5 school terms per year?

[LittenTree]

bbc news

Bring it on, I say; but then, I'm just a parent dealing with at least 2 weeks of boredom and, increasingly, rain by the latter half of August; the tears and meltdowns associated with 9 odd week half terms and young DC, the catch-up needed most Septembers to bring them back up to where they left off 6 weeks ago....

Athinginyourlife.

I couldn't agree more.

Another in agreement.

If more schools become academies and can choose their own terms and holiday times would mean parental choice would prevail anyway - just another factor to consider when choosing a school. if long summer hols are popular with parents then that school will attract more and vice versa for those that have different arrangements. Bring it on!

They have more than 5 times a year anyway if you include the half terms. I assume they will go.

Maybe it was the uni students who'd finished their courses weeks before the end of school term that started the riots between 6-10th August then! ;)

My dcs are end of August b'days. Does this mean they would now be in the year below? and hopeful emoticon.

I am not entirely against it - I can see the plus points. But going by Nottingham's timetable, dd would have started school when she was only 3 !! Surely that would need to be addressed?

So are Nottingham going to actually do this? Or is it still at proposal stage.

I'll be interested to see what happens (like if there's a mass dis-enrolment to HE... ) and whether after a year of 2, people wonder why they liked the old system at all!

Bring it on. I would really appreciate not having to fork out for holiday clubs in one great lump in the summer. That's the first plus.
The second plus would be that the re-adjustment that has to take place every autumn for kids to settle back would be gone. It would be easier for the teachers & the children not to have to spend the first half of the autumn term getting back into the swing of it all again.
Third plus, has to be the benefit to the kids at the bottom of the pecking order. In my view, anything that improves their lot has to be a benefit to society as a whole.
I think the long summer holiday is a priviledge for middle class kids who have a parent who doesn't work. For working parents it is a long expensive nightmare.

It seems far more sensible than to base the term times on the Moon (Easter moving etc)

I like things the way they are, we look forward to having the dd's home for 6 weeks, we enjoy spending time with them outside (when we can) and just relaxing for 6 weeks. I wouldn't be happy if things changed .

Teachers working in the county with children in the city which means their children would have different holidays to their own?? They'd have to find childcare as they wouldn't be off at the same time?? Welcome to the world most parent face during the school holidays! Although, possibly, nice to have some time off when your children are in school...

I'd be happy to move to 5 terms.
I worked in a school that had only 5 weeks in the summer and 2 in october and loved it. I broke up that really long autumn term and I didn't tend to notice that the summer was shorter. Great for cheaper holidays in October as well, although if all schools go this way that would no longer be an advantage.
I think the unions have got it wrong opposing the move on the basis that teachers need the 6 week break. Makes us sound like ungrateful whingers.

I personally love the long summer holiday. Working in an Independent school I get even longer, but when in state school I found that the long summer break was the only time I really got to relax. It took me a week to close the years books ( as it were). A week to wind down and obvioulsy before the start of the next term I had to start preparing for the new academic year. So aill I really got was about 3 weeks anyway. It seems to me shorter holidays will just be all time spent on teacher catch up.

Not for me I am afraid. I have a Canadian DW . We like to spend time in Canada. I like to spend as much time as immigration will allow me there! The long summer for me, as with many of the children I teach (who reside overseas) means I can get away to "home" and enjoy family time. Most of our English kids seem to like the long break too and look forward to it.

As I said before, this is for parents who want wrap around care, it does not have the kids at heart.

I really don't like the idea of more of the holiday being shunted into the cold wet parts of the year. MORE holiday like the Feb half term? No thanks!

It's all very well to have more balanced terms in Australia, they have better weather year round. It's all very well to have longer hols in the colder parts of the year if you can afford to go to Lanzarote, or ski-ing at those times.

I'd be up for a longer break for the May-June half term,, but that will never happen because of the exam schedule.

I loved the 6 week holidays as a child and so does my ds, we often leave the first week free for him to calm down relax, then we go away abroad for two weeks then another week at home, then a week camping or something and then the last week to stock up on uniform etc. I find it goes really quickly and it's a great time for kids to find out what they are really interested in/what they like to play with etc. It also gives you enough time to prepare them for the following year, complete the checklist of things your child needs to know for the next year.

Our school has four 10 week terms with two weeks holiday between and six for the summer break. It works well