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?

Out kids have 14 weeks off too as they have two weeks for May but I believe this is instead of having inset days scattered throughout the year. The plus side is it means there's an extra week for holidays when not everyone else is off so you can get cheaper holidays but I agree with you overall that additional holidays is not ideal.

I don’t think we need more school holidays. Yes the kid get a bit tired but that’s life. We all coped as kids. Unfortunately there’s not the childcare available. Round our way there’s a few clubs but they’re very sport focused and silly times of the day. I find my kids actually get more tired being sent here there and everywhere for childcare - going to clubs they hate.

I know people say school isn’t childcare - but school hours and AL is what you play for. What’s the alternative?

and why do teachers get more time off than anyone else? I know they’re tired and do a busy job - but so do lots of us!!

I think shaving time off of lunch is not going to be the same - also the kids need that time to be social and eat their lunch.

I’m not sure this is in the kids best interests. I’m also not sure what the answer is to teacher sickness - maybe they can be asked to have the flu jab (paid for).

I also think moreso in primary - less Christmas stuff! The amount of things is ridiculous- loads for parents to remember and must be tiring for teachers. Maybe reduce that a bit for everyone’s sake.

What do you mean by 'it's for absence rates'? As for 'it's for teachers' benefit'... I'd have thought parents might be in favour of measures which allow teachers to teach kids better, and to recruit and retain more teachers. I presume you're aware of the acute crisis in teacher numbers? Your child may well end up without a qualified teacher for multiple subjects at secondary.

Essentially, you are perfectly entitled to think teachers are lazy fuckers if you like, but the numbers speak for themselves.

and why do teachers get more time off than anyone else? I know they’re tired and do a busy job - but so do lots of us!!

Because kids need time off. Also, do you want your kids to actually have teachers? They are already quitting in their thousands. And do you think the government would be willing to pay teachers for weeks more teaching each year? Or is it that you're expecting teachers to even more unpaid hours than they already do? I'm intrigued.

Assuming you are a teacher?

I don’t think teachers are lazy fuckers at all. I love my kids teachers and we’re a family of many teachers andI have lots of respect for them. However, I don’t think any adult ‘needs’ 14 weeks of holiday a year. Lots of people work incredibly hard, over very long hours with high expectation. The vast majority of these people get by with 5 weeks holiday to break it up, so I don’t think 13 weeks was unreasonably short for teachers. To think they don’t necessary ‘need’ an extra week on top of this doesn’t mean I think they’re lazy fuckers.

Sickness rates are probably higher for most people in the autumn term, everyone’s I’ll right now. It’s peak cold and flu season, we don’t just shut the offices and give everyone an extra weeks holiday.

Yeah academies are allowed to do this and the government is doing nothing to stop it 😱

I’m in my thirties and we had a two week october halfterm so it isn’t a new thing, it made the autumn term much more pleasant.

Inset days are working days for teachers and were taken from the holiday entitlement of teachers in the first place. Pupil days in school were unaffected.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much holiday you think teachers need. If the government doesn't find ways of making teaching a more attractive career, classes across the country will continue to be babysat by unqualified cover supervisors instead of being taught by qualified teachers. Pretty much all teachers do hours and hours of unpaid overtime every week. And do loads of work in the holidays too.

They couldn't do that because it would mess up the exam period for GCSE and a level.

Huh - think you must be an angry teacher.

I’m not asking for more teaching. Just to leave as it is and not add another week off.

I agree kids need time off. As it is is fine

yes I’d like my kids to have teachers and I respect teachers - but adding another week off adds more stress for other working families.

I’m not asking teachers to work unpaid - that’s on the government and the systems. But equally there’s a lot of other professions that work many many unpaid hours and only have 5 weeks off.

Not sure what the solution is. We need better childcare to support working families who don’t have endless annual leave. But the government won’t pay. Working families need to keep working to pay for the clubs - so dropping hours won’t work.

So I’m as intrigued as you as to what the solution is but I really hope we don’t have more school holidays down my way. I feel like they go back, start to get int a routine and they’re off again.

edited for typo.

I think 2 weeks October and less in summer is a good idea. But this isn’t what OPs school is doing.

the scrapping of insets and using those instead could also work. Teachers could then do some training in the first week?

I actually agree with you. Taking ten minutes off lunch is madness.

breaktimes are already so short. Ten minutes extra a day and give them longer lunches I would be more in support for. Fewer schools do lunchtime sports clubs as not enough time to eat and get to club. Really key parts of school missed off because lunchtime supervision is too expensive.

I agree with your arguments OP, it’s ridiculous approach.
It’s such a shame that academies can do what they want to do regardless of interests of children and parents.
I don’t have any advice unfortunately.

Did you realise that in service days were already taken from teachers' holidays and pupils have never lost days in school for them?

The big problem with that though is that you usually have one or two inset days before the start of term, part of that time is to get your classroom ready at the beginning of September. Without that you are expecting teachers to work unpaid to do it.

If every teacher in the country was expected to work an extra 5 days you’d need to pay them and change all their contracts.

They already had to work an extra 5 days when the inset days were introduced.

Teachers are already paid for insets and expected to be on site for them aren’t they? So moving those random days to 1 week in October is what they mean.

They already do! So no issue there.

Anyone who wants the scrapping of opportunities for staff training isn't that bothered about how their dc is actually taught.
Insets days are better spaced around the year

Yes someone else pointed that out so I agree it wouldn't be great for May.
To be honest I prefer the full 6 weeks of summer (as most schools take a week away from that in order to have the 2 week October break).
But if an extra week is being added the way the OP describes her school doing I would much prefer that extra week at Christmas personally.

I'm not especially angry, as teachers go. I work at a really nice school and I love teaching However, I'm only just clinging on, workload-wise. If the country wants any hope of employing enough teachers, they are going to have to do something to reduce workload. I often read on here that teachers should just quit if they don't like it. And then in the next breath people expect school to be their childcare.

I don't really know what the solution is either tbh. A four day week is being suggested. That will go down like a lead balloon with parents, I imagine.

One of my dcs school have done this, the holiday days haven’t changed they have just taken it off summer.

I much prefer that to less lunch, a lot of dc have barely any lunch break once they have queued for food/eaten etc.

I'm not especially angry, as teachers go. I work at a really nice school and I love teaching However, I'm only just clinging on, workload-wise. If the country wants any hope of employing enough teachers, they are going to have to do something to reduce workload. I often read on here that teachers should just quit if they don't like it. And then in the next breath people expect school to be their childcare.

People expect their dc to be in school because it’s a legal requirement, & the government expect the majority of the population to work. Not sure why that translates to school = childcare.