Two week half term October results

[Newtonianmechanics]

I know there is a running thread about summer holidays. I personally like the 6 weeks as it is.

This is about extending the October half term and the impact on attendance.

However it says that the 5 days were taken elsewhere. Does anyone have a child who goes to these schools? How was this time made up?

I do think the results are quite staggering and it is something to bear in mind.

The bulk of learning is done September to December and its brutal all round.

www.unitysp.co.uk/proposals-announced-to-extend-october-half-term/

amp.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/26/staff-absences-fell-50-after-schools-introduced-longer-half-term-break

Mu daughter started in Year 7 this year and it was an 8 week half term. Absolutely brutal. Same for DS who started reception. Then, only a week off to recuperate before another 7 week term. Now, they've just gone back for a 4.8 week half term, right when they're hitting their stride socially etc and finding things easier and the days are getting longer.

I think a two week October half term would have helped them both.

Our local secondary school became an Academy and the Head changed the October 1 week holiday to 2 weeks, a lot of parents weren't happy that there were no discussions pre decision.
No days taken from other holidays or changes to inset days, kids just get an extra 5 days off.

We've had two weeks in October for a couple of years, it was great at first, cheap holidays bur most operators are onto it now. We are on a London borough border, we get two weeks, nieces and nephews get two weeks but only overlap the middle week. PITA for chlldcare when they're small. It's morphing into the us track system.

Children in England must have 190 teaching days every year by law. Are you saying that your school only has 185?

I would look at the term dates if I were you.

Primary and Middle schools tend to stick to the normal term/half term holidays.
Secondary not so as they don't have to.

But they still must have 190 days.

Some schools in our area trialled this last October. They added time onto the school day and shaved time off lunch breaks.

They are going to keep the two week break in October from the results of the survey sent out.

It has made it tricky for staffing as many have their own children to care for but as some schools and preschools are following the normal term time pattern a childcare issue has occurred.

Interesting that this trial saw such improved absence figures for staff and pupils. I can well believe it. Our kids were all so exhausted before Christmas that absolutely no learning took place for at least a week. The staff were clearly running on empty too.

Childcare would be an issue, but definitely a solvable one.

Quite a few Scottish authorities have had 2 week holidays in October for years. Its a throwback to farming days as it allowed children time off at harvest. They generally have a long weekend in February and there's no May half term. Works fine. (Holidays don't align across all local authorities.)

Hmm ots completely illogical
Issue kids get sick

Not why are they getting so sick?
Which might be improved by
ventilatiion
Co2 monitors
Fewer kids per class
Actually more time in the sun in summer
Vit d tablets

Many probably arent sick anyway its holidays.

Personally i would
Remove the fines for
Reception
Year 1-5 would allow up to 10days unfined a year.
Logically we want people to still be able to take a holiday while kids are primary and take secondary more seriously.
I would extend the summer holiday.
Here its been too hot in july. Then we break up and rain.

For the economy we want
People to take uk holidays
Go out on days out in uk
To use holiday clubs
All this benefits the kids health too

Personally dont like sending kids in when its been too hot as they dont go outside or may burn)

I do think extending the day slightly would be a good idea even to just get the summer holidays up to 6w (we often get 5)
Dc2 started rec in 2020 and the reduced hours cut over 10 school days off for her...
Ours finish at say 3.20 so could easily do 10 more or start 10earlier.

Secondary kids get back on the bus by 3.30.

Primaries could use the extra week in june.
Best case is to spread out extra demand.

If they do reduce to 6 weeks i guarantee artendance will worsen
Its logical as so many parents work in teams some of which require you take 2w at once.
If prices increase even further
And if we lose end of july which is the only reasonable weather

There was about 2 weeks last year end of summer term they just watched films!!

We went to majorca oct half term.

It was too cold for the pool.
The sea was a bit cool too.
But season was over they shut everything by the saturday
It was similar weather to uk on a good day just less rain
So overall a bit expensive at £500 per person...

I think people who support the idea need to consider if they still would if they couldnt go abroad.

Also some people take term tome for reasons other than money.
Our outbound was delayed 2hrs and inbound too.
School holidays everywhere is so busy!
Its actually unpleasant in uk

We went to chesington one inset day.
It was rammed more than a weekend.

My kids had two weeks in October and it didn't seem to impact their learning. They had long days though - 8.45 to 4.30.

We live in an area with a 2 week October half term. Normal length days (8.55-3.25). We just have a 5 week summer holiday instead of 6. Inset days are scattered through the year like most schools.

I really like it. DD is only in reception but she was really ready for the break. The September to Christmas run is a long on so a decent break in the middle was nice.

We’re in Scotland and have two weeks in Oct, two of the days are made up in Feb as in our LEA we only get 3 days as opposed to a week, where the other 3 are made up varies I think.

The holiday companies are already getting wise to it, I gather. Holidays are still cheaper but they're creeping up.

Personally, I hate it. You have two weeks off when the weather is worse. To get a holiday with decent weather you need to travel quite far, so more expensive anyway. We are lucky that holiday clubs do run as most of the schools now have the two weeks off, but DS likes football and obviously it's colder to spend the whole day outdoors (not the end of the world, of course).

When DS started Reception he was barely settled in and they had 2 weeks off, so back to square one afterwards.

And this year, they're asking for the kids to come back in August, so you can't even take a holiday in the week of the bank holiday. I say asking because we're going way anyway. As far as I am concerned, school starts in September!

Also the Christmas holiday was incredibly short this year. They finished on the Thursday before Christmas and were back the day after New Year. No time to relax at all.

I hate it (as i said). I would far prefer they had the six weeks in the summer when you have a fighting chance of decent weather.

@PoppingCandles you just made a bad choice…..I would never recommend Majorca/Menorca outside of June/July/Aug maybe first 2 weeks in Sept but even then it’s iffy weather wise - and we’ll documented as being so. It’s a shame as it’s easy but defs a summer island only.

People can still go away in October no need to sound the alarm 🤣. There are a plethora of other places (that aren’t long haul) you can go in Oct with much better weather (almost guaranteed) than Majorca ….you just need to broaden your horizons!!

canaries
Azzores
Madeira
Sicily
Santorini
Malta
Sardinia

All still good in October

Southern Spain a good should too although temps will be lower than the above

Would also consider Turkey depending on when it fell - possibly if it were middle two weeks tho not last two

Further afield Florida is a good shout - as long as falls later then safely out of hurricane season.

Our borough does a 2 week half term. Dc start school this year and holiday prices for the first week (that most other schools are not off for) are cheap. The term starts at the end of aug though.

I work in a school with just a 5 day October break, and that is just fine with me. I know the first term is very long, but October break always seems to happen just at the point you've found your groove and momentum after the long summer break.

Two weeks in October would derail a lot of that progrrss, to be honest. And I wouldn't want the summer holidays to be any shorter than they already are.

This is exactly the problem we have experienced.

DS has a 2 week Oct, 2 week Feb, 1 week Easter and 5-6 weeks in the summer.

Pros- he gets more recovery at the half terms and it breaks them up more evenly. (He's autistic, finds school draining and takes longer to unwind than average)
The summer holiday is still a reasonable length.

Cons- he's off longer when the weather's awful and there's little to do. He's still on holiday this week, we're all ill and he's doing nothing but gaming while he's awake. It's closed season on many days out until March/ Easter, and open spaces are beyond saturated after last weeks' rain on top of the rain we've had all autumn and winter.

We've tried going away at Oct/ Easter/ Feb, and the only "full" holiday we've had has been Feb in the Canary Islands where it's that bit warmer and a year round season. Late Oct is wind down time and the pools are cold in the Med, ditto for Easter and the season just begining. So unless you want to go away for a bracing, windswept UK break, really you're pushing into ££££ for longhaul if you're wanting a sunshine holiday which is what families will tend to want. Not very accessible, and not very environmental either.

Fortunately for us time off isn't much of an issue and being in an area with variability in term dates eases pressure. That benefit gets lost if term dates are too standardised and broken-up through the year.

I always thought that dropping the ability to request term-time holidays was a mistake. Allowing some discretion enabled dialogue between families and schools. There are times that are less suitable than others and that makes it more likely that parents who just take children out anyway can hit more awkward dates on the school calendar.

This is my third post on this topic, I hate it so much. A survey was done at our school and they said time would be made up by a slightly longer day. I voted against anyway because i thought better to have more time off in the spring/summer months but got nowhere.

Anyway, we now have longer days but the main holidays are still being shaved away - I have no idea why. We do also have random INSET days through the year still - no objection to that - all teacher training in a block seems mad to me.

We moved to Rutland when our kids were 10 & 8 and they had a 2 week October half term from then, right until they finished school. We moved there in 2005 and it had been like that for ages.

I really liked it. They used to finish for Summer a couple of days later than their cousins, elsewhere, and go back to school around 29th August. We never noticed that the Summer holidays were shorter because they’re very long anyway.

Maybe they should follow Scotland. No fining here. Just common sense. If you take your kid out in term time all the time, they become concerned. If it’s for a holiday they don’t bat an eyelid.
spring show here today, most of the farmer kids are off. 🤷‍♀️
We have two weeks off at October but we don’t get a May half term or even a full February half term. Just a short break. Works just fine.

The school that my son will be going to has two weeks off in October and will have one less week at Easter (so one week off rather than two)

@MrsMariaReynolds @DazedandConfused1234 ah I see what you mean, In scotland we go back much earlier (mid to late Aug) so we're already for a good break by the middle of October, it's a very long half term for us.