‘Why are students only in school 190 days of the year?’ Well mate, let me tell you about ‘weekends,’ which make up 104 of those days off. Other than that, his argument is pretty moot, because yes, we sometimes get hot weather in May, June, and July, but we also get hot weather in August, September, and it can even be hot into October.
Ninja_icecream on
And while you’re at it.
How about
– adjusting the school day so that it doesn’t clash with rush hour
– extend the school day with extra curricular activity to better dovetail with working families
I was educated abroad. We started before 8. The school day finished in time for lunch, and the afternoon was filled with sport and other activities. Our evenings accommodated 2 hours of prep.
I honestly believe the long days did us (me) no harm. Condensing education into ever shorter schedules seems to suggest that the powers-that-be believe education can be ‘done’ more efficiently.
That is at odds with my view that good education requires time and broad, not highly focused, learning.
The question that lingers in my mind is this. After our kids leave school for the (short) day what do they do?
TastyYellowBees on
Children should work 9-5 with 6 weeks annual leave to prepare them for the real world, they should spend their evenings at part-time jobs to help pay for commuting and other essentials, I will allow them to rest and play on Sundays only
FringlyKoala on
*Bizzare spellings of the word “bizarre” should also be avoided in titles and headlines.
Fellowes321 on
Ofsted’s job is to monitor the progress of the government’s policies within schools to ensure they operate according to the rules laid down.
They are not elected representatives and are not responsible for policy. The head of Ofsted can have his own opinion, they could even be consulted during government policy review but they should not be making announcements about policy as “The Head of Ofsted”.
The tired argument that children should be treated as if they were adult workers and given 28 days holiday is ridiculous. Are they expecting all families to holiday in the same single week in August? Are they denying families time together because school is the only thing that matters.
It really just guarantees that family holidays will occur any time between June and October such that teachers will have no idea who will be in each class on any given day and no topic requiring the building of ideas over several weeks can occur.
It’s a stupid idea from someone who is talking outside their remit, has no understanding or care about family life or bafflingly children’s development beyond the classroom.
Note that private schools have even longer holidays and they remain popular and successful.
Redsfan1989 on
Reduce the 6 week summer to 4 weeks, add an extra week to October and May half terms. Sorted.
funfuse1976 on
And school holiday price gouging should be looked at,fair trade alignment,some emergency powers to protect the average family from unfair price increases, trading standards and all that kind of thing.
Rannii_The_Vvvitch on
He said the six-week summer holiday could cause “dysregulation” in pupils who slipped out of their routines and discipline, particularly those who were vulnerable or disadvantaged.
So, in other words, why aren’t teachers doing the job of parents outside of school? The UK has a real issue with calling a spade a spade. Shitty parenting is not the remit of teachers to fix. Children deserve time out of school to enjoy life beyond education. Some of my happiest moments in childhood were made during the summer breaks and other school holidays.
Psittacula2 on
>*”children were physically in school for a “ridiculously low percentage” of the year. Citing the 32.5-hour school week, he said that “precious” time should be used for studying and socialising.”*
>*”he questioned why children were in school for only 190 of 365 days.”*
A pompous prat who did not learn the basic lesson, “Think before you speak”.
Go into any school for a prolonged period of time. has he done this? Observe over this time multiple classes and how schools generally are timetabled and organized eg 1,000 students in a secondary and how to organize and coordinate this.
The main solution is students are stuffed into classrooms with short breaks between lessons and meals.
They repeat this Monday-Friday – The same dull, desensory, repetition, passive, lecturing, asked to do tasks which tick Ofsted boxes etc over and over and over.
Not because it makes learning more enjoyable or more effective, but because it contains and controls and coordinates the vast number of students and keeps their behaviour in check via this format of four-walls, sit, write something, listen, talk, then repeat…
That is the reality of school. It is not a great form of experience hence why so many students dislike school and find it makes the idea of learning offputting.
This prat is not engaging in the reality. If this is school then there is TOO MUCH of it already which is why both students and teachers are desperate for the school day to end and also for the holidays to begin.
If this moron has anything constructive to say. First get the content right in schools which benefits the learning, the diversity of experience, the quality of enjoyment of students in schools before thinking like a moron, “More Must Mean Better”.
Right now, less is better. Especially considering academia is a dead end with AI on the horizon.
Pleb_Overlord on
I love the Australian school holidays system.
Terms: The year is divided into four terms:
Term 1: Late Jan/Early Feb to April.
Term 2: Late April to June/July.
Term 3: July to September.
Term 4: October to December.
Breaks: Two-week holidays typically follow each term, with a longer 6-week summer break over Christmas and January.
The summer holidays wouldn’t really work for you guys due to our summer being Dec-Feb.
appletinicyclone on
The US which is weirdly more productive than us gives huge breaks for their kids
A 12 week summer can be a life changing experience
Granted our weather is shite a lot so it’s not apples to apples comparison, and us workers get way less vacation time
Patberts on
I started school in Latvia before moving to UK for Year 7. Here’s how they split it over there. This is for 2025/26.
Term 1: 1st September – 19th December
Term 2: 5th January – 29th May.
They get 4 breaks.
Autumn break: 20th October – 24th October.
Winter break: 22nd December – 2nd January
Spring break: 9th March – 13th March
Summer break: 1st June – 31st August.
While in school there, the summer break was the best thing ever as a kid. I imagine is a parent it might pose some challenges.
Not saying one way or another is better but I think it’s good to share another view.
OkBasket6068 on
It is mad that the spring term’s length depends on when Easter falls, surely that can be evened out?
Minimum_Possibility6 on
Something does need to change, there is more time off school than there are holiday days for 2 parents to cover
There is a lack of wrap around care in a lot of places. Basically if you don’t have extended family helping with pick up/drops offs it’s hard to have both parents working.
I wouldn’t be against an earlier start time, more structured term times (and having areas rotate around the schedules to maybe allow for non peak time holidays)
Also having earlier start, the. Afternoons of sport would be good. I get not all kids are sporty be we have gone to far the other way in not having enough sport. And maybe some of the afternoon time if it’s not sport can be for less ‘academic exam learning’ and for gaining employable skills instead
iakiak on
Does he have children? I bet he has children and can’t stand them and wants to spend less time around them.
ps: that was a very short and disjointed article with very little substance….
D0wnInAlbion on
The long summer break was not so that children could help with the harvest. It’s based the long summer break public schools have which allows their pupils to broaden their learning through extensive travel. Why this may be beyond the means of many ordinary people, long holidays still allow them to have new experiences.
Life_Court8209 on
It’s almost like the current schedule already accounts for weekends and the fact that British weather is unpredictable at best.
IACJBP on
If I’m right in how I’m reading this, it seems he wants students in school far more than they currently are. So my question isn’t actually about the students… it’s about the teachers. How are they planning on paying the teachers for doing more hours a day, or more days across the year, when they already don’t want to pay them properly for the work they do now?
There is already a recruitment and retention crisis in the profession and I’m pretty sure they’ll try to get teachers to do more for no extra pay so how are they planning on actually providing an education for students when more teachers leave and no-one wants to train to replace them?
conradslater on
Secondary school should start at 10.30am and finish at 5pm. Oh and one week for half terms and three weeks for Christmas, Easter and Summer. We don’t need help with the harvesting anymore.
invokes on
I don’t totally disagree with him. I think particularly summer holidays are weird. Surrey has just moved to a 2 week October half-term, which has meant that summer holidays won’t start until 1st week August. Total madness. I can’t help but feel that summer holidays should be July and half of August. I would be totally happy for us to follow a more Scandi school holiday structure and extend the actual school day so it’s not so short with longer breaks or more breaks.
**Here’s my recommendation.** It’s going to take a cultural change, but I think we can do it!
In summary, switch to a two-term year (Autumn and Spring). Move away from the agricultural/religious calendar to prioritise daylight, weather, and actual rest… (see next comment)
MrJacobJohnson on
Sometimes I think the UK hates kids for some reason and try making their life as miserable as possible.
messedup73 on
They definitely should invest in more wrap around care and holiday care as nowadays both parents tend to work.My youngest is now 28 when they was at primary school I worked nights Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a care home was lucky my husband dropped them off on his way to work so could finish my shift then take them to school then sleep on a Monday.During the holidays had to sign them all up on holiday clubs so could sleep or use my holiday.I think they should extend the school day by another hour it would help parents and maybe cut the summer down to 5 weeks juggling your holiday entitlement as a parent is a nightmare as kids get ill and you end up using time for that.
LegoNinja11 on
Not sure we can start messing with holiday times or going for staggered holidays across the country….itll completely upset Centre Parks pricing strategy!
IronicDuke on
Folks…. I’ve got a mad idea… why don’t we instigate work rules that follow schools?
32.5 hr weeks, 13 weeks holiday a year… businesses just need to employ a few childless benefit scroungers (/s) to cover what will be quiet periods anyway… what could go wrong!?
/S before anyone wants to get all feisty!! 😉
EnderMB on
He’s really not doing himself any favours while many are wondering why Ofsted are still a thing.
vrekais on
This is just furthering the transformation of school from education to childcare.
P1wattsy on
I agree with his point about the timing of the Summer holidays, I’ve had that view for years now
July in schools is straight up day care, there’s no learning happening. I would adopt the US system of ending the school year by May, after exams.
In an ideal world we would also encourage kids to attend Summer camps or go on residential trips to different parts of the country so they can experience life in a different area, meet new friends, and generally just have fun. Much better than being stuck in a classroom that has no air con and everyone just wants the end of the day so they can go and actually enjoy the little sun we get in a year.
If people are really against longer Summer holidays then the new school year should be starting early August, make at least half of June and the whole of July be the holidays.
Illustrious-Milk6518 on
Nothing was better than breaking up for summer holidays, and being able to enjoy all that time off outside in the sunshine. Add to that studying for exams outside on the grass.
Now imagine if exams and holidays were around winter instead, where kids might not be able to get in due to snow or flooding lol
emdj50 on
We’re already really short of teachers. This will lose us many more
BrightonTeacher on
I’m a teacher, if they want us to work more days per year, they will have to pay us more
alcohall183 on
Dear Brits, STOP COPYING AMERICA> YOU DON’T WANT OUR LIVES! IT SUCKS. Let your kids have time off from school. Let them have weekends and nights off. Let them have a late start time and early end time. Let them be kids. Please!! I BEG YOU. It’s too late here. don’t make the same mistakes we did. Hold the line.
AvatarIII on
In the US somehow they manage with like a 3 month summer holiday but they don’t have 2 weeks at Easter or half terms so I guess it evens out.
32 Comments
‘Why are students only in school 190 days of the year?’ Well mate, let me tell you about ‘weekends,’ which make up 104 of those days off. Other than that, his argument is pretty moot, because yes, we sometimes get hot weather in May, June, and July, but we also get hot weather in August, September, and it can even be hot into October.
And while you’re at it.
How about
– adjusting the school day so that it doesn’t clash with rush hour
– extend the school day with extra curricular activity to better dovetail with working families
I was educated abroad. We started before 8. The school day finished in time for lunch, and the afternoon was filled with sport and other activities. Our evenings accommodated 2 hours of prep.
I honestly believe the long days did us (me) no harm. Condensing education into ever shorter schedules seems to suggest that the powers-that-be believe education can be ‘done’ more efficiently.
That is at odds with my view that good education requires time and broad, not highly focused, learning.
The question that lingers in my mind is this. After our kids leave school for the (short) day what do they do?
Children should work 9-5 with 6 weeks annual leave to prepare them for the real world, they should spend their evenings at part-time jobs to help pay for commuting and other essentials, I will allow them to rest and play on Sundays only
*Bizzare spellings of the word “bizarre” should also be avoided in titles and headlines.
Ofsted’s job is to monitor the progress of the government’s policies within schools to ensure they operate according to the rules laid down.
They are not elected representatives and are not responsible for policy. The head of Ofsted can have his own opinion, they could even be consulted during government policy review but they should not be making announcements about policy as “The Head of Ofsted”.
The tired argument that children should be treated as if they were adult workers and given 28 days holiday is ridiculous. Are they expecting all families to holiday in the same single week in August? Are they denying families time together because school is the only thing that matters.
It really just guarantees that family holidays will occur any time between June and October such that teachers will have no idea who will be in each class on any given day and no topic requiring the building of ideas over several weeks can occur.
It’s a stupid idea from someone who is talking outside their remit, has no understanding or care about family life or bafflingly children’s development beyond the classroom.
Note that private schools have even longer holidays and they remain popular and successful.
Reduce the 6 week summer to 4 weeks, add an extra week to October and May half terms. Sorted.
And school holiday price gouging should be looked at,fair trade alignment,some emergency powers to protect the average family from unfair price increases, trading standards and all that kind of thing.
He said the six-week summer holiday could cause “dysregulation” in pupils who slipped out of their routines and discipline, particularly those who were vulnerable or disadvantaged.
So, in other words, why aren’t teachers doing the job of parents outside of school? The UK has a real issue with calling a spade a spade. Shitty parenting is not the remit of teachers to fix. Children deserve time out of school to enjoy life beyond education. Some of my happiest moments in childhood were made during the summer breaks and other school holidays.
>*”children were physically in school for a “ridiculously low percentage” of the year. Citing the 32.5-hour school week, he said that “precious” time should be used for studying and socialising.”*
>*”he questioned why children were in school for only 190 of 365 days.”*
A pompous prat who did not learn the basic lesson, “Think before you speak”.
Go into any school for a prolonged period of time. has he done this? Observe over this time multiple classes and how schools generally are timetabled and organized eg 1,000 students in a secondary and how to organize and coordinate this.
The main solution is students are stuffed into classrooms with short breaks between lessons and meals.
They repeat this Monday-Friday – The same dull, desensory, repetition, passive, lecturing, asked to do tasks which tick Ofsted boxes etc over and over and over.
Not because it makes learning more enjoyable or more effective, but because it contains and controls and coordinates the vast number of students and keeps their behaviour in check via this format of four-walls, sit, write something, listen, talk, then repeat…
That is the reality of school. It is not a great form of experience hence why so many students dislike school and find it makes the idea of learning offputting.
This prat is not engaging in the reality. If this is school then there is TOO MUCH of it already which is why both students and teachers are desperate for the school day to end and also for the holidays to begin.
If this moron has anything constructive to say. First get the content right in schools which benefits the learning, the diversity of experience, the quality of enjoyment of students in schools before thinking like a moron, “More Must Mean Better”.
Right now, less is better. Especially considering academia is a dead end with AI on the horizon.
I love the Australian school holidays system.
Terms: The year is divided into four terms:
Term 1: Late Jan/Early Feb to April.
Term 2: Late April to June/July.
Term 3: July to September.
Term 4: October to December.
Breaks: Two-week holidays typically follow each term, with a longer 6-week summer break over Christmas and January.
The summer holidays wouldn’t really work for you guys due to our summer being Dec-Feb.
The US which is weirdly more productive than us gives huge breaks for their kids
A 12 week summer can be a life changing experience
Granted our weather is shite a lot so it’s not apples to apples comparison, and us workers get way less vacation time
I started school in Latvia before moving to UK for Year 7. Here’s how they split it over there. This is for 2025/26.
Term 1: 1st September – 19th December
Term 2: 5th January – 29th May.
They get 4 breaks.
Autumn break: 20th October – 24th October.
Winter break: 22nd December – 2nd January
Spring break: 9th March – 13th March
Summer break: 1st June – 31st August.
While in school there, the summer break was the best thing ever as a kid. I imagine is a parent it might pose some challenges.
Not saying one way or another is better but I think it’s good to share another view.
It is mad that the spring term’s length depends on when Easter falls, surely that can be evened out?
Something does need to change, there is more time off school than there are holiday days for 2 parents to cover
There is a lack of wrap around care in a lot of places. Basically if you don’t have extended family helping with pick up/drops offs it’s hard to have both parents working.
I wouldn’t be against an earlier start time, more structured term times (and having areas rotate around the schedules to maybe allow for non peak time holidays)
Also having earlier start, the. Afternoons of sport would be good. I get not all kids are sporty be we have gone to far the other way in not having enough sport. And maybe some of the afternoon time if it’s not sport can be for less ‘academic exam learning’ and for gaining employable skills instead
Does he have children? I bet he has children and can’t stand them and wants to spend less time around them.
ps: that was a very short and disjointed article with very little substance….
The long summer break was not so that children could help with the harvest. It’s based the long summer break public schools have which allows their pupils to broaden their learning through extensive travel. Why this may be beyond the means of many ordinary people, long holidays still allow them to have new experiences.
It’s almost like the current schedule already accounts for weekends and the fact that British weather is unpredictable at best.
If I’m right in how I’m reading this, it seems he wants students in school far more than they currently are. So my question isn’t actually about the students… it’s about the teachers. How are they planning on paying the teachers for doing more hours a day, or more days across the year, when they already don’t want to pay them properly for the work they do now?
There is already a recruitment and retention crisis in the profession and I’m pretty sure they’ll try to get teachers to do more for no extra pay so how are they planning on actually providing an education for students when more teachers leave and no-one wants to train to replace them?
Secondary school should start at 10.30am and finish at 5pm. Oh and one week for half terms and three weeks for Christmas, Easter and Summer. We don’t need help with the harvesting anymore.
I don’t totally disagree with him. I think particularly summer holidays are weird. Surrey has just moved to a 2 week October half-term, which has meant that summer holidays won’t start until 1st week August. Total madness. I can’t help but feel that summer holidays should be July and half of August. I would be totally happy for us to follow a more Scandi school holiday structure and extend the actual school day so it’s not so short with longer breaks or more breaks.
**Here’s my recommendation.** It’s going to take a cultural change, but I think we can do it!
In summary, switch to a two-term year (Autumn and Spring). Move away from the agricultural/religious calendar to prioritise daylight, weather, and actual rest… (see next comment)
Sometimes I think the UK hates kids for some reason and try making their life as miserable as possible.
They definitely should invest in more wrap around care and holiday care as nowadays both parents tend to work.My youngest is now 28 when they was at primary school I worked nights Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a care home was lucky my husband dropped them off on his way to work so could finish my shift then take them to school then sleep on a Monday.During the holidays had to sign them all up on holiday clubs so could sleep or use my holiday.I think they should extend the school day by another hour it would help parents and maybe cut the summer down to 5 weeks juggling your holiday entitlement as a parent is a nightmare as kids get ill and you end up using time for that.
Not sure we can start messing with holiday times or going for staggered holidays across the country….itll completely upset Centre Parks pricing strategy!
Folks…. I’ve got a mad idea… why don’t we instigate work rules that follow schools?
32.5 hr weeks, 13 weeks holiday a year… businesses just need to employ a few childless benefit scroungers (/s) to cover what will be quiet periods anyway… what could go wrong!?
/S before anyone wants to get all feisty!! 😉
He’s really not doing himself any favours while many are wondering why Ofsted are still a thing.
This is just furthering the transformation of school from education to childcare.
I agree with his point about the timing of the Summer holidays, I’ve had that view for years now
July in schools is straight up day care, there’s no learning happening. I would adopt the US system of ending the school year by May, after exams.
In an ideal world we would also encourage kids to attend Summer camps or go on residential trips to different parts of the country so they can experience life in a different area, meet new friends, and generally just have fun. Much better than being stuck in a classroom that has no air con and everyone just wants the end of the day so they can go and actually enjoy the little sun we get in a year.
If people are really against longer Summer holidays then the new school year should be starting early August, make at least half of June and the whole of July be the holidays.
Nothing was better than breaking up for summer holidays, and being able to enjoy all that time off outside in the sunshine. Add to that studying for exams outside on the grass.
Now imagine if exams and holidays were around winter instead, where kids might not be able to get in due to snow or flooding lol
We’re already really short of teachers. This will lose us many more
I’m a teacher, if they want us to work more days per year, they will have to pay us more
Dear Brits, STOP COPYING AMERICA> YOU DON’T WANT OUR LIVES! IT SUCKS. Let your kids have time off from school. Let them have weekends and nights off. Let them have a late start time and early end time. Let them be kids. Please!! I BEG YOU. It’s too late here. don’t make the same mistakes we did. Hold the line.
In the US somehow they manage with like a 3 month summer holiday but they don’t have 2 weeks at Easter or half terms so I guess it evens out.