Parents of older children (S4 +)- holiday question

[Noofly]

Is it complete madness to go away over the Easter holidays once your child hits S4 with exams closely following in May? Or do you think there's enough time once back for studying. I'm foreign so all these exams are a bit of a mystery to me and am trying to work out whether we need to be looking at going away over the Feb break for the next 6-7 years instead of a week at Easter!

I personally think its ok but I know lots of people who don't Depends on the child and the holiday A cottage somewhere like the Lake District ok A week in London maybe not Academic child doingNat 5s ok Child needing 3 As at Advanced higher maybe not And what does the child think

I think it would very much depend on the child - I think it would have stressed me out, whereas others would have been fine with it, and some would have been refreshed by it.

We went away but took past papers for about 2 hours worth a day of actual writing and us going over answers. It was limited to subjects we could actually help with and had specimen answers to.
Honestly ours wouldn't have done any more work at home!

I thought some schools offer revision classes in the Easter holidays. As others have said, it'll depend on how the child is doing academically.

We went away over the second week of Easter this year. DS is in S3 but he had internal mock Nat5 exams starting the week we came back which is what is making me wonder about future years. He did spend the first week of the holidays studying for 3-4 hours every afternoon. He's done very well, but next year and onwards are obviously the real thing!

We've gone away over Easter for a mid week break. I don't think they can or need to study all day everyday and a break can do them good. They should really be doing study all the way along so not cramming anyway.

When DS1 was doing Nat 5s we had a mid week break. He took stuff with him, did an hour to an hour and a half each day straight after breakfast and that was that.

This year we have DS1 doing highers and DS2 doing Nat 5s, they had a 4 day break away with Scouts and didn't do any study while away (or the day after as they were still tired).

Usually the period up til Easter can be really busy as they may have a lot of assignments to submit.

I also think it depends on when Easter falls.

It also depends what subjects your child is doing. It was a useful time to finish the practical parts for Art. The Art department was open for that for both weeks with at least one teacher on duty. Other subjects ran revision classes but these varied from year to year.

Personally, I wouldn't. I know our school puts on directed study/rvision sessions during the Easter holidays, and throws open Art/Music rooms to help people study and complete portfolios.

I would be looking at going away in the October week instead. Or maybe just limiting any holiday to a few days rather than the full fortnight.