To think primary schools are breaking up too late this year

[notforonesecond]

I know some schools finished last week but my 2 don’t break up til Friday.

They’re exhausted, they’re acting up, the Christmas excitement has taken over and turned them into a right bag of dicks this week.

I don’t remember ever breaking up this late when I was a kid.

And they’re off til 8th January. God help me!

Should I just be glad they’re out of the house?

I’ve definitely preferred it this year. Easier to get stuff done without them under my feet. They can be all overexcited at school, rather than while I’m trying to get stuff done. And they will be more chilled in the second week and ready to go back

I remember breaking up for the christmas holidays in primary school in the 80's on Christmas eve one year!!!!

9 weeks here 😬 I am dying.

Mine are secondary. They were having end of term key assessments until yesterday. They finished today. We are all knackered. I’m a part time teacher and finished yesterday but my school has kids in til tomorrow and then staff in Friday for training. The supermarket was rammed at 9am this morning after dropping my kids off at school. I e managed to get my food in though. But we usually have time for Xmas visits to attractions before Christmas but not really time this year. Medical appointment tomorrow (would have said no if I’d realised they were off school and we could have gone out but totally forgot they were off) and it’s smack bang at 2pm. We hope to for a cinema trip in.

Son finishes tomorrow, it’s been a rather fun filled week at school and I’ve been glad it’s later this year, can square the house up, food shop in peace and get stuff wrapped. Hopefully a chilled weekend before the madness. I thought it was later this year due to missed strike days but nope! lol

This is what we are all saying at the school I work in. We’re all shattered. I’ve come down with the dreaded lurgy, kids are dropping like flies and I know that I’ll probably still be sick on Xmas day. 1 more day to go. I’m planning on walking out of school at 3:31 tomorrow and will not be going in over the holidays like I usually do. It’s been a long term!

My kids broke up on 15th and they go back on 2nd. 10 days is a long time to have hyper primary schoolers at home before Christmas Day itself, they're too excited to rest so I'm just even more exhausted trying to keep them entertained when they're this wired. And then they'll go back immediately after New Year, no lazy chill out days here. Thank god we're not hosting this year as there's no way I'd be able to sort the house out this week.

I'd rather have the later finish and more time home in January to be honest.

In theory I prefer a later break up as it means we get more time after Christmas Day to relax but I'm exhausted, the children are exhausted & we're ready for a break! It has been a very long Autumn term. I can't wait until I finish work tomorrow at 2pm, I've cooked close to 350 Christmas dinners (250 for my school, 150 for another) this week. So I'm going for a quiet coffee with DH then we'll be collecting them at 3:20 so we can all have a well earned rest, except my 2 at high school who both have overnight plans with their mates & they get to finish at 12!

I'm glad my kids broke up on 15th as they were exhausted. We are doing Christmas stuff together this week. My niece doesn't break up until 22nd and they are annoyed about it. It's still 2 weeks off but nothing really going on first week of Jan.

If the dates are set by the LEA I don’t understand why different primaries in the same area have such different dates. Mine broke up on Friday but I know at another primary a mile away they break up today (and the teachers have an inset tomorrow).

Last year we finished the 23rd and went back on the 5th. It felt very short.

I work in a school and we are the same. We also had an early half term so this has been an 8 week term - too long! Next half term is 5 weeks so too short.

I am flagging and can’t wait until tomorrow!

I agree it’s too late to break up!

I’ve really had to persuade my 4 year old to go in and keep going. Hes really tired and super emotional as well! Feels like you kinda miss out on the Christmas magic/build up with them in my opinion!

I'm a teacher. Last year we broke up a week before Christmas. Just enough time to go on a Canary Island cruise. It was lovely.

Try working in a school. Even worse in primary 1 🙃. Yes - it's too late but I do also like having time after new year. A few more days would be the ideal for me. Going right up til the Friday is awful and especially with no working days til Xmas. That's tough on school staff to get organised

on a positive note, they will very early on have their Xmas gifts to play with so less entertaining “beforehand” to organise!

Oh and as a pp says - the bugs. I've spent the week with very snotty, clearly unwell 5/6 year olds and now feeling the throat, eyes and nose burning just in time to feel properly awful for Xmas. No one is learning anything as they are all wired, exhausted, unwell as are the staff

We're on a 9 week half term here, break up tomorrow. Staff are on their knees, students are either off sick or acting up. Who's bright idea was that?

Mine break up tomorrow too and they are really in need of it, they’re both absolutely knackered. Youngest has SEN so as much as he loves Christmas, he finds all the changes at school so hard to deal with so he too has been acting like a bag of dicks 😂 I feel like I’ve hit mental burnout this week and need a break before Christmas to actually recover 🙈 I’ve been in school a lot the past few days and the poor teachers (mostly all mums themselves) all look utterly exhausted.

Definitely too late. I finish maternity leave the same day DD goes back to school in January. I love them to bits but I would have really loved to have had a nice festive week this week and some child free time to myself that first week of January before returning to the stress of work 😅

Your comment about them behaving like a bag of dicks made me laugh - most of us (staff) in my school are behaving like this! We’re in tomorrow, lots of staff have this awful virus including HT & DHT.

Schools have started their Christmas hols later, 22nd, 23rd, just depends on terms. All we can do is adjust our work days accordingly and go with the flow really. The lead up to Christmas starts far too early now so of course the kids are affected by this, they are induced to get into the spirit by November, often before, so have been building up to it far longer than when I was their age yet schools are of course full on curriculum teaching, lot of disparity! Who is at fault? Well not us, not the teachers, commercialism? X

We broke up yesterday and that felt late. I have every sympathy. Our class were all coughing and a sickness bug was doing the rounds and not much time to get well for Christmas.

We’re in Ireland and finish Friday- I think most years we’ve broken up the same date? This year IS a weird one though, not sure I like Christmas falling at the start of a week!!!