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 actually recently increased our lunch breaks from 50 minutes to an hour and added 10 minutes onto the day. This was to allow for more lunch time activities/clubs and for enough time to get everyone through the lunch hall.

Part of the reason for shorter lunch breaks than would be ideal is to finish before it gets dark in winter. If we had BST all year round, then that would not be an issue.

I don't think ten minutes extra swapped for one week more holidays gives more or even the same education for children.

Schools prefer a rushed lunch break where kids have to hurry to eat and use the toilet, so there's no time for them to socialise or get into trouble.

The function of school has always been to keep children occupied while parents are working.

My son is going on holiday with school while school is still open. So he will be missing class work on those days. So schools are at it too then.

OP I hear you and yes its frustrating. Also some of these people live in ideal land where you can take time off whenever you please. And assume you have grandparents who can/will help. For family's with two working parents who are still struggling to make ends meet life isn't always ideal.

The more holidays the better. School
keeps them for too long already.

I think this is a separate issue though. This is the economy/cost of living making it mandatory for two parents to work at the expense of the family wellbeing and that of the children.

There will probably be the equivalent parent at your school delighted with the extra week holiday. It’s impossible to please everyone. Some parents want more holidays, some want less, some want more homework, some want less, some teachers would love shorter days instead of more days off, other teachers would love longer days in order to have to more days off.

It’s impossible to make everyone happy. Schools have so many variables they need to consider when they make trade-offs. They have to please parents, children, staff, governors, the government, their accounts department and the wider community, all who have competing needs and desires that are in conflict. AND they have to have modern competitive working conditions that compete with benefits other graduate jobs can offer (higher salary, no-commute, WFH, 4-day weeks, condensed hours, company car, travel, shares etc) in order to appeal to both prospective graduates and existing teachers to avoid industry attrition which is happening at an alarming rate.

Like you said, this is at the consultation stage meaning they are looking for feedback and opinions at this stage. That’s the whole point of doing a consultation. If there is unanimous pushback, they won’t proceed with it. If it is a mixed bag or positive, they may go ahead. Industries evolve. It’s part of life.

No it hasn’t stop justifying the terrible state of affairs that most parents are finding themselves in.

The thing is though there is a massive teacher recruitment and retention crisis. A school near me is using maths teachers on Zoom to teach pupils who are hundreds of miles away. Anything that can be done to support teacher recruitment and retention is a good thing. For years people have been warning about the teaching crisis and it’s getting worse. In addition to this it says they have done research that shows it’s better for pupils.
I wish though more than anything that people would stop bringing fines into these discussions. Class teachers have no say on these at all and schools do not get the money. It’s a separate issue.

The school holidays in the UK are among the shortest in Europe. The autumn term is much too long.

They should do this and add another 30 minutes onto each school day so the summer holiday can be 2-3 weeks long as well.

I agree with the op.
I'm a teacher. Ten minutes extra teaching time in an afternoon will in no way add up to the learning missed in an entire week of school, despite the hours technically being the same.

School isn't for childcare but the school should still be considerate about the impact of this.

For richer households they'd happily take an October holiday, but for those struggling finding the extra £300-400 for childcare per child isn't easy and shouldn't be handwaved away.

I would also think missing 10mins at lunch for play would have a more immediate impact, especially for neuroodivergent children and kids who need more downtime.

I'd personally love to swap the last week in August for a week in October.

Ah makes sense. Thanks for explaining that. I hadn’t realised.
I still think the autumn term is too long currently so like the idea of a two week October halfterm.

love having 2 weeks in october, and also don’t thin the standard British summer holiday of 6 weeks is long enough. Kids need time away from a school.

The issue is not great provision of varied, interesting and affordable holiday clubs in this country. In my home country there are more than/ better options (coding, art, music, forest school, specific sports, etc.) and many offer a sliding scale for fees based on income.

There are better ways of supporting working families than keeping tired kids in the classroom,

Are kids not tired in part because they need to cram a full curriculum into the school timetable? If we reduced expectations or added more time in school, they could spend more time learning at a more reasonable pace and enjoy themselves too.
Surely one less week of school means that teaching needs to be made up somewhere, because no one is naive enough to think they’ll just fit it into 10 minute bursts. So lessons will be more intense and rushed with more to cover.
Personally, My kids don’t seem any less refreshed after a 1 week holiday than they are after 6. If anything they struggle more going back after longer holidays. But that’s just my experience.

Our school has 2 week October half term - they put all the inset days together rather than tagging them on to other school holidays or random odd days. Handy if you want to fly longhaul at that time of year as can be a bit cheaper than summer!

Schools are not childcare.

This sounds like an employment issue. Schools are for education not childcare.

Guessing you don’t work?

Clearly for most people, they are.
Their main purpose is to provide education, obviously, but they always have and always will be a form of childcare too. Hence why parents don’t have to sit in the classroom with them while they learn to supervise. To imply the two aren’t linked is stupid.

my children’s school have done this but the extra week of the half term mean less onset days spread out through the rest of the year - so it’s still the same amount of days in school - just formatted differently.

Getting rid of random insets would work well, or taking it off summer. I’d be all for that! I just don’t think it’s right to suddenly decide to close school for another week, with the time being made up by less lunch. Which I think children need anyway.

They can take them in the second week of October or November, then. After all, they aren't forced to take holiday over Hallowe'en.

I don't think it'll make much difference to unauthorised absence, though. Those people will just take it earlier and/or later as well.