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

What! I did and so did my children. Depends on number of subjects (9 for me eg) and what results you want I guess.

You can laze around a pool with your revision!

All new teaching will be finished by Christmas. Revision in one form or another starts as soon as they start in September. I was talked into going away for 5 days easter before very capable dd did her gcses. Massive regret.

The English holidays are in the last week of March next year, for 2 weeks.
why do you get the first 2 weeks off?

My DD said no way to any travel the whole year of exams. No matter how much you think they can study while away they won’t .

A family break and a change of scenery? I wouldn’t think twice about it.
but then I don’t think GCSEs are the be all and end all of life and family life didn’t grind to a halt when mine were going through them. We also felt it was important not to build them up too much or out too much pressure on them or the situation. In the end dc1 had hers cancelled due to covid and dc2 took hers but we had holidays.
We had holidays leading up to their a-levels too, they were offered a choice to come or stay home and they chose to come.
Personal choices. Dc1 graduated uni last year with a first, dc2 is currently at uni and all is fine and well.

For the sake of a few months, just go without a holiday?! Or go at Christmas and again in June!

I agree a balance is important (and I am always a cheerleader for year 11s still doing their hobbies – my DC did) but a fortnight on a long-haul holiday (which to her credit @GCSE2027 has agreed she will not do in March) is not a great idea IMO just two months before exams start – in fact less than that if you take an MFL.

No one wants YP to be beaten down with stress and anxiety; but most YP I know and have known have preferred to be not too far from home for too long a stretch between the start of March and the middle of June of year 11. When you put it like that, we are only talking about avoiding a long, long-haul trip for about 3 and a half months.

We have had one week holidays in the UK in a known holiday apartment with good WiFi in exam years. DS always has a revision schedule and we work round that.

It is
And there’s sixth form/college applications on top of GCSEs.

DS too. It needs to be what the student wants. DS didn’t want to break the “lock in”.
DBro is a secondary teacher of 30 years experience. He recommends no hol

I agree with this. You don’t want to look back and regret this as a choice.
The coursework alone would have me saying no.

And my child wasn’t ’beaten down’!
We had plenty of balance.
Days out, all hobbies continued as normal until the actual exam month.
Just no major trips abroad two months before exams start!!

Yeh DD continued with her music – weekly lessons and Saturday music group; and DS2 kept doing his sports all the way through.

An outlet is important (led by the DC ofc) and balance is key.

What if they bomb in their mocks and the school puts extra intervention in place over the holidays? And you've booked a holiday.

I’ve taught kids who went away during Easter before their exams - they took their work with them on cruises, skiing, the Caribbean and all I could think was it’s the worst of both worlds. No proper break and no proper revision - just lots of stress.

I say save the holiday until after GCSEs.

Would love to go to go at Christmas time; but mocks are in Jan, plus is expensive. It also takes awhile to get over the Jetlag and adjust to the routine again.

Holidays are nice but disruptive to the day to day; especially long haul. After you gone back to the day to day routine you always wonder whether you went on holiday, get forgotten quickly.

We have had plenty of holidays; we will just have to wait until July.

GCSE end in June?

Yes, GCSEs end late June. The date will be published by the examining board and UK schools generally have it on their website too.

be careful of the reserve date too - it’s about a week later than the last scheduled exam and is intended as a reserve date in case some disaster hits and one or more of the exams can’t take place on their planned date. DD’s school told us not to book to go away until after the reserve date.

it’s a tough year OP. Plan for emotional outbursts, fights over them getting enough sleep, ensuring good nutrition and plenty of down time.

but you’ve obviously got a hold on how best to support your DC, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.

Thank you; yes. I have realised of the support required: practical and emotional. It already started in year 10 with the course work which has constant deadlines and is time consuming.

I was being a bit blind about the whole thing until recently.

We shall enjoy the summer holidays. Unfortunately we can’t go to my home country this year as have to go to DH country to see in laws; will be winter there 😔

Ah bad timing for the mocks! Our mocks were in November and March so we had two weeks in the Caribbean over Xmas and then waited until mid June to come abroad again.

I am going to check when in January exactly. December may still be an option.

This is the right decision.

Yes, take them when the exams finish