Long school holidays 'should end'

I agree, school kids have too much time off. What do teachers do in the summer hols when the schools are shut?

Long school holidays should be abolished to prevent children falling behind in class, a report has said.

The Institute for Public Policy Research said studies suggested pupils lose some of their reading abilities because the summer break is too long.

The think-tank said the school year could have five eight-week terms, with a two-week holiday between each.

Link

You have got to be kidding me? We already test them far to much and now we are going to give less time off? They need to have some time to, you know, be children.

Originally Posted by Damien

You have got to be kidding me? We already test them far to much and now we are going to give less time off? They need to have some time to, you know, be children.

As far as i'm concerned, they already have far too much time off. The kids these days seem to be off every other month.
It's mentioned in the link, that 2 weeks off after every 8 weeks in school would be a better option.

[BBKing]

The kids these days seem to be off every other month.

Seem, or are? Is this new?

Let's see some facts. Round here it's:

4/9/07 to 19/10/2007
29/10/07 to 21/12/2007
7/1/2008 to 15/2/2008
25/2/2008 to 4/4/2008 (with two days off over Easter)
21/4/2008 to 23/5/2008
2/6/2008 to 24/7/2008

Three terms, one week off in the middle of each. Each half term is about six or seven weeks each, which obviously means that you're going to have kids off every other month. In fact I think there's only November with no time off, although September, March and June are nearly all school time. I'm not sure what this proves, unless there's evidence of some diabolical socialist plot to allow teachers to slack while the kids go robbing pensioners or something, which would be rather at odds with the emphasis on exam targets (fattening them up for the next Labour Manifesto, basically).

[frogstamper]

Personally I think its about right, maybe cut back the half-term break from a week to a long week-end, but what concerns me more is the time kids finish the school day now. When I was at school, many moons ago, the school day was 08.45am to 16.10pm, it seems now kids get out in a lot of cases before 15.00, I don't think staying to 16.00 would kill them, they could even make it sports for that last hour.

[papa smurf]

oi preacher leave them kids alone

It's ok saying kids should have more time off or more regular breaks rather then long ones but what about working parents where both parents are working. School time is onetime those parents can relax a bit and not have to worry about their kids and given so many couples have to work now just to pay bills i think more thought should be given to that.

[Halcyon]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!

Keep the time off.
Think about it, it's the only time where you can truly forget what day of the week it is, and really relax and not think it's monday and back to school the following day.

You will find that there is a holiday, be it bank holiday, easter holiday or whatever approximately every 6 weeks.

---------- Post added at 09:52 ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 ----------

Originally Posted by Enuff

What do teachers do in the summer hols when the schools are shut?

Link

They have to mark exams and also prepare lessons for the next upcoming term.
Then, they can go on long holidays which is a bonus of the job but pay reflects holidays which means salary isnt always great.

[Angua]

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

It's ok saying kids should have more time off or more regular breaks rather then long ones but what about working parents where both parents are working. School time is onetime those parents can relax a bit and not have to worry about their kids and given so many couples have to work now just to pay bills i think more thought should be given to that.

True & even next year with holiday entitlement going up to 5.6 weeks (including bank holidays) there is still a huge discrepancy in time off between children & parents & then when are they as a family (if there are 2 parents) supposed to get together as a family.

Daughter starts at 8:30 and finish at 3pm (2pm on Weds) but for the most part there are various after school activities which support the curriculum and mean they are there until 4:30 ish so we are fairly lucky.

IIRC there is a clause which states a Teachers year starts on 1st September & that August cannot be part of the school working year. Coggy will know the truth of this though.

[trevortt]

The only benefit i see from children taking plenty of time off is i can actually get to work without any hassle of traffic jams

Ah, summer is acummin in ... must be time for Fleet Street's annual "Are The School Holidays Too Long?(TM)" feature.

Leave the kids alone, we hothouse them enough as it is.

But they say school days are the best days of our lives... So keep them locked in there, they'll thank us when they're older.

[Taf]

Holiday companies will gasp when they see the hols reduced, then realise that with supply-and-demand the cost of summer holidays will rocket.

I think the 5 day week should be expanded to 6 days and 9-to-5, so that pupils (and teachers) get to experience real working hours....

Sport should be voluntary and out of school hours though.

[tweetypie/8]

Originally Posted by Enuff

I agree, school kids have too much time off. What do teachers do in the summer hols when the schools are shut?

Link

im with you on that one enuff,the school hols are to long and the majority of kids finish up p..... off to the back teeth.

I would be nice if some of the other holidays were two weeks instead of one - Id prefer if the May holiday was two weeks and the xmas/new year holiday was a bit longer - then the summer holiday could be 5 weeks instead of 6+.