R2OK!

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

Chaos may be looming over the dates of the forthcoming school holidays, occasioned by the extreme earliness of Easter this year.

Some authorities, such as Northumberland, are giving schools Good Friday and Easter Monday off but otherwise keeping back the holidays proper to start on the first weekend of April for two weeks.

Many other authorities have stuck to having the break around Easter, despite the shortness of the second half-term which that will cause.

Parents who have children being educated by different authorities are said to be at their wits' end over how to cope with childcare.

Though I'm a Christian, I see no reason why education authorities should feel tied to the dates of Easter in setting school holiday dates, as long as Good Friday and Easter Monday are given. As someone has put it, why should the holidays run around what a group of church elders decided 1700 years ago? What is really needed is a set date for Easter--perhaps the second Sunday of April. After all, we have a set day for Christmas which may well bear no relation to the actual birth date of Jesus. But whether I'll ever see the Catholic Church move on this one is open to question.

Ian.

Behind Geddon's Wall · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:25 pm Post subject:

It is about time that Easter had a permanent time slot, and not be tied to the pagan festival of the equinox.However, as thereis no milage or money for the Church of Rome in this idea, I agree that it is unlikely
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Geddon

You simply mustn't blame yourself -- the days were perfect
And so were exactly what I was born to spoil
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the cinder causeway
From the furnace to the quarry
Through the fields of oil

quickssandra · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 158 Location: Scotland

Our school holidays have been the first two weeks in April for the past 5 years. It's not caused any upset at all. They're off the Easter weekend, then go back till the 4th of April, when they're off for a fortnight.

QS

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2008/02/27/faholiday127.xml

Poor woman has five children at five different schools setting five different holiday weeks for spring half-term and Easter. How fortunate that she's also a newspaper columnist!

The Local Authority Association recommendation she mentions is, I think, the same one that proposed chopping up the six-week summer holiday, thereby playing havoc with traditional family holiday plans during the warm weather. I don't believe that any of them have actually gone for that yet but this year demonstrates that they are as far, if not further, from standardising the school year, as ever. However, it will still be easier to arrange than getting the churches to agree to fix Easter.

Apparently by law there must be 190 school days a year, so not using Easter for the fortnight's break means they have to forego two days somewhere else - hopefully in the number of that nuisance for many a parent of younger children, the Inset day.

A quick look at the Scottish Government website reveals that the councils there are nearly but not quite all in synch. Their summer holiday is also timed 2-3 weeks in advance of the English & Welsh one.

Thankfully I don't have the problem any more. I now just have to make sure we holiday when they are all at school.
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Ron

Heloise · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 237

This time of year isn't much fun for some of us workers either. I work in a pre-school we don't get paid during the L.E.A holidays. I hate this time of the year because it's all blessed L.E.A. holidays. Shocked

Here in the west midlands we had half term 2 weeks early and we break up for Easter the day before Good Friday for two weeks.

A few years ago they were talking about splitting the school year into equal blocks and having set, fixed holidays but no more has been said about that for a while now.
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Put some records on while I pour

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

That was in the Local Authorities Association rcommendation I referred to. They wanted to break up the long summer holiday and make the terms, and holidays, of more equal length - so presumably just four weeks in summer and three for Christmas and Easter.

I think the feedback, not to say voluble resistance, from parents and unions, if not the teachers (especially those who have children themselves or who don't get full pay for the hols, like yourself) has prompted them to put it on the back burner for a bit.
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Ron

iwarburton · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland

We always loved the six weeks in which our boys were on summer holiday, even in the bits when we ourselves were working, so, as far as I'm concerned, any move to shorten this to four weeks can go on the backburner for good!

Ian.