My local schools break up on Thursday 22nd July for six weeks and four days, returning on Tuesday 7th September.

It is too long.

The kids get bored stiff and lose the momentum of their learning.

The summer holiday should be reduced and taken at other times of the year, perhaps in winter when we would all save on school heating bills that we pay for.

There are only 190 school days of 5 hours each year. Is that enough?

What are your views on this ? ? ?

I like the 6 weeks, now my two children that are left at home are 15 and 10 we can do allsorts, go on picnics, play sports. There is so much to fit in I can`t wait.

I want to have fun with them before they grow up and leave home and have their own lives.

School holidays are what you make them and i`m going to enjoy the holidays.

I am lucky i work 2 evenings a week so i have the time to spend with them.

I think family life would alter if they shorten the hoildays.

I agree with you yorkie

I think that our school/college summer holidays are too long. I think there should be less time off for the summer and more for the winter.

Meh, if it was up to the Government they'd cancel holidays altogether and have kids attend school 365 days a year, what with all these tests etc the kids need all the time to revise so they're not branded stupid :loopy:

Seriously the likes of Blunkett have a lot to answer for IMO, how the hell can they expect 7 year olds to take tests/exams?! The poor kid's only just out of nappies bless 'em.

Some parents sadden me.

Whenever I pick the kids up from primary school I can't help overhearing conversations about "effing this and effing that" between some mothers that are not much more than teenagers themselves. And often their chat makes references about someone they're "going to do in."

They set a bad example for all the kids.

But back to school holidays, we're split down the middle so the education authorities won't be able to please all of us.

Originally posted by Rich


How the hell can they expect 7 year olds to take tests/exams?


Quite easily - How else can we identify the help that the children need?

How else can we identify the inadequte teachers that require further training?

Magic! Six weeks for the kids to tidy their bedrooms! It'll take them that long!

Oops, just realised that my kids are off for 7 weeks . Have to sort them out with a chimney sweep round or summat.

Many Sheffield kids are terrible at spelling - they should give up 10 precious minutes of cartoon TV each day and earn 10 p for every new word that they learn how to spell.

Problem here Yorkie is that most of these kids ain't got an adult at home who's capable of checking their spellings.

What about us in the last year of College lol.

My last exam was 22nd of June and I dont goto uni until the 29th of September :lol:

Long school holidays are a problem for many working parents who need to find child care.

They should rent schools out to organised youth clubs in Summer.

why would anyone want more time of in winter.
Kids can`t go out and have fun in the rain and cold.

I don`t come from Yorkshire, but Lancashire and we see our school holidays as i way for the family to come together and have fun. If only on one day of the week.
I never got boared when i was young.

Parents these days don`t know how to have fun without money.

I agree a lot of parents are only kids themselves but i was 18 when i had my first and 4 children later it did me no harm. I love being young enough to have fun with them in diffrent ways now.

My kids can spell, can socialise, can have fun and i am certainly not one of those that use swear words at school or home.

I had my kids to enjoy them and i intend to.

Many parents don't even know where their kids are.

Otherwise they wouldn't allow them to roam around like wolf packs - swigging beer or cider and smoking weed, smashing bus shelters and phone boxes, setting fire to wheelie bins and empty houses, shop lifting, stealing cars and mugging, mouthing off and being a general nuisance.

We all pay for their vandalism - it's called council tax.

I know some parents are like this but i am not.

There are some good parents who enjoy the school holidays.

I know what my kids do, and they respect life.
My two eldest are soldiers and the 15 year old wants to become a policeman and have a rugby career.

I might be lucky, they dont drink outside, hang in gangs and they don`t do drugs but that`s because I brought them up and taught them right from wrong and they have learnt to have respect for themselves and others.

We talk as a family and discuss as a family so there are some of us as parents that care. Don`t make out we all don`t care.

And the irritating thing is that most of the 'parents' who's kids are causing all this damage/upset probably aren't paying council tax.

Like rosie, our kids know right from wrong, and the outcome of their actions. We look forward to the school holidays because we like having our kids around. Those parents who dread the holiday, with the exception of those who lose wages, must have a very low opinion of their kids.

Originally posted by rosie
Don`t make out we all don`t care.


I never did, did I ?


. . . but some people from your area - The Milnrow Mafia - cause all the trouble on Margetson Library.

Originally posted by markham
And the irritating thing is that most of the 'parents' who's kids are causing all this damage/upset probably aren't paying council tax.




Yes - decent people pay twice.

Well I'm at college, just finished first year, and our last exam was June 14th and i've got off until September13th. How bad is that! I really need a job but i reall really can't find anything! any you know of...? thanks

Originally posted by em16uk
Well I'm at college, just finished first year, and our last exam was June 14th and i've got off until September13th. How bad is that! I really need a job but i reall really can't find anything! any you know of...? thanks


You've left it a bit late - you should have contacted all the supermarkets last year to work whilst at college. Many students work saturday or sunday and two evenings.

Where were you ?

Originally posted by Yorkie
My local schools break up on Thursday 22nd July for six weeks and four days, returning on Tuesday 7th September.

It is too long.

The kids get bored stiff and lose the momentum of their learning.

The summer holiday should be reduced and taken at other times of the year, perhaps in winter when we would all save on school heating bills that we pay for.

There are only 190 school days of 5 hours each year. Is that enough?

What are your views on this ? ? ?

If they took their long holiday in the winter and not the summer my family would not get a holiday as this is the only time it is hot enough for the two weeks we go away a year

Originally posted by jubby
If they took their long holiday in the winter and not the summer my family would not get a holiday as this is the only time it is hot enough for the two weeks we go away a year


I mean have maybe 4 weeks in Summer and 2/3 some other time.

i finished 1st year of college, early June, jus had to finish coursework in own time!!
off till early Sept.
i work but only 2days a week, im bored already!!

but...it chilling time, were stil young, n want to live that!!

so keep 6wk holl (sometimes longer...in my case!!!)
cos its what young people need... A BREAK!!!!! :)

Originally posted by steelcitybab
i finished 1st year of college, early June, jus had to finish coursework in own time!!
off till early Sept.
i work but only 2 days a week, im bored already!!

but...it chilling time, were stil young, n want to live that!!

so keep 6wk holl (sometimes longer...in my case!!!)
cos its what young people need... A BREAK!!!!! :)


Just study for 20 minutes EVERY day and keep a log of what you've done.

Try and do a First Aid course and maybe even a Fire Fighting course - it looks good on your CV.


Trust me - you will be greatly rewarded.

I have more than three months holiday as well.
I've done first aid training and volunteering etc, as but I think only a couple of the twenty agencies I applied to actually looked at my CV :confused: Been unable to obtain a paid office job although I've achieved very high grades in computing gubbins.

Can't even start studying because we don't know what our dissertations/ projects are yet. I'd better e-mail my department soon...

As a teacher who is now at home full time with two young children I have to agree that the summer holidays are too long. From the schools point of view after 6/7 weeks off the pupils have 'lost' a lot of recent learning and it takes a long time to settle them back in. From the teachers point of view the half terms (1 week) are too short since it takes around a week to get organised with the medium term plans for the next 1/2 term (two weeks would mean 1 could be a break) and from the parents point of view - I agree holidays are a great family time so why not have them more often but fewer? For people working it must be a nightmare trying to find childcare for 7 weeks.
On a sideline from this has anyone heard of proposals by the government to clamp down on holiday firms charging extortionate prices for the peak school holiday weeks? I know they were talking about fining parents for taking their child out of school for holidays and I just wonder how they then propose to make it fair for parents who can't afford the ridiculous prices charged by travel firms?

Originally posted by Yorkie
Just study for 20 minutes EVERY day and keep a log of what you've done.

Try and do a First Aid course and maybe even a Fire Fighting course - it looks good on your CV.


Trust me - you will be greatly rewarded.

im doin a first aid course, as part of college course when we return for next year.

im trying to do my driving theory so i can focus on the practical!

but study what my course has no exams, its all coursework!!

Originally posted by SilentStatic
I have more than three months holiday as well.
I've done first aid training and volunteering etc, as but I think only a couple of the twenty agencies I applied to actually looked at my CV :confused: Been unable to obtain a paid office job although I've achieved very high grades in computing gubbins.

Can't even start studying because we don't know what our dissertations/ projects are yet. I'd better e-mail my department soon...

Students should apply for part-time work well in advance and not just for the holidays.

Keep trying.

Originally posted by drp215


On a sideline from this has anyone heard of proposals by the government to clamp down on holiday firms charging extortionate prices for the peak school holiday weeks? I know they were talking about fining parents for taking their child out of school for holidays and I just wonder how they then propose to make it fair for parents who can't afford the ridiculous prices charged by travel firms?

It's called market forces - supply and demand - maximizing profit.

Travel firms can't make money by feeling sorry for parents.

It needs a parent boycott - but it will never happen.

Schools should do more by opening their doors in summer to foreign families and they do likewise for us ! A few bunk beds in the gym wouldn't cost too much.

Originally posted by steelcitybab
im doin a first aid course, as part of college course when we return for next year.

im trying to do my driving theory so i can focus on the practical!

but study what my course has no exams, its all coursework!!


Good Luck with the First Aid.

Driving Theory is a piece of cake - when you know it.

Click Here - I will test you! (http://www.theaa.com/quiz/quiz.jsp?TestType=driving_test_1)

Originally posted by Yorkie
Good Luck with the First Aid.

Driving Theory is a piece of cake - when you know it.

Click Here - I will test you! (http://www.theaa.com/quiz/quiz.jsp?TestType=driving_test_1)

cheers, ive got the cds, for theory n hazard, this is my 3rd attempt :(

i got 29 on that website!! :help:

:huh: how i manage that!!!

i failed twice before only on hazard bit!! its stupid that bit!!!! :loopy:

Many drivers who passed their driving test before 1990 would fail their driving test today.

Most of them drive with one hand and arrive at junctions in top gear.

Naughty.


And school summer holidays are too long.

Originally posted by Yorkie
Students should apply for part-time work well in advance and not just for the holidays.

Keep trying.

* I came home before the academic year was over to register with agencies (to do full time work). As well as applying to jobs directly of course.
* I'd rather devote my time to achieving better marks, and thus having a better chance of landing a decent job afterwards.

On one hand, I resent how much time they get off.
I have loads of friends who are still studying at Uni, and they get something approaching 3 months off in the summer.

It's only jealousy I know, cos my student days are sadly over, but that is an outrageous amount of time to have nothing to do.


On the other hand, once you get a job, that's it until you retire. Working. E v e r y s i n g l e d a y.
Ugh.


So let em enjoy it while they can.
I did. Wouldnt want to take it away from anyone.

Don't assume that we all want 15 weeks away though. I had far more mates at uni than I do in Nottm. Plus in Sheffield most students live easy walking distance away from each other.

Now what would be helpful is giving us Science students a couple of weeks to revise between our course ending and our exams starting. Instead of the three days there was for one module :loopy:

Originally posted by SilentStatic
* I came home before the academic year was over to register with agencies (to do full time work). As well as applying to jobs directly of course.
* I'd rather devote my time to achieving better marks, and thus having a better chance of landing a decent job afterwards.


I thought Students needed money to buy booze.

Originally posted by SilentStatic


Now what would be helpful is giving us Science students a couple of weeks to revise between our course ending and our exams starting. Instead of the three days there was for one module :loopy:


Most Students need to do a course on time management.

Originally posted by Yorkie
I thought Students needed money to buy booze.
I don't :)
Do you want to dig your hole any deeper? :P

Originally posted by SilentStatic
I don't :)
Do you want to dig your hole any deeper? :P



Leave my hole out of this. :o

I aim to stimulate Students. :D

Originally posted by drp215
On a sideline from this has anyone heard of proposals by the government to clamp down on holiday firms charging extortionate prices for the peak school holiday weeks? I know they were talking about fining parents for taking their child out of school for holidays and I just wonder how they then propose to make it fair for parents who can't afford the ridiculous prices charged by travel firms?

This one gets me on my soapbox :mad: .

I abide by the law, only take my kids out of school in the school hols and how am I rewarded? I pay twice the price I would if I took them in term time then my kids have to share their teacher with the kids who have had weeks out of school and need 'catching up' on what they've missed.

The majority of kids go on hols in term time so the supply and demand element should be evened up a bit. This is not reflected in pricing though.

Time the government acted if they are serious about time lost due to absenteeism.

Originally posted by Yorkie
I thought Students needed money to buy booze.


we do!!!!! :thumbsup:

that all i spend my money on!!!

o well, you only live once, may as well be happy!!

il save when im older!! :P

Originally posted by Yorkie
I mean have maybe 4 weeks in Summer and 2/3 some other time.

I can see where your coming from, but that would make it even harder to book time off work than it is now.

Just been listening to Radio Sheffield going on about the Summer Hols and it got me thinking that nowadays all kids seem to do is hang about on street corners drinking cider. In my day we used to play 20-a-side on the park till it got dark, go on long bike rides, build tree houses, make rope swings..I used to love summer holidays.
Anyone else got any fond summer holiday memories????

even though i have tecnically left school now (WOO HOO!!) i think that getting rid of the 6-7 week hols would just be evilness!!!

although yes the holiday is very boring at times.. its what you look forward to every year from about the second year at school, right through to the last year!

I,m doing a bit of research for an artikle and wonder which date school leavers left school this year? Do they leave in May and go back to take thier exams? Any one know what the official leaving date is, May or July in the exam year? Cheers.:loopy: