Best time to go on holiday after GCSEs

[NotUser]

Dd has a couple of years to go but due to family being abroad we want to go away for an extended stay once her GCSEs finish. We don’t have any other kids at school.

I appreciate that every school is different in terms of things like proms which dd will definitely not want to miss. So what would you say is the best time? Straight after the exams finish? Or do the kids tend to celebrate a lot then?

My punt would be for the 2nd week of July onwards.
That way you should have got prom out of the way plus 6th form taster days.
Make sure you are back for results day late August in case you need to change 6th form plans, or register or whatever.

There was a Contingency Date introduced a couple of years before Covid began which was the last date on which exams could take place and allowed exam boards to move exams at short notice up to that point - in case the Queen died or there was some national problem that meant one or two days had to be unexpectedly shifted. Check what the Contingency Date is for your year and you should be good to go after. Mind you, we were held up by the school prom which was the first Friday in July so we went on the Saturday in my ds's GCSE year.

Straight after the contingency date.

Proms etc tend to be before exams start. Or at the the end of what would have been the end of term.

But you need to see the exam timetable and contingency date before you book.

The schedule for exams is published quite early, around January, we booked for 18th June as DD's last exam was on 17th

The Contingency Date was something like 25th June in the year my DS did GCSEs but he finished exams before then. If exams do have to be moved for any reason and you go before the CD then it's your problem not the school's or the boards'. Booking for the day after their last exam if it's before the CD is fine if you are prepared to take a probably perfectly reasonable gamble on a national emergency but should something happen and exams are shifted no one has to accommodate your child.

Ds's school always informed people what the CD date was, though we never got to it when he did A levels as Covid happened and A levels didn't.

Proms etc tend to be before exams start. Or at the the end of what would have been the end of term.

That isn't generally true. My local paper did a proms special one year and only a couple of schools had theirs before the half term break. My DCs' yr 11 prom was at the end of June and DD's sixth form prom was at the start of July.

OP I would check that with your school - as in, when they usually hold prom, or she risks missing it. I would personally go for early July as it may be easier to book (with most DC still being at school). If you can find out about prom and it is in May then great, you can go as soon as exams are done. Trouble is you won't know that date until much much close to the time (ie when your DD is in yr 11). Mates of DS2's had exams on about 23 June IIRC. DD's birthday is 20 June and she had an exam the next day.

If you need to book it now then you need to make it July.

@TheChemicalMother

Straight after the contingency date.

Proms etc tend to be before exams start. Or at the the end of what would have been the end of term.

But you need to see the exam timetable and contingency date before you book.

Not true re Proms. Ours is always after exams. This year GCSE’s run from 16May-29Jun (including contingency). Our prom is in 8 July.

Watch out if DD does any out-of-school activities which might have important dates in July. Our constraint is the concert two weeks after the end of the GCSEs.

Thanks so much fir all of this. I think i need to speak to school!

Do check about 6th form tasters - our students have a week in July.

you jinxed the queens death the same year you posted it