School switching to 2 week October half term - parents outrage is causing outrage 😂

[Jolie12345]

Just seen an article on social media (originally published by inews) about a school changing the week long half term, to two weeks. Apparently parents are outraged. What’s brought me here is the people commenting on the post saying parents need to stop treating school like free childcare. Only childless people would say that…right?

I really don't understand it. In my county they did a consultation and it said that parents wanted a 2 week half term in October and a shorter summer break. Then before they had even had the first year of this arrangement they then did a survey and the survey came back saying teachers and parents didn't like it, so next year they are going back to 1 week.🙃

But this has absolutely nothing to do with childcare surely? The schools will still be doing the required number of days over the school year, so it’s not creating the need for parents to pay for additional childcare. In fact I imagine it’s easier to find childcare for a full week if multiple schools are closed (clubs might extend their normal half term offering to cover two weeks) than random inset days dotted about, if that’s where the extra days have come from.

Do the outraged parents or the people outraged at the outrage realise this?

I’ve got two young children in primary school and I really don’t care either way. We basically have a 1.5 week half term at the moment as they had last Thursday and Friday off as an inset day, then half term this coming week, then another inset day a week tomorrow. Makes no odds to me where those inset days fall, we have to cover them either way.
I’d be a bit annoyed if they took a week from summary and added it on to the October half term, as the weather is worse. But honestly overall it seems like a bit of a non issue.

We changed to it and I quite like it. They used to finish early on a Friday now don’t anymore so we didn’t lose any other holidays for it.

Id rather it was in the May/June so at least we had nice weather!

That doesn’t work for secondary schools who are restricted by the external exams. Lots of areas match primary and secondary holidays so primary schools also need to have the same holiday dates. It is the only holiday with the same dates across all of England.

Surely it’s just a week off the summer added to autumn? I’m not sure about the outrage? We had a consultation in my area and chose to stick with one week at October half term

My child’s secondary school has had 2 weeks in October for years. They have slightly longer days so still have the 6 week summer break.

They polled parents, staff and children a few years ago about going to one week. The results were overwhelmingly to stay with 2 weeks.

One benefit with secondary children is that they don’t need childcare and it also means cheaper holidays if all the family can have that week.

This term is endless. Anything that gives the kids a decent break, I'm up for.

I dont see how it changes amount of childcare required - less in summer, more now.its just shifting it around.

I think 2 weeks in October is great if you can afford to go away- get some sun and it makes long haul feasible. However, that is not the case for a lot of people. I don’t think it’s as simple as replacing a summer week with an autumn one. There is often better childcare provision at Easter and summer holidays. The weather has been rubbish and that makes it harder to organise things for children.

My school has changed to 2 week half term. I think it's really popular among parents. It depends on the area I think. We have lost a week over the summer.

The problem is that a lot of people look at things on a month by month basis.
For example, if you look at the cost of holiday childcare over a year then it makes no difference how it is distributed.

If you are just considering that your October childcare bill has now got higher (in the same way that people moan about August being so expensive) then I can see that you won't be happy.

Everyone's done that for years around here

It makes a lot of sense in areas where there are a lot of foreign nationals I think. Then they can visit family.

Surely that’s not what influenced the decision

When the schools I worked in consulted over this a lot of parents couldn’t get their head around the fact it wasn’t an “extra” week.

In one area parents were very pissed off when inset days were switched to all being in October. Generally they said it was easier to find ad hoc days childcare or days off than another full week, which is understandable.

it also depends how it’s presented. In one area it was very badly done and absolutely did sound like an extra weeks holiday.

It could well do if the alternative is lots of unauthorised absence. Good recruitment thing for teachers too.

Why not? Schools have to serve their local population and make decisions which are beneficial to the families

The area where my school is is 95% Muslim, many families from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia. They like to visit their relatives over October half term, sometimes for long periods. It affects attendance and what their children learn. If we can allow them to go away and not miss much school, then that helps everyone.

It makes absolute sense.

School holidays were traditionally timed around the local population - where I went to school the October holiday was (and still is) know as tattie howl in’ week.

tailoring a small, in the grand scheme of things, change to the holiday dates to the local population is an eminently sensible idea.

Where I live it has always been 2 weeks.

We go 2 weeks. I think it gives the kids a better break from school and find the summer is better being slightly shorter. The downside is definitely the weather bring worse.

I wish it wasn't October, but not going to complain about it tbh - except that holiday's aren't actually going to be cheaper as so many schools are doing this now. Summer half term would be perfect, but appreciate that doesn't work for secondary schools.

I'd take an extra week at Easter, or even an extra week at the start of September.

It's all very well people saying school isn't childcare, but these are likely the same people saying you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them, or you shouldn't be looking after kids while WFH. Children should be seen and not heard.
Parenting is obvs only designed for the rich. But kids don't belong in first class 😆

I use my annual leave during school holidays, but it doesn't stretch to 14 weeks!

My kids are grown but two weeks in October is a bit rubbish as the weather is usually awful.

We have a 2 week half term- I quite like it but one of the issues is that there are no holiday clubs running that week at all. Not sure if that's because we're in a London borough and the surrounding ones only have 1 week so there is reduced demand. It also means if you have primary and secondary kids at school in different boroughs they have different holidays.

If you don't have a flexible job I imagine it's a bit of a nightmare if there's no accessible childcare or HAF programme.

The only reason I don't support it is because they usually take the time off the summer. I'd rather children get to enjoy the nicer weather and get outside and play. I think our children deserve better and should actually have more time not in school, like most of Europe.

Our council has a two week May/June half-term for primary and one week for secondary. Every time they consult on it parents vote to keep it so I think its pretty popular despite the fact that some years parents have children in both primary and secondary. People obviously feel those couple of years are worth it for the weeks in lower primary when you can get a cheaper holiday with good weather.