To think this will do nothing to help absence rates

[Imonthebloodyphone]

So a report published today says that school summer holidays in England should be cut to four weeks. (I know Wales has been consulting on this for a while but don't know if anything has been decided)

The report recommends longer half-term breaks in the autumn and spring terms in a proposed overhaul of the academic calendar. Article here:
www.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/26/school-summer-holidays-half-term-england-calendar-nuffield-foundation-report

AIBU to think this is only going to exacerbate school absence? Because what struggling families really need is even more pressure on the already expensive 6 week summer holiday period when they can take their kids away!

Who on earth wants extra weeks in November and February, especially families who can't afford to go abroad. The last two weeks have been so bloody wet and miserable here in the UK; I can't imagine if a February holiday was my best hope of a break.

i do think that the autumn term is long and could do with a longer holiday, but February, really?

I would hate this. All the managers in my work have children and it's already a faff figuring out holidays between us while making sure there is still enough supervision.
The prices of those holidays will also go through the roof.

It’ll also do nothing to help the dropping numbers of teachers.

Agreed. It will encourage people to fly abroad to catch sunshine creating more carbon emissions.

An extra week in May would be OK. I can see the benefits of an extra week in October as the run in to Christmas is full on and it's probably better because there's little work done that term anyway 😂.

BUT it would make it harder for working parents to manage childcare. At least in summer there are activity clubs, outside. The costs are cheaper because of the costs of being outside and the kids are more active. Holiday clubs in February are more expensive and less active because of the limits on numbers in inside space.

Terrible idea.

Why on earth would anyone want an extra week off in February. One week off, being stuck inside with it pissing down is long enough. An extra week in may, when the weather is usually pretty decent would be better.

Dreadful idea. If anything I'd like the summer break extended. A couple more weeks in July would be great and make sorting annual leave in decent weather easier. I always find the Christmas holiday very long and definitely wouldn't want more time in October or February.

Our primary is an academy and I've if first actions they took was to change term dates. We are in London it's multicultural with lots of families having families abroad. They increased the October half term to two weeks which scored high on parental consultation apparently as families wanted time to visit family members abroad. Then there was COVID so hard to totally assess success!

I think had run both two full weeks and mid week to mid week week before and after local council dates.

It breaks up a long term much better and relieved about of exhaustion that there is otherwise. I don't ever go abroad but I assume it has the desired effect there.

We still get six weeks in summer, usually just over so I think they shaved off teaching training and off day from other holidays

We have 5 weeks in summer, extra time elsewhere. I prefer it. We used to have 4 weeks in summer- not so good.

It's already a struggle to enable everyone in my team who wants time off in the summer school holidays to have this. It would be impossible if only 4 weeks.

It’s going to make finding childcare more difficult and expensive. Lots of summer childcare is based on summer sports camps who ideally need to use outdoor space.

On the other side of this, it would mean that my holiday club costs were a bit more evenly spread through the year. At the moment, my childcare bill for august is eyewatering, add to that school uniforms etc, and it's just a lot of money to be spent in that month. I have to carefully save all year round to make sure I can cover it. August is by far my most expensive month of the year, and we rarely actually take a holiday.

But I agree, for those that do, it would make going on holiday in that period even more expensive, and annual leave even more competitive. It would be more tempting than ever to go in term time.

My main question though is would it be better for the kids? DS loses all sense of routine over the summer, and going back to school in september is very jarring for him, it takes him a while to transition back into it. A shorter holiday might help with that.

Summer holidays are too long, but as people say, who really wants a fortnight's holiday in October or February?

My child's school is doing 2 weeks in October and a shorter summer holiday already. It's causing issues already for those with younger siblings. All the schools have different holiday dates. It's chaos sorting childcare. Not sure how the holiday clubs will work if all schools don't align with the same holiday dates.

I understand the thinking behind it but it seems some are trying to implement strategies already.

I think it’s a good idea. 6 weeks is too long. It does look likely to happen. We already have a 5 week summer holiday & 2 week October half term here.

Agreed. It will increase them as holiday prices will really hike up. So people will take them in term time. Also who wants holidays in the winter rain ...

So much better as four weeks, the kids get bored by the second week and it drags for them. Not all of us can afford fancy summer clubs!

I think it's a good idea and should be looked into more. There are loads of studies that show that the long summer holiday has a negative effect on children's learning. There's also staff wellbeing aspect - again research shows that the period between October and December had the highest staff absence. And that schools that have a 2 week October half term in general have better attendance both staff and students.

It's very difficult to find childcare for the 6 week(often nearly 7) summer holiday. My children hate that they have to do to holiday clubs - I think if they only had to do a couple of weeks rather than 4 or 5 in the summer it would be a lot more tolerable for them.

From a work perspective, I manage several parents. It would potentially make the summer a bit trickier but it would make leave across the rest of year easier as there is more space to negotiate eg not all wanting the same week in October.

I'd also advocate a fixed Spring break rather than it depending on when Easter falls.

I'm kind of leaning towards thinking the summer holidays are too long but a fortnight in February would be awful. It's hard enough keeping them happy for just a week. October/November to break up that long term maybe but not February.

I think it's a shit idea. The problem is poverty in the community which means schools are having to shore up children as social services, not that school holidays are too long in the summer. Pretty much every other country manages with long summer holidays.

And like others - 2 weeks in February is no bloody use to me!

It's too hot in school in July as it is.

2 weeks in Feb would be better for us, we visit family abroad during that week and we could better justify road tripping it by EV (which we’ve done for 1 week too) - it’s 10h drive and overnight ferries. Appreciate that’s probably just our little niche needs though.

Surrey have just under 6 weeks off, I'd be in favour of 2 week May and October half terms and keep February as 1 week.

It looks like the Welsh terms changing is a done deal, they've asked us to fill in a consultation, but it feels like a tick box exercise.
The logic seems to be that for children with a poor home life no one having eyes on them for 6 weeks is a disaster, and also children who go to Welsh speaking schools (but with parents who speak no Welsh) they fall behind terribly. We're also being consulted on a fixed Spring break, that isn't linked to Eatser, as that skews the lengths of terms so much.
I think it could work if England and Wlaes have different holidays, might end up being a bit cheaper for UK based breaks at least.

I’d rather shorten the feb half term to a long weekend and add time onto Easter and May.

Then offer affordable holiday clubs like they do in other European countries.

Sounds like a good idea, the long holidays disrupt the learning experience so it makes more sense to have shorter but more frequent breaks. I'd actually rather see a four day school week and only a week off for holidays, that way children would still get the same amount of learning days but with no disruption.

If children currently do 5 days a week, 39 weeks per year, that's 195 learning days. Instead they could do 4 days a week, 49 weeks per year, with a week off at Christmas, Easter and in the summer. There would be little interruption to their learning and they'd be better suited for the world of work when they leave.

I'd like an extra week before Christmas. Maybe break up around 15/16th and the back 3rd Jan. there is so much fun stuff going on before Xmas you can enjoy. Then cut the summer to 5weeks.