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The end of the 6 week Summer Holiday?

When I heard of this it really took me aback, I know there were threatening noises from the past Labour government but that's all they turned out to be. With all the concern regarding the NHS I've not paid too much attention to what's been happening to schools, and the damage they are doing is every bit as great, I know one schoolteacher friend who says the job is getting tougher and tougher since she first started ten years ago. BTW, I'm also with the "6 weeks wasn't long enough" crew.

Fucking Gove :(
 
kebabking said:
obviously you have to block book your holiday, and almost all employers need some cover in all the time - but its easier to manage your workload if you give 90% of your employees 4 weeks off than it is to give 90% of your employees 6 weeks off.
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even easier to manage the workload if you don't give any holidays. let's go for that, then.
 
The six week 'dip' has been largely discredited and fails to take into account all the other types of learning that happen in the 6 week hols. The biggest problem we have in terms of Year 7s not getting the grades that they did in primary is because for months they were coached to get through SATs and then they revert to their actual ability.

More thinly veiled attempts at breaking teachers' working conditions.
 
What's the point? It doesn't deal with teachers huge holidays (regardless of your view on them in general) and it'll pretty much guarantee chaos if varying holidays are actually implemented.
 
School holidays need to remain as similar to each other as possible.
  1. Parents with kids in different schools need synchronisation
  2. Teachers themselves with kids need to be on holiday when their kids are
  3. If not it will be a major burden on parents in terms of extra childcare
  4. Private and state schools should also broadly synchronise for the above reasons
  5. The summer holidays are not too long, there is more to life than just school
Makes me cross!
 
No longer will the summer holidays be long enough to notice giant summer growth spurts amongst your peers, although extremely sudden voice-breaks might still have time to sneak through.
 
Just had a piece on this on the BBC.

As expected a Head from a Free School/Academy (Andy Grace from the Boulevard Academy in Hull iirc) was on arguing for shorter holidays and more school days.

When questioned about the difficulties this might pose for parents and teachers with children in other schools his response in both cases was that they "have a choice" about whether to go to/work at the Boulevard Academy.

Nice.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister's school has a 2 month holiday this Summer.
 
We would have had a full scale riot at my old school if the head announced
no, or reduced, summer holidays.
 
JTG said:
Six weeks was too bloody short when I was at school
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If you'd asked me when I was at school, any number below 52 would have seemed too short.

Personally I'd prefer it if the holidays were spread out a bit better through the year. As long as the amount of time off remains the same, and there's some degree of logic & consistency applied then I don't see why this would be worse than having one very long holiday and other shorter ones.
 
It's very difficult to get them motivated outside of a classroom environment
when there are all the distractions of home all around them. It wasn't
through choice that we are home-educating, we were pretty much forced
into it.
 
they had better comp my mrs & her lots for the extra they will have to pay for a family holiday if they are restricted to a 4 week window, its a bad enough price leap for the normal 6 week window- it would be financial carnage if teachers were forced to take their hols in a 4 week slot
 
My ex is a teacher and it has always been very helpful that when our kid is on holiday so is she. I don't know exactly what we would have done if their holidays had not coincided.
 
albionism said:
It's very difficult to get them motivated outside of a classroom environment
when there are all the distractions of home all around them. It wasn't
through choice that we are home-educating, we were pretty much forced
into it.
Click to expand...

kids are information magnets. let them learn what they want to learn. actually that approach is more suited from nursery to about 11,12,13 something like that. then there is thought about the future, what career they would like to aim for. if you are not involved in a local home ed group, get involved if you can - it's good for you and your sons*

*i don't know what your circumstances are so feel free to tell me to fuck off :D
 
not-bono-ever said:
they had better comp my mrs & her lots for the extra they will have to pay for a family holiday if they are restricted to a 4 week window
Click to expand...


You could take the family holiday during one of the other holidays, which are usually quieter and cheaper than the high summer period.
 
Mungy said:
kids are information magnets. let them learn what they want to learn. actually that approach is more suited from nursery to about 11,12,13 something like that. then there is thought about the future, what career they would like to aim for. if you are not involved in a local home ed group, get involved if you can - it's good for you and your sons*

*i don't know what your circumstances are so feel free to tell me to fuck off :D
Click to expand...

Nah, wouldn't tell ya to fuck off :D
We try to go off curriculum as much as possible to make their school day interesting, but it's quite
strict over here. We are sent course work for them to do every couple of weeks, and it's as
dull and soul destroying as fuck. There is just one local home ed group, and they are quite
aloof and not entirely welcoming. Basically, we have had a lot, a LOT, of shit from the education
department (for legal reasons i won't elaborate) for many years and we were pretty much forced
into this Home Ed situation.
 
six weeks is too long in one go imo when there's nothing to do for your kids and you can't get out of the house at all.
of course all school hols should be co ordinated tho, to suggest otherwise is total madness
 
_angel_ said:
six weeks is too long in one go imo when there's nothing to do for your kids and you can't get out of the house at all.
Click to expand...

It can also be one fucking big lump expense. If you've got younger children, then you can be looking at some form of activity club for them or at the least child minding. That's in addition to any holiday costs you're looking to take. I'd much rather spread it over different parts of the year.
 
Lemon Eddy said:
It can also be one fucking big lump expense. If you've got younger children, then you can be looking at some form of activity club for them or at the least child minding. That's in addition to any holiday costs you're looking to take. I'd much rather spread it over different parts of the year.
Click to expand...
In my experience, you can't even get the childcare in the first place.
People moaning about booking holidays, I'm afraid don't really get my sympathy.
 
Lemon Eddy said:
It can also be one fucking big lump expense. If you've got younger children, then you can be looking at some form of activity club for them or at the least child minding. That's in addition to any holiday costs you're looking to take. I'd much rather spread it over different parts of the year.
Click to expand...


On the flip side, you're much more likely to have to pay for activities during the rest of the year other than the summer as the weather is generally worse. If you extend the christmas holiday or the February half term then the kids are going to spend more time inside as it's cold, wet and dark outside.

Like most kids I loved my 6 week summer holiday. My memory isn't that great when it comes to my childhood, but most of it is from those few weeks off. I want my daughter to have that experience too.
 
A 6 week stretch is great if you are going on holiday, day trips, activity camps etc but if you're not going to be doing any of those things, it's a headache (and expensive) for working parents who have to try to find somewhere to send the kids, and there's going to be a long time spent hanging round with little to do then it isn't so great.
 
It's like a mini jail sentence for us. Wasn't so bad when kids were younger. I simply can't take out James by myself anymore.
 
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