The Welsh Government has announced a plan to change the school calendar by shortening the summer break from six weeks to five.
The change would see the October holiday extended by two weeks.
The proposal, which could come into place by 2025, claims that it will help children with additional learning needs (ALN) and those from disadvantaged backgrounds that find the transition back into learning after the summer break difficult.
Jeremy Miles, the Minister for Education and Welsh language said the summer holidays can be challenging for families for a number of reasons. He said; “The long summer break can be a real strain. Families struggle to find childcare over the six weeks, and others struggle with the additional costs long summers bring. We also know our most disadvantaged learners suffer the most ‘learning loss’ from a long summer.”
However, there are concerns that other areas of education require attention.
Laura Doel from the National Association of Headteachers Cymru said: “When school staff are being made redundant to balance the books, when schools should be prioritising delivering quality education to learners, and when we are deeply concerned about the recruitment and retention crisis, this should not be a priority for government.”
A poll by the charity Parentkind of 6,800 parents found 72% of low income families are in favour of evening out the school holidays.
Siân Fowler is an ALN teacher at The Court School in Llanishen and has said the plan may be beneficial to those with additional needs:
“For lots of children with ALN, being away from school for six weeks can cause huge skill regression and the start of the autumn term is spent recapping previous learning.”
However some parents think the change can make it harder for children to adjust:
“I’m quite happy with the holidays as they are”, one parent told CJS News.
Another added “I think the children actually need a really decent break from school”
Another said that there may be benefits to the change:
“Potentially, shortening them would have no adverse affects”
Scotland and some local-authorities in England already run a two-week break in October.