Why are the terms shorter at private schools?

[wildscaryface]

They seem shorter by three weeks a term at least. Any reason for this?

Dd and dss' schools are usually a week less than the lcoal state schools. Since their day runs from 8.30 to 4pm I reckon that makes up the difference.

the more you pay the longer the holdidays

I was going to agree. Each day is often longer.

It is probably a hang on form the boarding school days when days where longer so that terms where shorter and boarders could travel home abroad etc for longer holidays and the prvate and public schools hav never got out of the practice

4 weeks difference at mine.

Longer day, Saturday morning school and historic tradition I believe.

The teachers are all really really lazy .

No idea. I would really like to know though because it riles me at DSs Prep school.

They are barely there!

But it's not even a longer day the first year, they finish at 3 and have a half day once a week, and no Saturday school further up the school.

No idea it is crazy. A friend of mone has 2 and a half weeks for half term. They just had 3 weeks for longer than us summer They have 3 weeks for easter and they pay 5k a term. The day starts at 8.45 and finishes at 3.

We have 11 weeks for summer break..tis madness

Our day is over an hour longer than local state secondary. Plus lots on Saturdays on the sports front.

DD1 is in nursery and their day is 9-4 in reception they do 9-4 for the first term then do 8.30-4 for the rest of the year. The rest of the school do 8.30-4.30 daily.

i think its meant to be some kind of a benefit for parents so they can go off on off peak holidays but it drives me potty trying to cover the hols when working- always an extra 5 weeks or so every year..

So we can go on holiday and not have to mix with state school children.

That was a joke in case anyone thought otherwise.

Our school day is longer 2.5 hours longer per week, although I'm not sure that explains all the difference.

I've heard it said that it's like underwear - the more you pay the less you get!

Personally, I think that the 39 weeks in a state school are too long. We had 37 weeks when I was a kid (state schools in California). At least a week of DC English state schooling is taken up with end of term non-academics: watching DVDs while the TAs clear the classrooms and put DC work into carrier bags to take home, especially.

My private-ed DC says that he gets a lot more work done than he did at his state primary last year; he doesn't need to be in school 39 weeks/yr.

Because a lot of kids will be coming from a long way away, so need to be able to go home for a reasonable amount of time.

When I was at school (private) my school days were longer than those of state school pupils, but we had longer holidays. I'd prefer that as both a teacher and a pupil.

Oh, and we had Saturday schools as well, so I was in school 6 days per wk.

How many weeks a year are private schools open in England?

French schools all work for 35 weeks a year.

so the RICHEST people dont have to pay a fortune to go away in August .

DS does 49.75 hour days and 28 hour days - making a 55 hour week (OK, that's a bit misleading since it includes a lot of sport, but still...)

I am sure it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with what MrsC says - and the staff work those long hours and more, so they definitely earn their longer holidays.

My children are at (prep) school from 8am, My dd (yr 2) finishes at 4.30 and my son (yr 7) finishes at 6.

They are taught to work hard then play hard in their school holidays!!

They had 9 weeks off in the summer and tend to follow the dates of the local boarding schools that the prep feed into.

As I work in a state school I don't get to benefit from the cheaper holidays though [hsad]

Isn't it because they have a longer school day?

work hard play hard

Ragged 'My private-ed DC says that he gets a lot more work done than he did at his state primary last year'

I would hope the work would increase year on year whatever school he was in!