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Original poster

Are summer holidays outdated?

91 replies

emkana · 03/09/2007 23:07

So Caitlin Moran says in the Times today. She says they would never be invented now and are a relic (sp?) of the time when children had to help bring in crops etc. Totally impractical nowadays with work etc.

But I would hate for my children not to have that experience of six weeks stretching ahead of them...

I think summer holidays should stay.

OP posts:
southeastastra · 04/09/2007 18:42

4 weeks is long enough for summer and less inset days

Blandmum · 04/09/2007 18:43

I'm ging to treat you to the first explanation of this type of the 2007-2008 year SEA

INSET already came out of the teachers holidays. Those 5 days were alawys holidays for the kids!

southeastastra · 04/09/2007 18:45
Blandmum · 04/09/2007 18:46

I hope it is a BIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGG book!

evenhope · 04/09/2007 18:58

They've just had some kids on BBC1 complaining that the holidays are too long!

Judy1234 · 04/09/2007 19:27

The school year was designed around work I thought.. that's why you have that long summer gap so children can help with the harvest and on farms. It was set up to accommodate work in some ways in that structure.///oops I just now read the first post and see Ms MOran is apparently saying the same.

Ours have had 8 weeks off and the 3 at university 3 months. I think that structure of the year is nice to retain rather than the country having different times of holiday and 5 term years etc.

drosophila · 04/09/2007 19:30

How I hated summer holiday because as Caitlin says it was the time for farmer's children to don the work clothes and work harder than they had all year. I grew up in a farming community and the really unlucky girls had to milk the cows in the morning before going to school. They were the ones smelling of cow shit.

If you had asked me back then I would say ABOLISH the summer holidays please. I think spreading the 13 weeks throughout the year might be better but having the biggest chunk in summer.

pointydog · 04/09/2007 19:34

From the children's point of view, I think more frequent, shorter holidays would be better.

From working parents' point ofview, I can't see that it makes any difference when the holidays are - they all have to be covered one way or another.

hotcrossbunny · 04/09/2007 19:40

Sorry if its already been said... but I don't know many teachers who would teach if the holidays were shorter.... Teachers need time to recuperate and then plan for the next year.

Mercy · 04/09/2007 19:44

So do non-teachers, hotcrossbunny.

pointydog · 04/09/2007 19:46

STill 13 or 14 weeks a year hols. Just divided up a bit better.

Blandmum · 04/09/2007 19:48

If they want me to work longer, that would have to pay me more. Can't see that happeneing.

Judy1234 · 04/09/2007 23:11

It may happen. You already get longer terms in the state sector as it is. I think it would be a shame and I thikn Blair is addressing the working parents issue with wrap around care which is a better option. If I wanted to I can leave my children at school at 7.30 where they have a lovely breakfast and play and collect them up to 6pm where they do their home work all supervised, have a healthy snack and play. They don't use that facility at their school now but it's there and is useful. I wouldn't want them in lessons all that time however.

BandofMothers · 05/09/2007 07:03

God, I know that we all used to look forward to the summer. It was the reward at the end of a loooooong school year. If it wasn't there at the end to look forward to , wouldn't it seem to the kids that it was just a never ending cycle of school????

Though I guess a month still sounds quite a long time I must admit I agree with whoever said it is much easier to entertain kids during the summer.

Plus I think it would create chaos in work places if there were only a month during the summer for people to book their summer hols. What with it being illegal now to take your kids out of school for a holiday can you imagine the bickering as people vied for those 4 weeks off all at once.

Blandmum · 05/09/2007 07:34

If the governmet wants to extend childcare crovision by involving schools in a non teaching capacity they would probably have to emply non teaching staff to do the child care bits.

I wouldn't be in the slightest bit interested in running play schemes, not my thing.

It would cost a bit, there isn't the spare capacity to fund it from the current educational budget, which is already underfunded.

I'm not sure that anyone would have the political will to raise the taxes to fund it.

KTeePee · 05/09/2007 08:23

Why are people so keen on two weeks off in February? I hate that they have a week off as it is - they have just been back in school for 4 weeks usually; the weather is crap; unless you have the money to go skiing, no point in going away anywhere...

I agree with the other posters who went to school in Ireland and enjoyed a longer summer holiday - apart from this year the weather is usually better in July when the kids are still stuck in school.

Blandmum · 05/09/2007 08:32

A break then would be great for us as we don't live near to any of our families, and it would be a good time to visit.

I just find that the kids come back to school after that week still tired.

It isn't just about providing 'holiday away' time for the kids, just giving them a break from the pressure of school work. Half terms IME, are just not quite long enough to give them the rest that they need.

KTeePee · 05/09/2007 10:24

I enjoy the other half-terms, it's just the February one I find hard work. We have tried visiting family then but the weather is even worse in Ireland in Feb and grandparents houses are too small to make staying indoors anything other than stressful...

elliott · 05/09/2007 10:28

I used to be a fan of the long summer holidays, but now I think I'm convinced by the argument that children forget a lot over such a long break. Ds1 has done no reading at all for six weeks and I'm sure he will have gone backwards (ok, maybe my fault for not keeping it up...)

I would prefer 4 weeks in the summer with the other 2 weeks tacked on to October and May. NOT february, please - I agree that is one of the hardest times to find something to do. Second only to the week after new year - woudl far rather break up before christmas than have the time afterwards, as we always seem to do...

Anna8888 · 05/09/2007 10:58

If you shorten the school holidays, it prevents those parents who have the money and time to afford it to do all kinds of things with and for their children that are much more interesting and stimulating than school.

My elder stepson spent a week in England and my younger stepson a week at a climbing camp in the Alps. We then all went on a family holiday to Greece for nearly three weeks, the boys then went with their mother to the South of France for a week and to the US for a fortnight. So they've had a wonderful summer which was much more enriching than being in a classroom.

Anna8888 · 05/09/2007 11:00

MB - here in France "half-terms" are ten days (October) or two weeks (February) and to be honest the February one is a bit of a nightmare as the weather is so bad that we end up putting the boys on a course (eg British Council English) for one of the weeks. I'm not sure they are that rested...

crayon · 05/09/2007 11:12

No way should they go. The level of relaxation a child reaches after 6 weeks off is so much deeper than with the usual poxy half-terms and holidays.

karlou · 05/09/2007 12:00

From my point of view I like the 6 week break. It's lovely having no routine and as I'm 32 weeks pg I've certainly not missed the rush in the mornings! Our local library runs a yearly "mission" where children have to read 6 books over the holidays and at the end will receive a certificate and medal sent to their school in the next few weeks. This seems to help with the risk of their reading regressing. My dds are very strong readers anyway but dd2 who is going in to Year 1 has definitely improved still further over the holidays and has now taken to reading Enid Blyton with very little help so I don't think the long holidays are necessarily a problem educationally.
That said I'm a SAHM so I don't have the problem of finding childcare, I can understand how much harder it is for working parents so I can see Caitlin Moran's point. Selfishly I'd like to keep the 6 weeks but I can see that they do present huge problems for vast numbers of parents too.

Eliza2 · 05/09/2007 12:23

Why on earth would anyone want two weeks off in February--the most grotty month of the year? If you can't afford to go skiing or to the Caribbean, what would you do with them?

Anna8888 · 05/09/2007 12:40

Eliza2 - here in France the rationale of the two week holiday in February is the promotion of the ski industry - and the holidays are staggered across the three academic regions that France is divided into so that more people can go ski-ing.

But of course very few people can afford (or have time) to go ski-ing for two weeks with their children, so either the children go on there own, to ski-camps, or they stay at home for at least one week.