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?

Throwing extra holidays to attract teachers

No extra holidays are being offered to attract teachers.

This is a plan being waved around by someone thinking it will improve attendance.

Most schools are not air conditioned and given climate change are going to be horrible in summer heatwaves.

I doubt 6 weeks is much different to 4 weeks for impact on learning/forgetfulness.

I think each region should have slightly different terms so that the demand for holidays is spread over a longer period hopefully bringing costs down. So wales and north west take all of July, 2 weeks August, north east and midlands, 3 weeks July, 3 weeks August, south west 2 July and all August, south east 1 July, August and 1 September and London all of August 2 weeks september or something! So there is some overlap everywhere for visiting family etc but the demand for hols spreads over 12 weeks. Maybe the weeks for each region could move round every couple of years.

@Overwhelmedmum1

Yes we need better childcare

I don't agree with cutting the Summer tbh

Nobody has suggested throwing extra holidays. What are you in about?
Also, having enough English to teach through the medium of it is much different from having enough to learn through it.
what benefits is it your family if teachers care about? I’m not really aware of any. I agree the system is broken, but it’s not because teachers are lazy or careless. It really isn’t

The plan is a week at February and a week in October, not May.

It won’t make it any easier for childcare-there are usually plenty of options for summer childcare run outside, with sports coaches or university students. If you are trying to access childcare in February and October for a random extra week will be very difficult.

The prices for the ‘new’ holiday dates will just go up as well.

I think a lot of people agreeing this sounds like a good idea haven’t thought it through.

It gives exactly the same number of options for holidays. They aren’t adding weeks.
Plus you’ve been told about. Million times on the thread that an extra week in May won’t happen because of exams.

And a Christmas term that goes from mid August to late December? How’s that going to work? It’s already so long that behaviour and learning deteriorate massively by the end of it.

We do.

Other countries are able to do it, why not us?

I remember mine as a baby, 19 years ago. Even then I paid over £1000 a month in childcare fees, also throughout the summer when I was off work. It almost destroyed us financially and delayed us getting a home and savings. We went into debt, which took many years to recover from. And this was with both myself and partner working.

Obviously it’s been a long time since I had to worry about childcare, but I do understand it’s an area where our governments fail working families. I also don’t think it’s my responsibility as a teacher to solve this problem directly.

To be fair if they can manage it for other professionals I'm sure they could for teaching. Cultural, legal arguments etc..all apply to the NHS and they deal with life and death situations.

Well, they’ll need to after this I guess and you’ll be able to judge for yourself whether or not it works.

@cardibach of course Orbis more options. Many places don’t have weekend flight so if you want to go abroad then half terms don’t give you many options if the flights are on a Wednesday but if they were a two week holiday then you could go abroad in half terms too.

@Redlocks30 we tried not to use holiday clubs if we could due to costs but the one we used ran in every school holiday (except Christmas) and wasn’t an outdoors club primarily. Weather permitting some activities were outside but many were inside. So no matter the time if year, the sports clubs run. At least spreading it out, spreads out the cost for those that have to use clubs.

I have thought about this for years. I really do think as a parent it would have been a hell of a lot easier to manage childcare.

I do agree though that it shouldn’t me Feb, that is a terrible option. Nobody has money after Christmas still and weather is rubbish. They might think an extra week in May affects exams but I think that can be planned around if given time.

Are we not entitled to our own opinion? I DO find 6 weeks too long, that's my experience, doesn't need to be yours.

I said stagger the weeks. So Lincoln may choose one week, whereas Manchester may choose another. Essex another. This will dilute the holiday pricing and make it cheaper.

Yes the proof will be in the pudding. I've lived abroad and retrained. I can't see why it wouldn't work for teaching.

I'm not sure it will ever get off the ground really but on balance I'm in favour as I feel the arguments for it are more compelling than those against.

I think each region should have slightly different terms so that the demand for holidays is spread over a longer period hopefully bringing costs down.

Where that already happens locally, it is chaos. Some academy trusts have different holidays and my LA is bordered by a number of different LA’s too.

Families have children at school in different trusts, especially primary/secondary. Families have children across LA’s. Add in school leaders and teaching staff with children at school in a different trusts/LA’s to them too!

In some cases, families have adults and children across three trusts/LA’s impossible, resulting in teachers choosing to move schools.

There’s no perfect answer. 6 weeks in summer might be too long for some kids. On the other hand, 4 weeks would force some families to take kids on hols during term time. So, either way; some kids’ education will suffer.

Personally, I think 2 weeks in Feb, and then 2 weeks at Easter is too disruptive. Holidays and bank hols can already result in some ridiculously short terms around that time of year, right when lots of kids need to be at school to prep for SATs, A levels and GCSEs.

Yes the proof will be in the pudding. I've lived abroad and retrained. I can't see why it wouldn't work for teaching

In common with a number of Western countries the UK has been actively recruiting medical staff from poorer countries such as the Phillipines where English is not the first language. If recruiting teaching staff was so straightforward, they'd be doing it, but they don't. Instead they go for countries where English is the first language; NZ, Australia, South Africa and Canada.

You are forgetting accents. Teaching needs clear enunciation and understanding of specific technical terminology that has to be delivered.

My Dd had a friend with a hearing impairment. She was put in a class of a teacher with a very strong non English accent. She really struggled to understand.

And the private schools would no doubt still get the longer holidays (as they already get longer than 6 weeks), so the rich privileges would be even more heightened.

Really, the 6 weeks holiday didnt do me any harm growing up. I would be interested to see who did these studies. Probally someone who has no experience of kids, but studied them in university. The school holidays have been like this for years, take a look around at the older generation. It hasnt harmed them either. Im just grateful that my youngest leaves school this year, because as a nurse, I would struggle to take a holiday in a shorter summer holiday, because there is only so much leave allowed at 1 given time, and I work with a lot of people with school aged kids.

A 4 week summer holiday would make things really difficult because working parents would all be fighting for the same 4 weeks. It's hard enough to agree the time off when it's spread out over 6.

I agree with others that 2 weeks in Feb would be miserable.

In Scandinavia we have nearly 3 month school summer holidays because children need the vitamin D. Less summer holiday in the UK is only going to increase depression

Not really keen on the idea either
boiling rooms
holisay prices will not go down but stay or go higher
summer already feels short, to me, it’d feel even shorter and companies would suffer more or people would be forced to take time off when their kids are in the school.

I love a 6 week summer. Kids get to be kids.

It would kill off much of the limited seaside holiday trade we have in parts of the UK. Reducing your peak period by at least a quarter would be the death of some businesses.

In addition to the other reasons given above.

If anything I think the may half term could be 2 weeks as the weather then is reasonable and you can actually do something outdoors. But that is literally the only school holiday that would be nice to be longer. So maybe just make may/June half term 2 weeks and the summer holidays 5 weeks!