To think we don’t need more school holidays?

[Halftermforever]

The schools locally all seem to be either consulting too, or already implementing a 2 week October half term. This has really riled me because:

1. The extra childcare will cost £500
2. Schools already have 13 weeks holiday, whilst parents have 5 weeks. Is it really necessary?
3. I get fined for taking my child out on holiday, but now suddenly the extra week won’t have an impact because they’ve reduced lunch by 10 minutes!

The talk about reducing staff and student absence is baffling. Yes it’s peak time for illness and stress, but the rest of the country seems to get on with it without having to run on 6 weeks off, 6 weeks in, 2 weeks off, 5 weeks in, 2 weeks off!

From July - December the schools are off almost as much as they are in!

It’s insane and not possible for working families to keep up with.

AIBU?

They can’t just decide to do less school. Children are entitled to 190 days in school. Do they mean they are taking a week from the summer and adding it to October?

They did that at my school and took it off the other holidays (summer I think) - it has worked well. Kids and teachers less knackered going into winter.

Nope, they are academies, meaning they are not obliged to follow the 190 day rule.

Schools that have the 2 weeks in October have one less week in summer.
It's not extra holiday - just changing the time of year.
Personally I think 2 weeks in October is crap and would either prefer the 2 weeks to be in may or just keep as it is with the full 6 weeks of summer.

It won't be extra. It'll be moved from
somewhere else. Unless it's an Indy .... they can do as they please.

I get fined for taking my child out on holiday, but now suddenly the extra week won’t have an impact because they’ve reduced lunch by 10 minutes!

This is a different thing though. If you take your child out of school for a week then they miss the work their class has done for a week. If the school is closed for a week they aren’t missing anything.

I think the two weeks in October works particularly well in Scotland as we go back mid August so that stretch to Christmas is very long.

Be a nice opportunity to get a bit of late autumn med sun before the gloom descends.

I love the hols, more the better I say!

I think you’ll find they are obliged to offer the set amount of days.
Also, comparing children to working adults is unfair and silly. Children get tired and need their learning to be balanced into 6-8 week chunks with a break.

That's true for Scotland but the thing with October is the weather (not just Scotland) is usually awful so it's often a boring week of hanging around at home not doing much.
At least in May the weather is nice 🌞

Most schools that do this either take 5 days off the summer holidays or use it to cover the 5 professional development days that all schools have to provide.
It has no effect on the number of taught days. Children still do 190 days and staff 195.
You might not notice if they are covering the 5 PD days because they are usually added to the beginning or end of existing holidays in 1 or 2 day stints.

Neil Miller, deputy CEO of London South East Academies Trust said: "All the schools in our Trust have a two week October half term - which we find to be extremely beneficial for staff and pupils.
"We have taken this approach following many years of research. This has shown that an extended break in October improves staff wellbeing and reduces absence rates in the second half of the long autumn term, which greatly benefits pupils.
"Crucially, there is no loss of learning time. We add 10 minutes of extra learning into the school day, which adds up to a full week over the year."

As posted above, most of these schools are not taking the week from elsewhere. They’re reducing lunch by 10 minutes.

This is true but everyone still needs a break- bad weather or not! And actually the weather in Scotland was amazing for the first holiday week of October this year!

I don't know why people are ignoring this op, you were very clear!

You’ve got your maths wrong.

1. this has been a 15 week term. 8 weeks, 1 week off, 7 weeks.
2. the two week half term would mean extra days in school elsewhere, not more holiday

A week is fine. Just not 2 weeks.
I personally would prefer 2 weeks to be in May rather than October if they were going to do a 2 week half term.
Or actually I'd prefer a longer Christmas holiday.

We have two weeks in October and it's great. The autumn term is long and knackering.
In secondary school an extra week in may or Easter wouldn't work because of revision and exams.

I think you’ll find they are not.

Also everything I’ve seen has said it’s mainly for teachers benefit/absence rates, rather than pupils anyway.

Oh yes I forgot about the exams.
Ok.... extra week at Christmas then 🎄
The way the dates fall this year most schools seem to be breaking up on the 19th which is good but I remember some years of school not finishing until the 23rd December. It means there's not chance to do much Christmasy stuff before Christmas Day (when it's all actually happening).
Other years I remember school going back on January 2nd. Too soon.

I would have loved this when mine were little!

School isn’t intended to be childcare.

Are they unset/training days all being used in one week, or extra days of holiday?

If inset days it can have advantages and disadvantages to being in one week.

Parents can book a holiday, in a week that will normally be term time, and so be a bit cheaper.

If all schools in the area are doing the same, it has bern thought about and discussed in detail before implementing.

Some parents find it easier to cover childcare for a week than separate day, especially if they have children in different schools, that are off on different days.

There may be different training that can be provided in a week, than odd days.

Unless different for an academy, they need to provide a specific number of days of schooling over the year, so the number of days the children are in school will be the same, just the timing is different. I would think academies would have a similar requirement as part of their contract.

Ours does 5 weeks summer and 2 in october

By taking ten mins from lunch every day the school can maintain the same number of teaching hours a week while adding an extra weeks holiday. So yes, it is in addition to the 13 weeks.

Just read some of the other posts. If they are taking the time from lunches, I would hope they have a long enough lunch to accommodate it.

If you are saying the extra teaching time amounts to a week, it sounds as if the children are being taught for an equivalent number of learning hours even if the number of days is different.

I can understand how extra days in that way would be inconvenient for parents, depending on cgildrens ages and if they need adult supervision.

Don't underestimate the demand and pressure on teachers, especially during the Sept to Christmas term. It is longer than all the others. At the start of the term many will be getting to know knew pupils and their needs. In some coasses pupils will be getting to know each other and dynamics of each class could be different. Some pupils will also be seeing how far they can push a teacher they haven't had before. It may be implemented to be a benefit for the teachers, but sometimes it can take more than a week for them to get the refresh they need for another half term, especially if they do any school work doing the week off. If the extra time means they are better resourced mentally before they go back, they will be a better teacher as a result, which is better for the children.