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 work as support staff in a secondary school, so non-teaching, but term time only, so benefit from all the school holidays. I absolutely love the six weeks off in summer. However, that’s from my personal perspective, obviously.

From my experience, in general, there is absolutely no point to an extra week in February. It is the shortest term anyway. Our LA/council set the Easter holidays as the first two weeks of April, regardless of when Easter actually is. We either get two six week half terms or a six and a five (depending on when we go back after Christmas). An extra week is not required then.

I can see an argument for cutting the summer break to 5 weeks and having an extra week in October. As anyone who works in a school knows, the autumn term is gruelling. I’ve sometimes also wondered if splitting the autumn term into 3 might work. Go back earlier in August then have two separate weeks between then and Christmas, evenly spaced out. I have often thought that school half terms should never be longer than six weeks. You see a marked deterioration in tiredness/behaviour (from both pupils and staff) after six weeks.

An extra week in May wouldn’t work due to exams, as PP have pointed out, and with the summer holidays coming up and things like sports days, activity weeks the summer term is slightly less intense.

do kids there have any problems getting back into it after the long summer?

Not in my experience.

Private schools don’t fine parents for taking term time holidays either (plenty of them do)-that doesn’t seem to affect their learning either.

And actually two weeks abroad in February (a lot of places are very warm then and pleasant)

Families living in poverty aren’t going to be able to afford to get to these ‘warm in February’ places though. They’d probably rather their week off was in July, when it’s sunny.

It might stop people going into teaching because of the long holidays too.

I can’t understand why they don’t bring teachers from overseas as they do nurses

It might stop people going into teaching because of the long holidays too.

It will probably stop people going into teaching altogether.

Maybe teachers from overseas don’t want to come here to work because they can remain and teach in their home country where they get nice long summer holidays…

Yabu. When my kids were primary age I wanted longer Xmas and Feb half term breaks. It gave us a chance to get over illness and some fresh air.

Shorter summer hols would have been great. Rushing to work and school was so much easier in warmer weather. We've never had a proper holiday (funds, food allergies) so prices never affected me.

No. Neither.
I work full time and am not a teacher.

This idea would be a bad idea for tourism too. Touristy areas make the most money when the children are off school and if there are less weeks available the prices will go up even higher and the road will be even busier in a shorter amount of time.

I do struggle with covering the school holidays but more available childcare options would solve this not less weeks off school.

Nope they’d come and be very happy with the pay. The schools should have International teachers. It would be better to expose the kids to different teaching methods and expectations too.

Nope they’d come and be very happy with the pay.

Why hasn’t it been happening for decades already then?

Any teacher I’ve worked with from another country has done a year or two, realised that the workload was insane and gone straight back home.

Wish they would spend all this precious time thinking about how to improve the quality of education in this country instead of wasting it on talking about whether they should be moving holiday time from one end of the year to the other.

Is there a reason that people from overseas can't come over and teach? What is stopping them at the moment?

We have 7 weeks in summer. Always seemed perfect to me as a pupil but I haven’t had to work out childcare for a primary school aged child yet. We used to have a 2-3 week holiday then went to a couple of kids clubs and maybe my gran’s or aunt’s house for days here and there, but when it was really great was when I was a teen and could just chill out for 7 weeks (until I got a job and ended up working a lot of it).

It can be cheaper to go away too as our holidays start about 4 weeks before England’s.

But, if parents work kids can of course go to school or nursery (free) if they need to. They usually have a great time even going to the beach and stuff.

Do you mean the schools are all open over the holidays and parents can choose to send their children anyway? Who staffs it?

Visa requirements which should be amended so they can come in droves!

They need a QTS equivalence if they want to teach here and their English proficiency will also be looked at. Not very easy…

If the parents work, yes. Not everyone can take 10 weeks off. It is staffed by educated after school teachers. Lunch and breakfast is also free, as always.

My son's SN residential school used to have shorter summer holidays an extra week in may and October. It worked well for us because one of the weeks was always when most were in school.

6 weeks off for SN kids is too long they get out of their routine. We went to Euro Disney in October one year. Non of us had taken summer clothes it was red hot. We thought it would be a bit warmer so took mainly jeans t-shirts and hoodies. They had all the Halloween decorations out as well was really good.

It is staffed by educated after school teachers.

Sorry for all the questions, I’m curious…what is an educated after school teacher? Are they the same people as teach the children in term time? Are they following a curriculum that children not attending would miss out on or is it a holiday club? When do building repairs/maintenance take place?

Is all after school club/nursery/holiday club free there?

And there is summer school, for pupils who need extra help in certain subjects.

It worked well for us because one of the weeks was always when most were in school.

The problem with what’s being proposed is that everyone would now be off in the same weeks in February and October/November so nowhere would be cheaper or quieter. It would all be busy and expensive and much more difficult to get away in the 4 weeks in the summer as well.

The after school teachers have a uni education which is 3,5 years. What they do is that you might need to go to a different school or nursery nearby, different every year so the others can do maintenances if needed. But always at least one known teacher from each school/nursery. Noone will miss out not going, they only do fun things like picnicks etc. Everything is free here including cooked food. Nursery does cost £80 a month, which some people think is too much. But it’s not really, not for what you actually get. The food is great too.

My sisters kids have two weeks off in May and break up a week later than us for the summer holidays. They often go on holiday that second week in May when the rest of the schools are back.

A millionaire then, to pay for all the holiday clubs? And take masses of leave, for all that family time?

I would just be working as usual but it would be much more childcare to arrange and I dread to think what it would cost.