Move school terms to allow spring/autumn holidays?

[MrsRobinsonsHandprints]

Sky news have just had a report about the fires in Greece where two commentators, who were in the travel industry, argued that British school holidays need to be changed/broken up so that people could holiday in the spring and autumn when the climate was more temperate, and that travel in the summer months should be scaled back. They touched on the fact that school summer holidays were set due to farming and that Greece needed tourism.

Interested on your thoughts on this exact issue, changing holiday dates.

Whilst there are no thread police this is a forum to talk about ideas/flights of fancy. Yes we all know that some people think holidays are the devil, that think berating people is the answer to climate change, but actually talking about other things is also OK, so please froth elsewhere.

two commentators, who were in the travel industry, argued that British school holidays need to be changed/broken up so that people could holiday in the spring and autumn when the climate was more temperate, and that travel in the summer months should be scaled back.

It's madness to base U.K. term times on foreign climates. Spring and autimn are often miserable (rather like this summer! 😂) and thus shit for being on holiday

So many children in the U.K. system are in families who cannot afford holidays abroad. School holidays should not be changed to suit the holiday whims of those who have money to spend. There are other better arguments.

The new secondary my son is going to, is trailing this this year 😰 I want the nicer weather for his holidays so we can do things...

I think moving term time/school holidays will soon be the least of our worries if things carry on the way they have been.

I’d hate a shorter summer holiday. 6 weeks is already short compared to most countries. And I don’t think it should be changed purely so people can go abroad at other times.

Given the British weather patterns over the past 7 years (sunny and dry spring / early summer and chargeable weather from mud July onwards) the summer holidays should start 4 weeks earlier and finish 4 weeks earlier. Governments around the world should also educate people on their impact on the climate and restrict the number of flights we can take whilst investing in greener modes of transport such as rail, EV's and cycling.

I'm a teacher and I bloody love the six week break. From a school maintenance point of view it's never long enough. Every year we go back in September and spend the first week dancing around contractors as they finish up. This summer we're having the science labs refurbished. This is a 10 week minimum job and September will be a shit show. Messing around with term dates makes it almost impossible for schools do the patch up summer jobs. Parents don't realise just how much goes on behind the scenes.

It's cheaper and easier to entertain children in warmer weather than it is when it gets colder. That's more important than people going to the Med or not. If we must base the decision around holiday decisions, it's not like there aren't cooler places available anyway.

The school holiday system isn't perfect, but nobody has yet come up with a better way.

No.

I hate winter and cold weather. I try not to take too much time off for the February and October half terms, holiday clubs or childcare favours it is. I'd much prefer more time off in the summer.

If the summer holidays were shortened then there would be even more competition for time off. It wouldn't be spread out as it is now

My DD have have a 2 week October half term. I like it as I hate hot weather. It means we can go to the US for 12 days this year without dealing with the humidity.

Also, as it is already difficult to recruit and retain teachers, messing around with the summer holidays - one of the few remaining perks of the job - will make it even less attractive.

I would like a 4 week summer and 2 weeks in May and October instead of 1 (we get 1 for those half terms).

I would like it to be 2 weeks in the last week of May/first week of June and the last 2 weeks of oct.

Two weeks in May as standard isn't an option because of exams. At most it could be primary only, which would come with its own problems.

I’m not keen. I like having the longer summer off with dc

It can get really hot even in the UK over the summer. Personally I'd rather my children were not trying to learn in a humid hot classroom.

@StormShadow our school has 2 weeks off in May, it's the first half of May though, they sit the standard exams.

This too

I think this is a good point. August of late has been disappointing

I'd quite honestly rather have 13 weeks off in the summer all at once (and be able to take that time off work as unpaid leave) to have epic adventures with the DCs across June, July and August and come back to work in September feeling ready to knuckle down. No one in schools is concentrating on much in June and July anyway. I'd like to be out and about rather than looking out of the window wishing I wasn't stuck at a desk trying to explain to Jane in Procurement why it's definitely her job to procure something.
Totally impractical to actually do this but it would be awesome nonetheless.

I think the terms could be more uniform in length
I think that July often has the best weather' - rather than August.

Whenever the school holidays are the cost of holidays are obscene.

IT would be great if schools could 'pick a week off' - (liaising with linked schools)..

There is a school that has added 10 mins to each day - and the staff get a whole 5 days off to make up for it - I'd jump at that offer!

I think a 5 week Sumer
Hols and an extra week in may would be nice. The weather always seems better during the whitsun holiday.

Please may I have
2 weeks in October
3 weeks at Christmas so I can celebrate New Year in style
2 weeks in February
3 weeks at Easter
2 weeks in May
6 weeks in the summer.

Pretty Please😂

I was wondering this the other day. Our school has started putting inset days around the May half term as so many people were taking kids out a few days early. I know so many people who had their main holiday in that half term rather than summer this year. That is probably quite a good compromise if term dates can’t be changed due to exams/teachers want to retain a longer summer break.

I personally wouldn’t fancy a 2 week October half term. It is often really nice early October but by the end it is chucking it down. I definitely wouldn’t want it in feb. The only people who benefit from that are those skiing or going long haul. I quite like the current set up but think 6 weeks is a tad too long but I also think a lot of July is a write-off as the kids as hot and knackered.

I do think however that the terms need reviewing to consider what is best for children in a modern era where often both parents are often working. It comes from a place of privilege to want more choice of holiday destinations or for children to be doing a wide range of enrichment activities etc. The sad reality is that many children will be sat at home doing nothing and possibly not having sufficient food. I suspect for them, the current set-up isn’t ideal at all.

I'm happy to retrain as a maths teacher if this gets passed.

Finland has much longer and they don't seem to forget.