Parents vote to shorten 'too long' school summer holidays – with more time off at Christmas instead

Families, teachers and school staff have voted overwhelmingly in favour of cutting short the summer break

The academic calendar could be altered in some parts of the UK after families voted overwhelmingly in favour of shortening the summer holidays.

Some 73 per cent of the 9,000 parents who took part in a public consultation want to see the 'too long' summer holidays shortened.

The consultation took part in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, with families voting for their kids to go back to school in August, instead of September.

In total, 39 per cent want to see extended holidays at Christmas and in February instead, with 36 per cent calling for a longer October half-term.

• Parents divided over proposals to SCRAP 6-week school summer holidays

A huge response

Both parents, teachers and support staff took part in the survey.

More than 5,500 replies, totalling 61 per cent of responses, came from parents – representing 12 per cent of all those invited to participate through app and text messaging.

People were so keen to take part, the level of response was 'unheard of', with the online system crashing due to demand.

Parents were more in favour of additional holiday days at Christmas and February, while teachers wanted to see a longer October half term.

What happens next?

Despite the 'overwhelming responses', any changes to the academic calendar need to be extensively considered.

A report for councillors on the outcome states: 'Implementation of such changes could not take place before session 2025-26 and would be subject to further discussion with West Partnership [councils] and trade unions.

'Further consideration would need to be given to implications for existing term-time employees; related internal services such as catering, cleaning and building maintenance; [and] potential contract implications for services already procured on a longer-term basis such as school transport.

'The proposal has the potential for positive impacts with some evidence showing that a long summer break could have negative effects on learning; a shorter break may also help address food poverty-related matters.'

The consultation came after a request by Coatbridge North representative Allan Stubbs who asked for 'flexibility for families.'

What about other areas of the UK?

Families in Wales could see a change to the length of the school summer holidays, too. This could even mean they are cut to as little as 3 weeks.

In a survey, published last year, the Welsh Government put forward 3 options for changing the dates of the school terms and holidays.

These included:

• Shortening the autumn break and giving pupils a 5-week summer break, instead of 6 weeks
• 5 school terms of 7-8 weeks, with a 4-week summer break, instead of 6 weeks. Longer breaks over the Christmas holidays and half term would compensate for this
• 6 school terms lasting about 6-7 weeks, with each school holiday lasting about 2 weeks. The summer break would be 3 weeks long.

The Education Secretary for Wales, Jeremy Miles, said a formal public consultation will take place in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Plans to extend schools hours paused

Elsewhere, plans to lengthen the school day for all state school pupils in England have been delayed due to pressures on staff.

The Government has confirmed that its plans to make the school day longer in England – which were initially set out last year as part of the Schools White Paper by then-Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi – WON'T be enforced this year.

As part of the guidelines, schools were told they must open for a minimum of 32.5 hours a week from this autumn (September 2023). That's equivalent to a school day of 8:45am until 3:15pm.

The plan was put into place to help pupils catch up on their education.

However, schools have now been told the changes are on hold until September 2024, with critics saying this was due to government 'dithering'.

It comes after parents reported struggling to fund the school holidays, with a survey revealing parents spend more than £1,000 per week during the summer holidays. This includes eating out and a higher weekly shop than usual.

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