Would two weeks away in March be too disruptive before GCSEs?

[GCSE2027]

DC will have 2 weeks off beginning of March. I would like you to take them to my home country in SA. It would be great winter scape as I suffer from SAD. Will help DC recharge before GCSE.

Will be too disruptive? They do have to work on a portfolio/written project which will probably be due in April. But they start working on it in Jan

Of course it will be.

How invested are you in your child passing their GCSEs?

Yes.

Bloody hell of course it will be too disruptive

Do you mean as in going away over the Easter holidays or taking 2 weeks out of school?

The first I wouldn’t but not too bad. The second very bad!

Very invested. Thank you

Yes I agree, is this Easter holiday? Beginning of March is an odd time for that. Certainly don’t miss two weeks of school.

IMHO 2 weeks away even in school holiday is not ideal right before GCSEs. A short break somewhere not too far is a better idea.

DC has two weeks off early March

I think this depends on the child and the school. I have had 3 dc go through gcses in recent years and although we've always taken our main holiday at easter we haven't in GCSE years. Although with dc1 I dont think it would have made that much difference.
Some schools have revision sessions in the easter holidays, for subjects where you need to submit course work (eg art) ours uses the second week as a week to go in and use the facilities/get support. My dc3 is very conscientious and revised every morning of the easter holidays and would have probably blamed me taking them away as reason they got a lower grade.
This might be a question you ask school (around there expectations). I also use the school calendar to see what they've done in previous years to see what the expectations may be.
Also just to clarify are you talking about easter holidays or two weeks within term time? Term time definitely not, easter I wouldn't but as I say its child and school dependent.
Are we talking about a child expected to get 7-9s or child who is borderline to pass? Is the child self motivated/knows how they can best revise or needs lots of support?

School has a different timetable. They have 2 weeks off early March

Yes it would be.

Buy a SAD lamp. Make sure you get outside every day with as much skin exposed as possible depending on the weather.

Having had dd1 complete GCSEs 2 years ago and having dd2&3 about to go into year 11; this would be 100% no for me. 2 weeks of revision time lost. Go early June post exams and enjoy guilt free. Your child will have almost 3 months off after exams.

Could you go for a week of it?

also many schools offer revision sessions over the Easter holidays so you may want to consider that too

Yes

So are they not off over Easter? If there is no school (and then they are in all through April) then as I say, a short break can be a good idea. I wouldn’t arrange a two-week holiday though.

No chance OP - just had kids go through GCSEs two years running .

Got a SAD lamp.

When do kids start revising? Mocks will be Jan and exams are not until May.

March will be the only holidays they have as they only have the bank holidays weekend off in Easter.

Correct. No Easter holiday apart from the long weekend

Yes, maybe a week off to recharge somewhere would be good.

Go away first of the 2 weeks off. Have a total break.
If mocks in jan they will be revising over Xmas, and then possibly pretty much ongoing after mocks.
(Or you go, and they stay home with other parent?)

They will be in full revising mode from the mocks stage- by that point all content has been learned and now its time to consolidate. You don't want them to miss this stage - my DD's school did weekly mock exams to help them perfect their writing style and essay planning and timing - she found this invaluable. Its not just knowing the content- its also about knowing how to best use the time you have for which questions, how to plan your essay before you start so that you maximise the content and get the right balance of time per question. This would not have been the case without this focused revision, and she went on to score 9's across the board.

Thanks. I think it would be a good way to recover from Mocks and recharge before GCSE. But only for a week.

You'd be taking away a solid two week slot where significant numbers of students find that they need to do more to complete their work. And it would be very risky for a school to have just one deadline right at the end, as it would inevitably be missed by many due to multiple factors, so the actual deadline they work to could be immediately after the break.

There are also the revision classes that run over the break and, especially where students taking exams with practical components are concerned, catch up for those who have missed other lessons due to being off timetable for that subject.

It'll be noticeably Spring. Your SAD should, by all rights, already be resolving due to the length of daylight by that point - and taking a holiday that could easily extend into termtime due to delays/weather/strikes and other disruption could negatively impact your child whilst benefiting you.

Why not wait until next year when they aren't sitting public examinations? Use a SAD lamp, get outside every day, eat well, all the things you have to do every other year for the one year where it's not necessarily in your child's best interests to be away.

You needed to make it clear in your original post. It sounds like you’re taking them out of school.
if they’re off school anyway and can take work with them then that’s fine.

I think it depends on a few things most importantly the child. Do they want to go? Will you be staying with family where they could revise in the day and have a relax at night or do you mean a holiday where at the beach or doing activities with no time for them to study. Having had 2 DC through GCSEs recently I do think some schools (and parents) ramp up the pressure to much and some kids are just done with it before they start. They need balance, yes study hard but not at the exclusion of everything else for months. We took both mine away in the half term in the middle of exams for a few days and it was what they needed a break and a rest then back to study. Both mine performed well. So I don't think it is a blanket no, I think it depends on your child, the length of travel and how much study they could potentially do when away. Also early March is still 2 months before they start exams.

OP what will your itinerary and accommodation be whilst in SA? Hotel or staying with family? Will DC have a quiet space/own room? Will you be having quiet nights and down time days whilst out there?

I think all of the above is important before making a decision as if your staying with family and DC will have a quiet space etc then I don't see why they couldn't revise whilst out there as most of the revision is online now anyway....... Also, the long flight would also be a good use of time to revise. I would however be mindful or jetlag and I would also ensure that DC does have the space and time to revise whilst there but if you get a good balance then I think it might be good for them.