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.

shinyandnew - how old are the children at those independent schools? To be fair, where I work, our N, F, Y1 and Y2 classes do only go from 8:30 - 3;30 (or 4;30 if they choose enrichment programme) but the older children go to 4;45, 6;00 or 7;30 depending on age and enrichment choices. Or they board. So it varies a lot but they are usually getting significantly longer by Year 5ish. I wasn't really thinking about the little ones because I don't teach down there.

That's a rural boarding school though. I don't know if it's true of, for example, city day schools. I also don't know if those independent schools without the longer hours also get the very long holidays though.

I work in education and like the holidays the way they are now.

By the time it gets to July, the children are done. They're hot, they're tired, they've got as much learning stuffed into their heads as they can and they are in dire need of a break. The six weeks gives them a chance to recharge before moving to their next year group/key stage/portion of the curriculum.

Behind the scenes, there is a lot goes on in the six weeks that can't easily be done at other points of the year. It is safer and simpler to do certain maintenance and improvements while the school is empty - painting, wiring, new additions, large scale repairs, etc.

It's an opportunity for planning, prepping classrooms and resources, any urgent training, recruitment and so on.

Our school is semi-rural and some of our families are involved with farming while others are involved with the tourist industry. The six week break allows for work in these areas. We also have some pupils who are not originally from the UK and the holiday gives them the opportunity to go visit family abroad for an extended period, the same goes for some staff.

Potential inspiration - some EU countries have a part of holiday purposefully desynchronized.

In my country, there is a 6 weeks period during which every "county" has one week off, smaller regions are grouped to those slots to have similar population and reasonable geographical spread. And the schedule for those 6 weeks rotates every year. Historically, it was to allow everyone to go to the mountains/skiing (some snow was less than 2 hours drive for huge majority of the population).
It supports mostly domestic/local tourism, creates relevant winter holiday season, and means people aren't competing for few holiday places pricing each other out.

We already get two weeks at Easter and two weeks in October

Not everyone Jets off in the summer holidays..ever heard of haven ?

Why would they regress? My children have always flourished being at home and out and about in the sunshine. Mine were like different children after lockdown. School sucks the life force out of them.

No I love the 6 weeks with my children. It's our favourite time of year. They've already shortened the Christmas holiday to the point we feel less Christmassy then we used to as it's all so rushed.

Spring and autimn are often miserable (rather like this summer! 😂) and thus shit for being on holiday

We go to Scotland at the end of August. They tell us May is the best time. Last year, we went to Greece on May 19th - it was 28 - 30 every day, and the swimming pool wasn’t cold at all! Likewise, we’ve been to Florida in May and August - weather wise August was much worse! More humid and loads of tropical storms as it’s the hurricane season!

In Australia we get 2 weeks in spring autumn and winter and about 6 weeks over summer. The winter holidays are usually full of sickness, so we don’t go anywhere.

Irish secondary schools get this. We finish end of May and back start of September(possibly last week in August). It's a pain in the backside. Primary school get 8 or 9 weeks off.

The thing about having 6 weeks in the summer is that it gives a lot of families the chance to go away for a week or two without everyone trying to go at the same time. And for those who aren't travelling there is (at least in theory) some summer weather to enjoy.

My two are currently spread across two LAs. The secondary has a more even spread of holiday across the half terms. The primary is the more traditional pattern. The downside to me at present is needing to be around for 3 weeks at Christmas, 2 in Feb, 2 in April, 1 in May, 7 in Jul-Sept, 2 in Oct as the max spread of both sets as their timings are a bit out of synch.

I prefer the spread of the secondary, and the more consistent dates work better for autistic DS1. He gets more time to relax through the year. He often finds that a week isn't enough to unclench before school looms again.His summer is a little shorter, but that works as he's not the type to fill it with action packed adventure anyway.

DH is not a heat seeker so we've dabbled with a few Oct/ Apr holidays over the years and they are the dregs of the tourist season as its cranking into action/ winding down. I've sat on gorgous sunny beaches in my coat while Britain basks. I'm fairly hardy for swimming, but it's too cold for the DCs to try. One October I swam a mile in an empty pool, but had to get out because I was freezing and the shivers kicking in. If the British holiday goes past Oct 31st that year, forget it.

We do UK holidays in the summer.
But July/ Aug is the wetter half of the British summer. Some years have been grim washouts for spending under canvas. Last year was a write off due to the aftermath of very sensitive asthma following the heatwave.

The best months in the UK and Europe tend to be May, June, September, but they're the least likely to get tweaked to gain holiday.

I had a look at the Welsh consultation and wouldn’t fancy any of the alternative options. It’s probably why they haven’t been changed because there is no real consensus about on what would be a better alternative.

It seems like the kids make the most progress in the autumn term so wouldn’t necessarily want to shift that. At primary level I’d quite like 2 weeks in May/June but appreciate that doesn’t work for secondary. There also tend to be many more camps at summer and Easter as I guess it’s more financially viable so there is a risk that by spreading holidays you actually reduce childcare provision.

because there is no real consensus about on what would be a better alternative

I think this is the case in England as well-too many people want different alternatives so it won’t be changing any time soon!