Are school holidays too long, or do kids really need that much time off?

[warrenettie]

Every summer I tell myself I’ll be more organised — plan activities, sort childcare, make it all run smoothly. And yet by week four I’m counting down the days until school starts again.
I get that kids need a break, but six or seven weeks feels like such a long stretch, especially for working parents. By the end of it, everyone’s tired, routines are gone, and screen time has crept way up.
On the other hand, I know some families love the slower pace and the chance to actually relax and spend proper time together. Maybe it’s just the way our work schedules clash with the school calendar that makes it feel harder.
What do you think — are school holidays too long, or is it adults who need to adjust our expectations?

It’s challenging for teachers with children at different schools. It’s the only school in the area with those hours.

I love it but I work part time so appreciate it’s difficult when you have to work full time.
My dc love it too. We’d love US length holidays.
We had days out and a routine when we stayed at home that involved lots of things before screen time was allowed. Thankfully, those are habits that dc still have now they’re older.
Camps are a good idea. Long holidays are an excellent time to develop own interests.

Most teachers actually oppose it because they understand/respect what kids need and are not driven by what adults need/want. The summer holidays could probably be slightly shorter but the current length of terms generally works pretty well. Attempting to educate kids in a classroom setting for endless weeks results in them disengaging with learning. Kids need a break. Teachers are there to educate children not just to look after your kids when you can’t. The change that’s needed is alternative childcare options during school holidays (camps for sport/art/tech etc which are accessible to all) and/or flexible working options for parents during the holidays so there is some family time (which is also vital for young people). Those are true family-friendly policies/initiatives as they suit parents and children.

Education reform should always be driven by child development and the needs of children. You can teacher bash all you want (which, to anyone in education, just shows how little you know about the job) but setting our education system up to suit adults/workplaces would make it unfit for purpose.

I think majority of pp on here are confusing schooling with childcare

Once kids are in secondary you can’t just get them take two weeks off in the middle of term, they don’t understand what they are learning when they go back because they won’t have learnt what they missed.

we see that all the time kids who get sick and go back without attempting to catch up on the work they missed. Already the attainment in state schools is plummeting. This would widen the gap between state and private even more.

I think they should move towards 2 week half terms and shorten the summer break, certainly in October 2 weeks is a godsend

I work in school as Admin and even I can see that the kids are different in the last 2 weeks of term - tired and spiralling.
The majority need that break
And for the teachers it's intense too. Everyone seems to have forgotten how relieved they were when covid was over and there was much muttering of couldn't be a teacher.

Way too long here in Ireland. 9 weeks for primary and 12 for secondary. For teens too young to work then that’s just too long. Boredom sets in.

This is what I think would work better. A 4 week summer hol I think is plenty, but 2 week half term breaks could work. Esp Oct or May, few more days at Xmas maybe.

6.5 weeks is just too long in one go, mine get out of routine and are so ready to go back by the 4/5th week!

Wish they were shorter!! 3/4 weeks in summer would be enough. Longer half term breaks. Many kids are bored with six weeks off, parents/ carers working, childcare is so expensive. It’s time we moved on from this.

DD was at an independent school, which had 2 weeks off at May half term and 5 weeks in the summer. It was better, as the Mediterranean is nice in May, but not as hot as July and August. Then the parents had less to cope with in the summer.

As for workplaces, they are not necessarily flexible. In DH’s firm, staff weren’t allowed time off between January and July, as it’s the busy season. Partners were only allowed 2 weeks off in the summer holidays; and only 1 at a time could be off, because the remaining partners couldn’t cope with covering more than 1 partner’s emergency work coming in.

I worked in a reinsurance brokers, where time wasn’t allowed off in the winter, because of the renewal season. They said, if you like skiing, don’t work here.

As a teacher I’d love to take time off in the school term for a holiday. It would be quieter and cheaper. There’s no staff or money to cover me so the children could just watch films in the hall for a week.

Personally slightly more holidays spread over the year would be better. You can see by week 6 of a 7-7.5 weeks term, my DS needs a break. He very much needs those holiday weeks when he gets them. An extra week at oct half term and may half term would be good.

But you aren't wrong that it is hard for working parents. Holiday cover is a miliary operation in our house. We usually plan out the whole year between Sept and Dec the year before. So I have 2026 all planned out already. Plans obviously move around and change but I know for the most part which parent is off with DS which weeks and when my parents are helping out. Which weeks are ear marked for holiday clubs etc and when your family holidays are planned for.
I plan down days and activity days in each holiday to stop the creep of screen time and boredom. Making sure there is variety. This summer I did a whole 6 week plan of what was happening each day a few weeks before we got to summer. It helped so much with 1) not having to think about it at short notice and 2) DS knew what was happening when so actually had more fun.

We have a childhood obesity crisis and most of the population suffering from vit D deficiency. Children are stressed, and mental health issues abound.

It is not healthy to be inside all the time. The long school holidays are essential.

It's awkward from a work point of view but I've been a full-time-working single mum since ds was two and I managed. Book your annual leave at the start of the year, pair up with other school mums to share care, book holiday clubs the day booking opens. Knowing I had no family support at all, school holiday cover was managed like a military operation. I could tell you where ds would be on any day and who with, at least three months in advance.

Once you've organised cover, buy a stack of craft supplies and baking ingredients, service their bikes in February half term and think about activities and challenges for older dcs. Look up geocaching or any local volunteering projects they might be interested in. Local arts centres & theatre groups. Identify good sites for picnics. Get local ordinance survey maps (far better than google), look at your local council's What's On page every week, check times for family swimming. Work out your budget for any paid activities.

Planning ahead is essential but with practice, it gets easier.

A godsend for who? The dcs? Or for the adults?

Schools should always be organised around what is best for dcs.

Having worked in schools (not a teacher) and corporate jobs, I'd say these holidays and the length of them are vital.

Its not like in a corporate job, no matter how stressful, where everyone has their leave scheduled separately so everyone is at a different stage in the just had a break/looking forward to a break stage. By the end of term, everyone is frazzled at the same time (staff and students) tempers are short, performance is declining, there's nothing left to give and literally everyone is in that condition.

Summer holidays need to be longer, work places need to be brought into line with to afford more flexibility so parents can spend time with their children. Childhood is brief, very brief and it will be their tiny faces and moments you will fleet back to when life starts to wind up so don’t be quick to get rid of them for an employer to whom you are dispensable.

The whole workforce needs to shut down for an extended summer break....so everything is closed while schools are off?

I think the issue is lack of flexibility for working parents rather than the longer break. Yes I think children need to break. Its hard work for working parents as were expected to work long hours and look after children somehow. I think more flexibility is needed

Why did you have them if you don’t intend to prioritise them?

Ideally for me I wouldn’t have just 1 week off in February and October. I don’t think it’s long enough for children to rest and recharge. Ideally they would be 2 weeks and summer holidays 4 weeks.
A lot of my teachers friends feel the same….6 weeks is too long and the 1 week half terms are short.

Hyperbole much? Where did I say it needs to shut down. Worked in different countries and I know other systems well. So I know it can be done differently so that children get a much needed summer break and work places need to be flexible allow this. Essentially the change and restructurings needs to come from the government.

Are you joking.
My DC need longer school holidays, not shorter.
They need shorter school days too.
This is a working parent problem. Not a child problem.
I say that as a working parent.

IME staff love the extended October break (where it's in place) for their personal lives, but those working in primary schools and with yr7 student think it's very disruptive to the settling in process, to have a longer break just as the children have started new schools/classes.

School isn’t childcare. People treat it as if it is. Children need those holidays to play, run, enjoy their lives. Don’t you think back to your own life & school holidays?

This. Some places have almost 3 months off during the summer. Work places need to have shorter working days and family days during the summer breaks to allow working parents to spend time with their children. There’s no way this rat race to the bottom mentality of country would move towards that because why would we want to make our lives any easier.