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.

Oh that's my dream.....so much we could change 😕

If the kids are going to have to spend another 2 weeks in clubs and Summer camps, they may as well be in school.

Op is a teacher

What country is this?

I’m in NI and dc broke up Thursday 26th June and goes back 29th August. We love it and it flies in. I work TTO though. They also get one week in Oct, 2 at Xmas, one in feb and 2 at Easter. We don’t get anything in May, though sometimes a teacher training day after a BH.
my dc is older now but when younger and I wasn’t working TTO I took 2 weeks unpaid parental leave in summer, then did childcare swaps with friends or family flew over to help.
In NI lots of my friends work part time and they have grandparents to help.

In primary maybe but in secondary no. In secondary they should be getting used to an adult rhythm of life. School should be 8 hours Monday-Fri and perhaps six weeks off a year in total with the extra time being used to get them ready for adult life. At least they don’t have to go to school on Saturdays like in some countries..

I did love the long summer holidays in ireland.

Why do the UK have so much shorter summer holidays than everywhere else.

Was a reason ever given for it?

Which was really obvious from the start.

Only a teacher would start a thread which is basically - wouldn't it be better for children everywhere if I got longer holidays?

But yet OP doesn't respond to suggestions about having a longer working day to enable that extra holiday 🙄

No we don't have fritids. There's the supervised playgrounds in some cities which are really good because they're free, they're outside and active, and they provide lunch (there's also some parks that provide lunch to any children that turn up with a plate) but in towns and rural areas there's nothing for children of 1st grade age and older (except for those with significant SEN, they're eligible for holiday care throughout childhood). The expectation is that they look after themselves and generally that works alright.

A longer working day would need to be paid for.

Summer holiday are ~3 months in the US where workers typically get 3 - 5 weeks’ annual leave.

How much time kids get off in summer should have nothing to do with the annual leave allowance of the parents.

Why? If you are adding in an extra holiday? You are just spreading the difference out over the year

Literally all the other options on this thread (apart from sticking them in front of the Xbox) incur a financial cost somewhere.

We need term time only contracts and holiday childcare clubs to cover for more school holidays.

School year would reduce to 180 instead of 190 days. Working days are 253 to 276. We never had any support from grandparents or family members. Arranging childcare around us both working full time was almost impossible.

What would be dropped from the curriculum if there were less school days?
Unless, the school days were longer?

I’d be up for this. At my school we have our Inset as twilight sessions so what would be our Inset days are just added to holidays for us. I also work results days so have time back in lieu for that.

The issue with making the school day longer would be for the pupils. I’m not sure 8 hours of lessons will have effective learning going on.

What you have to remember is teachers & other school staff don't get paid for school holidays. So a longer summer holiday means reduced salaries

Independent schools often run for that long so have longer holidays. My DD finishes school at 5pm

Lessons are going on until 5 or are clubs/prep sessions part of the school day?

Lessons until 4pm then clubs. Prep has to be done at home after school. State secondary here finishes at 2.30.

If Germany and Denmark also have six weeks, and don't have the same issues with child mental health and school engagement, that would suggest it isn't the length of time that UK students spend in school, that is the problem.

Not everyone has 6 weeks off, my child school has 4 weeks and then 2 weeks in October. I wish people would realise that not all schools have the same term dates/holidays.

I haven't read the entire thread, OP, so apologies if this has been said elsewhere, but long summer holidays significantly disadvantage poorer children on a number of fronts: they are more likely to fall behind in schoolwork, forgetting what they've learned, and to struggle to catch up; they are more likely to have no SAHP and be essentially stuck at home with elder siblings, or alone; they are less likely to live in areas where there are summer clubs or activities; they are far less likely to go on holiday during the break; and the housing they're stuck in is more likely to be of poor quality in poor neighbourhoods.

Summer holidays are not glorious fun for everyone. For some children, school is their only safe place. The case of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and similar ones during lockdown underline that - home is not always a relief from school but the place that school offers an escape from.

For those with experience of school holidays in other countries - what is the general opinion or attitude of primary age children being home alone or having an older (but not that much older) child in charge?
I always think of The Babysitter's Club books written in the 80s and set in Connecticut USA.
A group of 13 year old girls set up a babysitter service (and later add two 11 year olds) often looking after whole groups of younger children at a time.
Re-reading them as an adult it actually reads more like a "you're the eldest so you're in charge" type situation while the parents are all out working - which is pretty much how it was in UK a couple of generations back.
Would that be acceptable in some countries - even now in 2025?
Leave the children at home with a 13 year old sibling/neighbour in charge.
Would people be horrified or not bat an eyelid?