday, as money was tight. Other than that I largely remember him working at home or going in to school; he’d often have to take me in if my mum was working.

It is tricky for many parents during the summer holidays. I have no family nearby and so I had to use a combination of summer clubs, and annual leave. There are some that are 8-6 and I’d try and find one near to work so I could get max use of it so drop them off and straight into work. Our work used to do a holiday club in one of the offices and that was fab. But it was cut! Too costly I guess. Thankfully my kids are almost 18 and 14 so now they just stay home and have done since 11 when they started secondary. I think kids need a break but 4wks would be plenty as it’s not easy trying to juggle it all

Yes yes yes. Our work has “summer hours” where we can all suddenly finish at 3pm on Friday – lovely, but how come we can’t always finish at that time? Most jobs are made-up bullshit anyway, there to keep the capitalist economy chuntering along, why not make up that we only need to do 30 hours a week?

Annual leave entitlement is also crap, and worse in companies that dictate when you can take it, or include the bank holidays instead of having them as extra.

Given that many schools closed this week for the heatwave, and future Julys will be hotter and more ferocious, I do wonder if climate change will play a part in dictating future school years and planning.

The issue isn’t the summer holiday, it’s the crap childcare provision, stagnating wages, cost of living, work/life balance and poor annual leave.

• school isn’t a baby sitting service. Pay for your own clubs and summer camps. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds should get help to access these clubs.
• the uk has one of the shortest summer school holidays in the world. If you think 6 weeks is too long, I grew up with 12 weeks of summer holidays!

• Children need a break from school and a structured routine.
• it’s not the teachers fault here and why does the conversation always descend to teachers versus parents argument?
• imagine the whole country being squeezed into a shorter summer holiday and then fighting over a limited amount of holidays and accommodation to fit everybody -and the prices would increase due to the ridiculous demand people would take their children during term time.
• OP maybe you should save up and find a decent holidays camps in your area instead of blaming the system.

Teacher here. I work regularly 7.30 - 6.00 and then again in the evening. I work every single weekend.

Teaching is a job which is predicated on working in the evening and at the weekend (especially if you are senior leadership team alongside a teaching role). I’ll be working for at least two weeks of the holidays on planning and other leadership responsibilities/long term school development planning. Ofsted expectations are unreal and schools do a vast amount of work to keep ofsted happy. I love my job but couldn’t do it without the longer holidays as I’d be utterly burnt out.

it is not the responsibility of others to be your childminders. You knew how schools work before you conceived, why should everything change because you work?

I think the issue needs to be addressed politically.
If people insist on the amount of holidays children have, then childcare should be subsidised up to the age of 14/15.
This can be on a sliding scale as DC get older and should be in days / weeks not £££.
Yes, shool buildings and leasure centres should be used for affordable childcare.

I think the summer break is needed but could be cut down to four weeks.
Six seems ridiculous to me.
Even my kids get fed up towards the end and just want to get back to their routine.

Oh and those saying school isn't childcare....tell that to the job centre

I think children need the holidays and would like the Summer break to be extended to 2 months, like in most private schools. A better solution for working parents would be better provision of affordable holiday clubs/camps where children can meet with a different group of peers and have fun doing non-academic stuff.

No please don't suggest shorter holidays.

Lots of families already struggle so both parents can be off at the same time.
Shortening the holidays makes getting a holiday even more expensive and shortens their season.

The answer has to be better summer holiday care. My kids go to an afterschool that was set up as a 3rd sector not for profit organisation 25 years ago.
Every school should be able to access this type of provision.

I read on here just recently that the long summer holidays originated to allow children to help their parents bring in the harvest.

With the chronic shortage of labour at the moment perhaps this sort of system could be re-introduced, but not just for harvesting, there's seems to be shortages everywhere, e.g. restaurants, airport staff (flight controllers should be restricted to the over 11s) doctors (see flight controllers) police, Prime Minister etc.

Granted, it may require a bit more research before being implemented, I'm just making a casual observation.