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 organise international conferences. At the moment there are no conferences in late July or all of August because people across Europe are on holiday and universities are dealing with admissions.

May, June, September, October and November however are prime conference season. I can't take holiday during those months, I'm usually doing 12 hour days. Our commercial teams can't take holiday then either.

Does the Dept for Education expect the whole of Europe/industry to change schedule because they fancy a different calendar?

Thankfully DS is doing GCSEs this year so any change will have minimal effect on us but will cause chaos for most people I work with.

Stupid idea !! As well as being massively unpopular.

I think it's awesome

Better for maintaining educational routines, better for SN, better for childcare costs

As a teacher (now)I'd love a proper recovery time in October.

I also had two kids, one with profound sn we never coped well with the August crowds and always holidayed in either the February or October holidays (generally in uk or DLP), the change would make that so much easier.

It's been a long time coming

I'd be interested to hear if people who are in favour of this think it would affect absence rates, as per the OP. My suspicion is it would to the opposite. Obviously it might still be possible to argue that it would do more harm than good even on the assumption that DC being taken out of school in June and July will increase.

I'd gladly take 2 weeks in the May/ June half term and 2 weeks in October. Early summer with its long days and early autumn are some of the best times of the year.

You'd still need to find childcare for 13 weeks, regardless of when they fall.

It would be a NO to an extra week in Feb. Bloody hate that one. It rained all week here.

In Northern Ireland, we get ALL of July and August off. That feels a little bit too much at times. But four weeks sounds awful. I know it will help a lot of working parents better when it comes to childcare though.

I'm glad I'm not the only one horrified by an extra week in February. We've already accepted that we just have to put money aside to get us through one week of it.

Oh, and can we do away with fines for term time absences please? One week term time holiday, at the Heads discretion, should be allowed.

In Ireland but it sounds great to me, November and February are generally when schools have bad attendance due to health because of weather. Give me time off during the winter months as opposed to summer any day!!

It's been a long time coming

I honestly doubt this will happen in England and losing a hot sunny week in exchange for one in wet February will bring a lot of opposition from families.

People in favour seem to be families with a child with SEN-I feel it would be more productive to invest in affordable accessible and inclusive summer play schemes, rather than forcing everyone to swap some of their summer holidays for ones in the winter.

Why is it so awful to contemplate a break that doesn't involve jetting off for sun? It isn't compulsory, not is staying at home the shit show some are making it out to be.
Is it that difficult to find activities you can do as a family or kids can do even if it is raining? Umbrella, wellingtons, mac, etc.
Or is everyone so needing of constant stimulus and entertainment that staying in Uk would be worse a fate worse than death?

How ya doin' Mary Poppins?

I can't speak to all the many pros and cons, but I'm not sure "I want a cheap holiday" is a valid reason to take into consideration.

I think absolutely everyone in this thread is already familiar with finding activities to do that involve wellies and we all know it’s basically shit and a week of that is more than enough. Of course you can have a nice holiday at home but common sense dictates that’s far more likely in May than February. The “put on waterproofs and jump in puddles” stuff can fuck off. Plus have you ever tried to get a 12 year old to do that 😂😂

The other thing that people seem to be ignoring, is that if the school year is changed and the exam timetables are moved, then the exam boards will have to adjust marking, and universities will have to deal with shortened admissions processes.

It could also disadvantage British students applying to study overseas.

Doesn’t affect me any more but I think the decision should be made in the best interests of the majority of children, whatever that may be.

If the long summer hol is kept it wouldn’t hurt to subsidise holiday clubs for families on UC or other means tested benefits whilst we’re at it.

That sounds like absolute hell. The children will be exhausted and overworked the entire year. A 3 day weekend every week does not replace a proper break, it would lead to burnout.

The UK summer holidays are already extremely short, they do not need to be shorter. They're 10 weeks long in my country and even that feels too short by the end.

I wouldn’t mind extra week in any of the half terms. Or even an extra week after Christmas so I could travel to see my family.

It is much easier and cheaper to find things to do for a week when it’s warm and sunny than it is when it’s cold and wet. I don’t think many people would want to swap a week’s holiday with their kids in July for a week in February.

Most people who are saying yes, are actually saying yes to the extra week being in May or Christmas-which aren’t options here, or are saying yes because they want to go abroad in February. I would imagine only a pretty small number of parents would be able to do this anyway.

SN rates are rising rapidly

This is a cost free intervention. Do you know how expensive provision for SN is? Or how rare it is for a SN provision to benefit such a high number.

Many kids struggle with play schemes for a long period of time, especially with SN. What works for one SN child in terms of holiday club might just be the final tipping point to ASD burnout. the cost of provision is often prohibitive anyway.

I'm not a sunseeker either, but we do need to take into account that a good chunk of the population want to go away in the summer months. Sometimes because of weather, other times because they'll prefer to use the longest chunk of time to go and visit family. If we only have 4 weeks off in the summer, there's inevitably going to be even more competition for those 4 weeks than there is for 6, which risks driving prices up. Some people won't or can't pay that and will instead remove DC from school instead.

There's also the issue that it's easier to entertain DC for cheap or free when the weather is warmer. It just is. Lots of people don't like being out in the rain and cold much, regardless of how much you entreat them to get an umbrella, and wet play equipment in parks can be dangerous. Even some of those like you and I who are fine with the chilly outdoors will also have gardens that are unusable at this time of year. I don't mind the cold or a bit of mud, but I'm not having my house turn into something out of Glastonbury in a storm year.

Holiday camps often set up summer schemes that last for 3-4 weeks. I send my son to a 4 week camp and then we have 2 weeks together. If the summer holiday was shorter it might not be worth them setting up the camp at all - or we’d have to sacrifice our family time so he could attend the camp.

I definitely don’t want a wet week of February in exchange for a sunny week in July when he can do camping and sports and stuff with other kids. It’s a stupid idea.

I'd rather two weeks in October and May.

This is a cost free intervention.

No, it’s not. It just passes the cost onto families. It would mean families will have to spend an extra week in the winter heating their house. It will mean parents will have to find another whole load of indoor-often expensive-activities for their kids to do. If the extra week was in July, they could have taken a picnic into the garden/park/beach and not spent a penny.

I think the absence rates would probably come down. Winter viruses would hopefully be more controlled as parents already have arranged childcare rather than spreading through the classroom as they can’t take time off at short notice. Those who choose to take children out of school for cheaper holidays means it will only impact their children. It might mean that those who go abroad for holidays do so across the year - helping rebalance the peak times. It is tricky it not aligning with the rest of Europe though.

@Toohotforchips Oh my god, aren't you the witty one. Such talent untapped