Summer holidays should be longer

[noblegiraffe]

Our kids have the shortest summer holidays in Europe, Italy have 13 weeks, even Ireland has 9.

They're under pressure so much at school they need more time to just be kids. Classrooms are so hot in the last few weeks of term that it's impossible to learn effectively anyway.

I think we should add at least an extra two weeks to the summer holidays, so break up near the start of July. This would bring us more into line with private schools too.

And with longer holidays it might help recruit and retain teachers, and reduce competition for summer annual leave slots for working parents. It could even reduce the cost of holidays as 'peak season' would be longer.

No chance, six weeks is to long. If anything it should start at the beginning of July (or even the last week of June) and go back mid August when its cooled down.
My kids are bored by the third week in!

I would much more prefer a week added to Christmas & a week added to October half term and cut the summer hoildays into 4 weeks though.

That would be lovely if working people ( who aren’t teachers!) got more than 34 days annual leave!

Does anyone know how much annual leave people get in other countries? How do the Irish cover it, for example?

Not a longer summer holiday but more equal terms with 2 weeks at each half term.

But Italy don't have half terms or bank holiday Mondays, and only a few days for Easter and Christmas. The UK way is much better.

Op the problem is that it is a massive driver of social inequality.

If we had amazing state funded sport and arts clubs for kids going through to 16 years then yes it would be amazing

But I live in a disadvantaged area and can tell you many children from poorer families will barely do anything all summer. We know with growth in traffic and changing culture children dont play outside in large numbers now. Kids will game or watch tv for hours.

Working parents on low incomes will struggle hugely over summer.

Children will not be enriched or happy or having wonderful holidays and making memories.

Even if they do have some nice days they will spend too much time indoors etx

We need proper holiday clubs and projects in every neighbourhood byt austerity has decimated youth snd play provision

Many local authorities lost 80 per cent of youth and play provision over 10 years of austerity.

School is not the ideal way children should be spending their time...!!! But we need realistic alternatives not a daydream of a golden era of running about freely which doesn't happen

Yeah i grew up in ireland, and we got three months summer holidays every year.

I was always shocked at how little holidays the school children in the UK get.

People asked how do parents cope with annual leave.

I grew up with a single mother.. she worked.

During the school holidays in secondary school, we were just old enough to be left by ourselves.

I was 14 and my brother was 16 for example. We were old enough to look after ourselves until she came back from work.

I think teachers get more than enough holidays and I don’t think school is too much pressure for kids (I have a 16 and 17 year old).

Agree with PP that an extra week at Christmas which is a tiring holiday, would recharge their batteries after a long autumn term. Six weeks on the summer is a nightmare for a lot of parents.
I wonder if in other European countries there is more childcare organised by the schools? My DD was too shy to go to holiday clubs where she didn’t know anyone, but would happily have done “activities” at school.

Why would there be any benefit to aligning the state schools to a private school calendar?

We have 8 week summer holidays and no, it does not reduce the cost of childcare. Nor does it make it easier to take annual leave during the summer.

When people are talking about childcare during the summer it’s not about 14 and 16 year olds.

I hate the Xmas holidays as it is. Dark and cold and kids spend too much time indoors !!

The whole system needs radical change. School is too all consuming and sedentary.

We could have a 4 day school week for example and adults also work a 4 day week. We could have kids doing spirt and arts every afternoon etc. We have such poor imagination about our broken education system

Many children hate school that is the reality. So yes they are desperate for a long break from it.

It’s ready incredibly difficult for families where both parents work.

With clubs etc it makes it just as tiring as school, so they wouldn’t even be getting additional ‘rest’ in a lot of cases.

@Mitara yes at that age but you can't work and ignore primary age children all day

And it's not ideal for teens either given the absolutely addictive nature of gaming and phones now

What did she do when you were 4 and 6?

The Irish school system is only one week shorter over the year. In England the holidays are just more spread through the year.

I used to be a school governor. The head used to say that the 6-week summer holiday was the only incentive to be a teacher and for that reason was very against shortening it. So yes I imagine an even longer holiday may help with teacher recruitment and retention which has been at crisis point in STEM subjects for many years - when I was a governor (stopped in 2022) the head was complaining that recruitment has never been so difficult,

The downside to a longer holiday is obviously, the longer they're off, children forget more and more and there are potential safeguarding issues.

I note that the school I used to be governing now has a new head and the summer holiday is only 5 weeks.

Yes, OP, I get that it would be lovely for many children. My DCs always loved the long holiday and to be honest so did I. I was working at home but work was always very quiet over the summer so I could spend time with them.

Private school parents get cheap summer deals while state school kids are still slogging away. I'm sure they wouldn't want to lose that.

What happened during primary?

I agree that this would be much better for DC and many parents too. Many are in breakfast and after school club anyway, places that do not have that are a nightmare for parents as they need to finish work mid afternoon. Four working days at school would work so much better.

None of this can be considered outside a realistic view of how much time kids spend gaming or scrolling shit on their phones in modern culture

I have spoken to teachers who despair for some kids over the holidays
It would need a real attention on good community childcare which was child focused not about keeping them busy so adults can work ..but on giving them real freedom to play

Are you mad?

With great difficulty and a lot of use of summer camps.
For my Irish friends, parents take separate time off or more flexible hours to allow drop offs at the endless camps.
Many kids enjoy these as all their friends are there too, but it's expensive and I wouldn't say much of a rest. And of course, some kids hate them.

I think I'd like it better if schools broke up earlier and went back earlier. I've enjoyed GCSE year as DS has been off since mid June, so heatwave more bearable. I'd be happy if he went back mid August though (or even now....!)

Are You saying that most people get 34 days annual leave? I don’t know anyone who gets that much.

So what do other countries do? Our kids have got the worst mental health in the OECD so perhaps we should be improving children's services and activities rather than suggesting that they need to be kept in school to keep them off their phones.