Schools Prepare for Six-Term Year.

A snowHead

The local free rag (The South Coast Leader) headlines on the front page:

Schools Prepare for Six-Term Year.

"Schools in East Sussex will start a six-term academic year in 2005….
East Sussex education officials worked with neighbouring authorities in Brighton and Hove, West Sussex and Kent, which will switch at the same time. The new model will start at the beginning of the 2005 school year….
Schools will still be open to pupils for 190 days but the first term will start in late August with either an extended October or Christmas holiday.
When Easter falls early or late, Good Friday and Easter Monday will fall within term-time but still be taken as holidays….
Exams will be held in the fifth term so the sixth term can be devoted to cultural visits and activities.
The summer break will be reduced to five weeks and one day."

I wonder how will this effect the holiday costs? Will the parents here be lucky, and be able to benefit from the lower prices, or will it just shoot up across the board? Sad

A snowHead

It'll just mean higher prices on more weeks I suppose, hopefully not the doubling we see at the moment, but I wouldn't bet against it.

Aren't we going to test this on the chilly Jocks first, like poll tax et al?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You would expect it to even out the prices - at least while some schools are on the old system; others on the new. (BTW the Scots have their own education system - and can set their holidays for whenever they like...)

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We've got it in Bristol from next year - it looked to me like a few days tacked onto the end and beginning of existing half terms, and a few days taken off the end and beginning of the holidays - not enough to take advantage of a whole week during normal term times. Maybe people will feel more inclined to take their children out of school for a part week ... but I suspect that those who already take them out during term time, will continue to do so: and those who don't, won't.

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Yeah - school holidays are funny up here. Half terms are all over the place.

But then we have "local" bank holidays too - that's weird!

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I love the "local" bank holidays - especially the one at the end of september/october- thought the world had gone mad when i moved up here!

I feel sorry for the kids- 8 week summer holidays were the best thing about being a little un!

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Holidays are great when you're parents have a fun 'european influenced' outlook on life. Until the age of 13 I was taken out of school at the end of June and didn't go back till mid September. There was no impact on my grades/qualification and I have fantastic memories of endless summers... I'll probably get sent to jail if I try to give my own future kids the same experiences...
Best not to have any kids and spend the money on skiing Laughing

After all it is free

I am a teacher and am quite looking forward to this.

The main aims are to reduce the length of the 2 big terms - sept-dec and the sumer one - and to reduce the regression in knowedge seen in virtually all students over the summer break.

The former results in in worn-out staff and equally tired kids, with a notable tail-off in learning and efficiency, concurrent with marked increases in staff absence.
The knowledge regression has been know of for many years, and can result in upto 6months knowledge loss/progression re. the previous years learning.

There are, like mountain mad, many who say it made no difference to them, but these are generally at the top-end of the ability spectrum - the move will benefit all, especially the mid-lower end. This is much more marked in the upper age groups, where enthusiasm for learning is often somewhat reduced.

As for any effect on holiday prices - summer ones will most likely increase, because of the reduced flexibilty from the shorter summer term, the rest will be marked up as they are now.

austin7, is this then being introduced "piecemeal" or universal? Are we going to have some areas on the old (present) system of 3 terms, and others on the new system? And who decides? LEA? Government? Teachers? Parents?
(sorry so many questions - nearly as bad as parliamentary question)

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Jonpim, East Sussex is only going ahead because the other local authorities in the area (Kent, West Sussex etc) are all doing it too. Presumably there'll be a cascade effect until the whole country is on the same deal.

Nadenoodlee, Don't worry about the little kiddies - they'll still get a long holiday......quote from ESCC website "The standard school year is one that has terms of fairly equal lengths between Christmas and summer by fixing the spring holiday rather than allowing the moveable date of Easter to determine the date of the school holiday; the summer holiday will remain the same length as before; there will be a one week autumn holiday, as before; there will be a one week February holiday, as before; and there will be a one week early summer holiday, as before"

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homphomp, your quote form the ESCC website sounds like "No Change", and rather at odds with what austin7 was saying.

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I see the advantages of this for parent and educationally, but, as usual there's no regard for those without children. It might be rather nice if there's a few weeks a year where the slopes and restaurants are not full of other peoples children. In fact, I'd go as far as to say I personally couldn't care less if parents find it expensive or difficult to schedule holidays around official school holidays, it was part of the deal when they had the children in the first place.

Trip, trap, trip, trap...........who's that crossing my bridge?

You know it makes sense.

jonpim - usually, these changes are introduced in 'trial areas', so the government can say how wonderfully well it went, then make the change wholesale.
School holiday dates are currently the preserve of LEA's; adjacent LEA's sometimes (but not always) co-ordinate to ensure avoiding full overlap where possible. School year structure is time-honoured and have no idea where it is officially set - the current structure is a throwback to the days when agriculture was a major employer - it enabled children to work on farms during the summer months w/o missing too much education.

The ESCC site does appear to be at odds with my posting, their take is not as I understand the changes, nor as do Unions/national press.

Agree entirely with ise's points - it's part of being a teacher, too.....

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

austin7, ESCC consulted on doing it the way you said but got lots of complaints and what I've posted is what they're actually going to implement - insider knowledge is a useful thing! It seems that the only real difference is that the holiday dates will be fixed from year to year rather than moving with Easter etc. Anything more drastic than this would probably have to be a national change rather than something done locally.

A snowHead

A snowHead

I think its a way of increasing the times during the year when the expensive rates can be introduced - both summer and winter

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Perhaps we should 'zone' the country like the French do, and stagger the holidays, so everyone is not on holiday at once?

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Helen. the logical step from that is to look at what happens during "term time" or the whole educational year and introduce the concept of attendance at school for a particular time. This would allow grey zones around holidays. These zones or times could be taken as holidays with the understanding that there would be a parental commitment that the syllabus would be completed within the acadaemic year. Patental choice par excellance but difficult to manage - the way it should be.

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As a ski professional I think it will help a lot. This year we had the whole of the UK, half of Holland and the major part of Paris all in the same week - what a nightmare. Even if the prices are higher, at least the pistes should be less crowded, so the unfortunate parents/teachers might have a chance at value for money. At the moment (as far as I can see), these poor people pay twice as much for half the value!
"Zoning" like France (and Germany) is a really good idea - I don't understand why politicians are so dense - perhaps they earn too much money? snowHead

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One of the main compensations of getting older was, that as my children grew up, so I was freed of expensive, crowded holiday locations - BTDT.

Looks like now I'll just grow older Wink

After all it is free

mij, sorry, i am a bit dim, especially at this time of night: i do not understand what you are suggesting. I fear you are proposing continuous provision of education, with parents/children taking education when they feel like it, as long they attend for a statutory mimimum. But i probably got the wrong end of the stick.

Help!!

Schools Prepare for Six-Term Year.

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