To spare I thought for Northern Irish Mumsnetters

[Tryingtogetonwithit]

To English , Welsh and some Scottish mums please keep it in your thoughts that us in NI with school age children have our schools breaking up this week if they haven't already and shall not return until end of Aug/early September. That is 9+ weeks and it's pissing down. To be honest by week 7 they are basically feral 😂
I am of course joking (I think) but in a few weeks time when your posting about the 6 weeks please think of us poor sods already 3 weeks in .

meant to say “tag on inset days to half terms”

ROI secondary school kids have 3 months of it. Ridiculous.

The holiday club situation in both NI and ROI is just deeply unhelpful, but the costs in ROI are mind-blowing. I looked at one camp that was €160 for 10-2 for the week.

I am the other end of the island sorry should have said that :)

Try go karting camp. 8 hours over 2 days for 200euro.

Just been quoted £390 for one for a week for my son in London!

Try go karting camp. 8 hours over 2 days for 200euro.

😱😱😱

Sounds cool though. I better not let DS find out that go karting camps exist

So far today the bigger lad has gone and had a shower (unprovoked) and has organised clothing for himself as he starts a job tomorrow. It is only a few hours a week but it is better than nothing. The shemale we have (or they, not sure this week what she is ffs) is currently on the floor of her bedroom painting while lying on her face. It is extrorinary to watch and the third one, the go karter, is sitting huffing because my mum is here and she is watching netflix and we only have a one user account. On the plus side they are all miles away from me in the kitchen with an ice cold beer and the laptop.

Just been quoted £390 for one for a week for my son in London!

That's not remotely average though. Most of the 8am-6pm ones around here are about £25-£30 a day, and the shorter day ones about £15-£20.

I am in Scotland, and the schools finish this Friday.

I grew up in NI, and the long school holidays were great.
As a mum in England, I'm sad for the kids here. Although my Y10 finishes on 21 July and doesn't go back until 11 September! The holidays are stretching, I'm sure. Normal state school BTW.

I grew up in NI. I loved the long holidays so much. Really miss it both as a mum and a teacher in England.

Two words for you OP - Summer Schemes! They barely exist in England - not the lovely council subsidized ones anyway. My BFF at home in Norn Iron has her kids in one at her local leisure centre for £6 a day from 9am -4pm!

I am literally flying home to Belfast for 3 weeks with my kids to work from the grandparents house, as it's cheaper than even a day out here at a theme park...

I feel sorry for English kids - my 2 are limping towards the finish line at school, 3 more weeks... I have such lovely memories of running feral in N.I. over the long summer, summer schemes and all...

Well I'm delighted 😁 I've two in secondary so finished since beginning of June and one in primary finished today. Just packing for our early morning flight to Spain, weeks before the English finish so easier to get holidays booked. I still have such fond memories of my long summer holidays in secondary school hanging out with pals

I do think English schools get a longer summer half term though - I’m sure with bank holidays here it must have felt as though you were off a lot!

@ThickSkinnedSoWhat that is so hard, sorry to hear that.

I do love it really, great memories.

the summer scheme is a mixed bag england/ni… on the one hand so well priced and fun in NI, but often 10-3 or similar which doesn’t help for people working with no backup!

On the other hand the schemes in london run at convenient hours but may as well sell your kidney for them.

We are lucky to have a really good 9am-5pm summer scheme for a good portion of the holidays in our part of County Antrim, but agree it is a long stretch! I won’t miss ironing uniforms for two months though 👍

Guess it depends where you live in London. It’s definitely on the pricey side but the one we’ve actually booked is £50/day for 9-6.

Long school holidays have one advantage, for an employer that is, as the two weeks leave everyone wants is a bit more spread out. Not that it detracts from some of the issues others have mentioned.

Once the 6 weeks holiday starts in England you'll see loads of posts on mumsnet complaining its far too long and schools should be open/teachers working etc.

Christ, really?? 6 weeks used to feel like eternity, my two used to go totally feral with the lack of routine 🤣

Thoughts and prayers op!

I’m with you!
I am working every hour god sends this week so that my inbox can be as clear as possible and I might have a chance of surviving till our holiday and the one summer scheme I booked.

I WFH so its basically impossible once the kids are off 🙈

I get up early and work in the morning then do more in the evening, I find the summer holidays exhausting

Thought and prayers.

Just finished our holiday childcare spreadsheet. £900 for holiday clubs for 3 weeks (2 kids), family holiday for a week, a few grandma days, the rest split between DH and me. I don't know how we'd cover another 3 weeks, it's enough of a struggle to make annual leave stretch.

Ours are finished in my area of Scotland and I saw some ‘delightful’ behaviour earlier from some pissed 15 year old. Come on at least hide what you are doing as we all had to!

Honest to god think we should have NI length summer hols in England.
getting random weeks in October or feb about 2 seconds after kids have gone back from summer and Xmas and when weather is crap, is pointless!