[Ammi]

Originally Posted by lewis111

What's the point in making kid's lives more stressful just because that's what it will be like in adult life, kids deserve to have some fun and a summer holiday is the perfect time, why add more to the Octobee holiday when nights are short and the weather is crap
they'll run out of stuff to teach younger children if they force them to be in school 5/6 weeks longer every year.

..yeah I have to say that I prefer the holidays to be longer in the summer for that reason, that the days are longer for children to be able to enjoy outdoor play at it's maximum ..obviously because of that, attractions are open later as well..and they cost a lot of money for a family day out so opening later in the evenings gives much better value...(also less chance of rides etc having to close with bad weather and generally more pleasant to walk around in warmer weather ..)...

[Morgan.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Personally I think O levels were harder, I was in the first year to sit GCSEs in 88 and the work we did was easier than the stuff we'd done in middle school at 11-12 with the old O level textbooks.

My mum was in your year too, but she said that marking was crap so they had to nationally change the mark schemes or something? I mean my year are the lab rats for the 1-9 grading system and I hate it.

[Morgan.]

Originally Posted by Tom*

Education has changed since then... The GCSEs are getting ramped up in difficulty and it's going to be HELL for year 10s. Thank **** I was born in 2000:

This is true, I mean if you don't get a C on a maths higher paper you leave with a U.

[user104658]

Under 10's really need the break to be honest, they're all exhausted by the end of the year and need time to recharge. Outdoor play is essential though, they need that time to build themselves up physically with activity and plenty of sun (hopefully, although you do still get UV even when it's grey!) before going back to another year sat at a desk.

I guess we're lucky as we live somewhere quiet with plenty of young kids so plenty of outdoor play in summer. I can see why it's an issue for "city kids" who are basically stuck indoors with tech unless it's an actual planned activity... That must be boring as ****.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...looking at the term dates, this isn't reducing any holidays though, just spreading the school year out differently..?...that's something which is always talked about, so maybe will eventually be what will happen../4 week summer/two week half terms etc...it would have to be something that all schools agreed on though, for it to work because many parents have children at more than one school so having their children off at different times would be awful...it'll be interesting to see if the academies in Barnsley get on board with it as well, so we can see it given a chance....

Its in the OP Ammi the list summer week will be added in October so the overall holidays remain the same, in some ways I think it makes sense, kids have 5 weeks off in summer and families could use the time in October to go abroad for some sunshine before winter, it's difficult to do that and sometimes not cost effective for a week