Private schools extra holidays - how does this not harm outcomes

[Eranie]

Looking at 3 private schools around us at the primary level.

School 1 -
8 weeks summer
1 week October
3 weeks Christmas
1 week February
3 weeks Easter
1 week May

17 weeks total

School 2 -
8 weeks summer
1 week October
2 weeks Christmas
1 week February
2 weeks Easter
1 week May

15 weeks total

School 3 -
6 weeks summer
2 weeks October
2 weeks Christmas
1 week February
2 weeks Easter
1 week May

14 weeks total

All these schools seem to be very good academically. All have similar length school days (8.45-3.15 in infants, 8.45-3.30 in juniors). The one with the most holidays caps class sizes at 16 and guarantees a TA present at all times in infants and over 50% of the time in juniors. Others seem to cap class sizes at 20-22, not sure if a TA is always present.

AIBU to wonder how the school with 3 week end of term breaks is keeping academically which so much less time? Does anyone have any insight on this?

I don’t work so we can handle the long breaks and we live the facilities better at the school with the longer breaks (further out of the city so has more land, therefore tennis courts/pool/better playing grounds. However I’m concerned that with longer breaks they will fall behind academically?

Smaller classes, supportive families, active and valued teachers and TAs, children who largely behave better, more homework in my experience.

My friend's DCs, same age as ours, went to a highly rated private primary. Ours went to an 'outstanding' state primary. Friend's DC generally had a week longer off each holiday than our state school and same length school day.
Two things stick in my mind that you might want to explore further with your three schools:

They had way more homework than ours (who had enough!) Friend used to say she didn't know how she'd cope with it had she still been working and didn't expect to be doing so much at home when paying for education. .

The other thing I remember is that in year 5, they were fully focused on passing entrance exams for the most popular & prestigious private secondaries plus the 11+ for state grammars, and did little else.
For most parents, that was the prize they had their eyes on so it didn't matter. I did often wonder about less academic children who weren't going to pass those exams and what their learning experience was in that year.

This. Private schools rarely have to deal with constant low level disruption. Parents are also generally very supportive and will make sure the child does homework etc because they're literally invested in the child's education.

At ours the school day runs from 8.40 - 16.20, compared with the local state: 8.30-3.15. They also get more done because class sizes are smaller, it's selective and there are fewer disruptive kids.

I have DC in private and state - we literally counted up the hours per term as my state DC was put out by his brothers longer holidays although his own school days are half an hour shorter - it equals out

The small class sizes will make a huge difference to the outcomes. They are not required to cover the same packed curriculum state schools are. In all honestly in state schools, the last week of each term, especially summer and Christmas, is just survival, you don't get very much out of them anyway. So those weeks are almost obsolete in state schools when it comes to actual learning.

ime - slightly longer school day (4pm finish), no disruptive behaviour, parental support and as the school was selective the pace was faster so more material covered in the lesson, homework was not onerous.

Generalisation here, but...

Very often (although not always) private school families can also afford high quality childcare, clubs, music lessons etc during the holidays.

The whole situation is just not comparable to many state school cohorts. A lot of us with children in state schools are putting our children in the holiday childcare we can afford, working opposites to cover childcare etc. There are then some families who can barely feed their children over long holidays and they rely on free school meals in term time, so they're not likely to be getting enriching holiday periods.

The private school may have more aims and goals, if children don't achieve at a state school they won't loose pupils and money
Private is a business so there is more focused on success.
The parents must be invested in education to spend money on it, even if some are not you will get more who are in a smaller space than state school.

Bridget herself gave a speech on what affected her life chances, her parents attitude to learning. Which is the main driver for any child.

So length of holidays and days are all moot really

Also longer days usually have sports at the end

Days are longer than in state. Clubs (and some sports) are after school. My kids have been at a brilliant independent school since the beginning and the while the holidays do feel a bit too long in terms of filling the time, it’s never impacted their education negatively whatsoever. I work freelance and have been happy to spend more time with them in the holidays - time goes so quickly (my eldest is off to uni in the autumn).

Slightly off topic but I’d think very carefully about going private from the start. It was unimaginable to us 15 years ago that we wouldn’t be able to always afford the school fees - but after years of fee hikes and now VAT, plus our own incomes remaining pretty level, plus inflation blah blah - we are now massively struggling.

In hindsight I wish we’d done private primary/excellent state grammar or the other way around - our lives would be much easier!

I get sort of get your point but private schools have children with a certain type of SEND (in my experience low needs autism, dyslexia, etc) they don't take non-verbal, doubly incontinent, severely learning disabled children, or children with severe hyperactive type ADHD (where some of the core traits are often impulsivity and risk taking behaviours), or children with severe early trauma (and often FASD).

The more hours spent in a class room doesn’t automatically equate to better outcomes.

Smaller class numbers and less disruption certainly would.

I think it’s brilliant to have more time off and give the children more time to recharge and spend with their families. I wish my kids have longer holidays 😊

Low class numbers
School removes children that aren't performing academically
Children who's parents can afford private school are likely to be more supported at home/get tutors/be pushed.
I knew a child that was kept back a year, after doing the reception year in state school, restarted again in private school because they simply weren't 'advanced' enough in their learning. Summer born child. Stayed in the wrong year throughout.

My child goes to a prep school and they have 2 weeks October half-term, 3-4 weeks Christmas, 1 week Spring half-term, 3-4 weeks Easter, 1 week early summer half-term and 8 weeks in the summer. So probably around 19 weeks in total.

Tbh the "holidays" aren't really holidays for the kids. Each child comes back with a holiday pack the size of a small book, which it is expected that the parents and children will work through. Some parents use tutors for this, and to do additional work on top. Then most children will spend at least a few days in the holidays attending sports/arts/science camps - parents often try to sign their children up for the same ones as classmates so they have a few friends there. Most parents will also spend a few days taking their kids on fun semi-'educational' days out like museums and galleries with kids exhibits and activities.

What parents tend to use the additional holidays (when state schools are still open) for is booking cheaper holidays away when it is quieter than during peak time. Lots of parents then stay home (either working or off with the kids) and just do local things for rest of the holidays, with kids going to camps 2-3 days a week.

During term-time, there is homework 3-4 times a week and daily spelling practice is expected. There is also very much an expectation, which the school reinforces, that parents should read to and with their children daily.

Longer days, in my kids school they typically start at 8:30, the local state schools start at 8:55. The end of the day is staggered with the younger children finishing at 3:30, older ones 3:45 and seniors at 4:00. Then they can stay for prep - which is basically homework club, or a co-curricular club. It’s not just sports either, there’s maths club, geography club, GCSE revision club etc until 5:20. Plus lots of homework, smaller class sizes, plenty of TAs, lots of 1:1 support if needed. I agree about SEN, 50 out of 200 children in my child’s private school have SEN, which is probably why their parents have sent them there. It’s full on but very supportive so they need the extra holiday.

Those days don’t look long enough for private school, ours is 8:15am-3:15pm for pre-prep, 4pm if they attend extra curriculars. Prep school is 8:15am - 4pm, extra curriculars take this to 4:45pm. Obviously you can bolt on wrap care - for working parents.

Overall these days are consistently longer days vs. state school days which locally to me are 8:45pm-3:10pm. My feeling is that the smaller class sizes (12-16 per class), which are each managed by 1 teacher and 1 TA, are worked quite hard during term time. Homework is started in reception and the teachers academic targets for each child are made very clear and are reported on regularly.

State school reception classes are 30 kids to a teacher and TA, so basically our PS setting is half the size with twice the teaching support. That is how they are able to provide a premium experience, with fewer children working at a faster pace. Hope that helps OP.

The longer holidays are a huge positive rather than a negative for us. We have family at both ends of the country and they mean that we can visit both sets of family each holiday and still have some family time to ourselves at home. For the Christmas holiday especially, we'd struggle to do that in 2 weeks. Given the shorter holidays and inflexible approach state schools take to absences, we'd really struggle to balance that with our family life.

Same at ours too. I can't believe the things I read on here that children are expected to put up with. Any type of nonsense and disruption is taken very seriously. Parents can speak to a teacher at any time too. We do have long holidays but everyone uses clubs during holidays. Our clubs end around 5 but kids can stay up until 5:30 I think which is useful for parents to collect.

Depending on the ethos of the school and the local context, there will be assessments for entry, even for entry to the linked nursery class. They will often have met the parents as part of the admissions process, and they will have information about parental professions / occupations. As @2025NewUserName highlights, children with certain SEND will be unlikely to be accommodated. When I looked at a local independent school recently, SEND support worked out at £1 per minute added to the fees. Also, most children will have a good level of English, rather than no English or at an early stage of understanding / speaking - in some areas this is not an issue in either sector.

Well a prep school is designed to ‘prepare’ children for common entrance and grammar tests. Before you get to year 5 you would probably have been informed that common entrance wasn’t the route for your child, so I guess you could choose to join a state setting - where a majority of children are lining up for local comps? Either way it certainly wouldn’t change what the core offering was, as this is a prep schools core focus.

Is there Prep after the stated school day ends to build in some extra learning time?

My dc is at a very selective and one of the top private schools in London, in primary and we don't get any homework over the holidays. We get homework M-T and not on Fridays which is lovely. My ds at 8yo is in an excellent routine of school, clubs, and gets home and straight into homework. No hovering around him, forcing him to do his homework , he's actually very independent on that. His school has a big hand in that of promoting and encouraging really good routines in the children as well.

The more hours spent in a class room doesn’t automatically equate to better outcomes.

That is true but if that same longer time is spent in an environment where the children are happy, like their classmates, teachers and their learning environment also offers a fun environment after the school day is over then that's a great place to be. Parents know that their kids are happy there.

Smaller class sizes, less disruptive behaviour than in your average state school, additional tutoring, extracurricular activities, mixing with people who have had university or professional educations that can act as a template, better connections for jobs, being able to afford internships to get them experience for those jobs... I could go on.

State school educated here, went to university as grants still existed, mixed with lots of privately educated kids, and the confidence they exuded was tangible. Work in the NHS and the difference between the privately educated and the kids who have had to battle for every scrap of education stands out a mile.

This is something I looked at extensively when sending my DC to prep. Our preference was actually state but the school we wanted did not have any wraparound which would have destroyed my career.

State school day was 8.55-3.15 infants and 3.25 finish for juniors
Prep was 8.45-3.30 for entire school

Their current holidays are even more than all the schools you have looked at
October 2 weeks
Christmas 3.5 weeks
Feb 1 week
Easter 3.5 weeks
May 1 week
Summer 8 weeks

Class sizes are not small either (for private) - capped at 23 and 4 TA shared between 6 EYFS/KS1 classes.

Academic standards are exceptional - the expectation is they have a reading age at least two years ahead when they enter Y3 and 4+ years ahead by Y6. They leave Y6 being taught Maths and English at Y9 level.

Curriculum includes a full afternoon for forest school one afternoon each week in early years and equivalent for sports in Y3-6 plus another double PE lesson each week. Specialist teaching in drama, dance, music, languages, science every week.

How do they achieve it? Engaged parent body, expectation to read and do written homework everyday, regular testing, zero tolerance for disruption, respect for school staff. They also don't need to follow the national curriculum so can adjust where they deem appropriate.

In comparison to a PP, our holidays are holidays - no homework is ever set during holidays as they work very very had all term

As others have said, I believe the main reason for success is the parents - they have an entire parent body who are fully committed towards their child's education and willing to support in any way necessary. The local state had a similar demographic and excellent results for KS2 standards. Can't compare to the private because they don't sit KS2