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?

Absolutely-this would be terrible for Uk tourism.

But a few posters seem to think this would be balanced out by people going abroad chasing cheap sun, in an extended February half term. For what it’s worth, we’ve been abroad in May half term and half the cafes and restaurants weren’t open yet as their ‘season’ hadn’t started. I can imagine loads of places being totally shut up in Feb half term!

We've got some of the shortest summer holidays and they want to shorten it further. Who actually benefits? Probably the holiday companies. Won't be the children anyway.

My suggestion is we go to 8 week Summer holidays, 2 weeks at October, 3 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter, and the other two half terms stay the same at one week.
I think the children will learn better for having a decent rest, but the government needs to bring in something for children who need support over that time.

Shortening the summer holidays is simply about the government passing the buck on dealing with the problem of child poverty.

Mmm, and it's more difficult to staff this kind of role when it's a couple of weeks in winter. It's harder than it would be if it were eg a couple of weeks added onto the start or finish of the normal tourist season.

Also I'm not sure the people who like going somewhere sunny in February have necessarily clocked that a fortnight away would become dearer than it is now!

There's probably is a divide between those who can afford to jet off and those who can only afford to holiday in the UK or just prefer not to travel so far.

@vod 😆

I would hate it. Never make many plans in Feb half term as the weather is rubbish. Don't do much in October either. Every parent at work wants a couple of weeks in the summer holidays, but can't all have the same weeks so that would be hard. In our house we've always just loved the long stretch of summer.

The weather in mid-late September is often good, and the autumn term is far too long. I wonder if it would work to get children back in during the last week of August (after the BH), do 4 weeks and then have a one-week break, then another 4 weeks and have a late October break, then do the run-down to Christmas.

I would actually rather this than another week in November!

NO No No, to losing a July week in exchange for a February week though!!!

Please no more weeks at Christmas. - two weeks is more than enough
And a shorter summer holiday would really impact at my work - it’s already difficult to manage all the parents wanting time off then for holidays as it is. Plus it’s holidays so lots of people ( teachers /term time workers especially and their own kids) want to come to the dentist then as they’re off - and we’re really busy
February half term is long enough too.

I say leave it as it is

I am guessing you are a SAHM or a teacher?!

The other, bigger, cultural change we could try is a 2-week 'shutdown' break for everyone in late July or early August. Obviously not possible for all workplaces and jobs, but in much of Europe lots and lots of businesses just shut for a period over the summer. Could be a great perk for non front-line office jobs to offer employees too! It would put the price of flights up horribly for those 2 weeks though.

There is very little keeping me in teaching as it is, this would definitely finish me off. I save all year for a two week holiday over summer, the thought of the maximum time being away from work ever being 10 days would probably kill me.

I think they should just give us an extra week full stop. We already give our children so little time off and now want to take away the weeks with better weather to add on to the shitest time as it is. I mean February half term for god sake it’s been rain rain rain. The local parks flooded out, my lands a bog, the houses across flooded out and the allotments flooded.

Add in the parents trying to book annual leave during a tiny four weeks. Nope. I’d just pay the fine at that point.

Why not just start with 1 week moved to October - the February idea is a terrible one for all except those that can afford a sun or ski holiday and May won't work with exams so 5 week summer holiday then 2 weeks in October.

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to move the summer holidays to a week or two earlier and go back at the end of August. This won't affect pupils starting their GCSE and A level courses and hopefully they can catch some of our nicer summer weather (if we get some).

How does that help? That would just make the Autumn term even longer.

Add in the parents trying to book annual leave during a tiny four weeks. Nope. I’d just pay the fine at that point.

I agree-this would not only be difficult for people to get the time off they wanted, but the prices for holidays in that 4 week would probably go up by 30%.

Meanwhile, children at private schools will continue to benefit from their 7/8 week summer holidays and lack of fines for term-time holidays and the inequality increases.

D'oh! Of course it will. I will engage my brain before I post again

We already get 2 weeks for Oct 1/2 term.
Pain in the neck.
Sold it to us as 'parents can take advantage if cheaper holidays'.
Yeah only until the companies catch on and also even though my son now has 14 weeks off I year, strangely my employer didn't grant me an extra week. And I found it quite patronising. If it's helpful for my son's education then fair enough, but don't suggest they're doing it so we can have a cheaper holiday.

He's old enough to not need childcare, but still needs shuttling up and down to town and friends (rural).

Apparently it really helps with teacher absence and a little with pupil illness.

Oh I feel better for getting that off my chest!

Where I am we have a week off in February. This is when many people want to go on skiing holidays. We aldo have a week off in end of October beginning of November!

Where are you?

Those are the standard spring and autumn half terms for the majority of schools in England and have been for many years.

The kids who are disadvantaged by a longer summer holiday aren't going skiing in Feb, FFS! I agree that many summer schemes will not be sustainable over 4 weeks - many of ours are staffed by students on a long break, and it's not worth their while signing up for 2 or 3 weeks.

If the Autumn term is too long, then go back a week later in September.

Scandinavia. 10 wks summer holiday, 1 week in Oct/Nov, 2 wks Christmas, 1 week Feb, 1 week Easter.

I agree with all of this! Same as you, August is a rough month for us in terms of paying for uniform/extra childcare, and the settling back into school in September issue, it would work better for my daughter to have more frequent, but shorter breaks.

For us as a family it would work, but we are lucky that we can work from home, rely on family which if only a couple of weeks at a time we could swing. We also don't go away in the summer holidays, so that wouldn't impact us either, I imagine the price of holidays would be even higher if there were only four weeks to choose from I stead of six! I know it's not something that would work for a lot of families.

Where is warm in February?
I don't even feel confident of warmth at Easter without going quite a long way.

Presumably private schools will still have 8 weeks (some even more) in the summer, do kids there have any problems getting back into it after the long summer?