Long private school holidays

[lemondaisies]

Considering school options, but wondered why private schools have much longer holidays - does anyone know?

Was about to say what pp said - my niece's private school doesn't have in service or occasional days spread through the year but add them on to the summer holidays. Other holidays not usually much longer (maybe finish a day earlier).

Ds school is 8-5 with Saturday school. He can go from 7am till 6:30, which makes term time working a doddle.

The holidays though nearly kill me - he’s got 5 weeks off this Easter and 10 weeks over summer, plus 4 weeks at Christmas and 10 day half terms.

They provide a brilliant summer club, but at £30 a day for 9-4 cover, it’s not exactly easy to work around.

I love Ds school, but the holidays are a nightmare and many parents have withdrawn their kids because for working parents it’s such an issue.

Very odd thing to say nometal. I went to a 'top' university (and private school) and by 7pm was well into my fifth pint of cider at the pub. As were my State educated friends.

What is an odd thing to say? The fact that the teaching day runs from 9 to 7 or that new students get a bit of a shock when they find that out?

State high schools are way shorter here. 9 to 3 on 4 days, and 9 to 2 on Tuesday.

My DS1 is in Y8 know and gets out of school at 6pm.

DS2 is in Y1 and gets out at 3.15, it increases each year.

School opens at 8am.

However, many of the private central London schools only have lessons up until noon on Fridays, including ours.

But, as someone said, traditionally kids in private schools would either have full time nannies, or mothers who aren't working (or both!), and many of the kids will enroll in the school's (pricey) holiday clubs, travel abroad and definitely continue to read and write during the holidays.

I love the long holidays, but it does feel a bit like the more you have the more you get. We get cheaper holidays (not that private schools generally has anything against taking the child out of school during term time, no fees or anything like that), we can attend museums ans parks when they are super quiet, go to lego land and similar with off peak prices, etc etc.

We get enough time to either travel or do a big project at home, which is nice. Our eldest is currently off skiiing in Austria (arranged by the school as a holiday club).

I must admit that I love the long school holidays. I remember being so tired by the end of school that it was a bit silly even being there. I don’t think my children ever have a half a term that is longer than six weeks.

What and parents who send their children to state school don’t provide any extra enrichment activities. That’s a slightly insulting view!!

Maldives - Some do, some don’t. Just as with private school pupils. You can’t really look at an individual level when discussing these sort of issues. The fact is that private school pupils are from more privileged socio economic background, with parents who have the ability to either employ someone to care for the child’s educational needs over the holiday, or be there themselves.

It is a huge problem that working class kids miss out on a lot of cultural experiences because there is just no way their parents can afford to take time off to go visit museums or the theatre. I general.

There are a lot of kids in state school with well-off parents. But having 4 week Easter breaks in the state sector would be absolutely disasterous for many, both financially and educationally.

I expect it’s a lot easier for parents to provide extra enrichment activities for their DC when they’ve got more disposable income. Even things like free museums have hidden costs when planning days out.

And parents who use private schools will, as a general rule, have a fair amount of disposable income.

@NewSchoolNewName and there are many parents who don't have a lot of disposable income. That's an easy assumption to make. Some parents sacrifice everything to send their children to private school and have nothing left afterwards. There are also children there paid for by grandparents/company schemes/bursaries. Its far from the privileged background people assume.

In the distant past, boarding was far commoner than it is now and transportation was far slower and harder than it is these days. It made more sense for children to have a couple of very long holidays a year, rather than trailing backwards and forwards for lots of shorter holidays. I guess private schooling holidays reflect this heritage. Plus, they often have longer days and longer weeks due to Saturday school sports and so on.

@PrayingandHoping

It’s a generalisation. I’m aware that there’s exceptions to that.
I’m still guessing that the proportion of private school parents with nothing left over for extras is smaller than the proportion of struggling parents in the state sector.

I don't think there's really any need to compare or label anyone is there 🤷‍♀️