There has been a lot in the media recently about the idea of reducing the long summer holidays in favour of longer mid-term breaks.
I have to say that I really would be in favour of such an idea. If you're anything like me, then half-way through the six week summer holidays I am absolutely climbing the walls and desperated to be back in the normal school routine. However, by the time if gets to the October mid-term holiday I am practically on my knees and only a week off is barely enough time to recover.
Another disadvantage of the long summer holiday is that students' learning tends to suffer. Students also get out of the routine of learning and fall into bad habits. The stability of school is also beneficial, particularly to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
I would happily reduce the summer holidays by three weeks and add an extra weeks' holiday to each of the mid-term breaks. I find the Autumn term, which tends to be the longest, particularly gruelling. The cold, dreary days do little to help matters.
The Unity Schools Partnership (USP) is a multi-academy trust with 33 schools in the south east of England. The Partnership recently trialled a fortnight-long mid-term break in October, which was warmly received and had the effect of reducing staff absences by half and student absences by a quarter.
Tim Coulson, chief executive of the USP, said: "While a majority of staff and parents were in favour of the two-week half term, we acknowledge and take seriously all those comments from individuals not in favour of the proposal.
"Although there are various views, the two most significant are the cost of childcare and how learning time is made up."
The Welsh Government recently proposed a reduction of their school summer holiday, so it would be nice if their UK counterparts would consider doing the same in England.