Half term. Already? or Full Term???

As many schoolchildren begin half-term, does one academy's move to a five-term year indicate the calendar could soon be shaken up for good?

Ah, the joys of half-term... hours playing football, hanging around with mates, trips to bowling alleys and cinemas.
But children at the newly-opened East Manchester Academy are not just midway through autumn term this week. With the school trialling a five-term calendar, they have finished their first full term.
The break mirrors the usual half-term, so they will notice little difference from children at most schools in England and Wales.
But next year, when others get a measly five-day February half-term, the academy's pupils will work a week longer before enjoying a fortnight's rest - then another two weeks in May.
The catch? A shorter summer break - at just four weeks.

Headteacher Guy Hutchence says that while parents have rose-tinted memories of long summers, children often simply get bored.
Revamping the school calendar is often mooted but few schools have taken the leap.
One which did was Greensward College in Hockley, Essex.



The long summer holiday is commonly referred to as a throwback to Victorian demands for children to help with the harvest but that's not remotely true. Summer holidays didn't match harvest time because a lot of crops were harvested in September.
You didn't get state schools until after 1870 and then holidays were whenever school boards thought, with no rhyme nor reason other than to have Christmas, Easter and summer breaks.
Before then, if you were a teacher at a common school, you would be paid by the week and so wouldn't want even four weeks off.
The long break actually came from that enjoyed by the upper classes - in parliament, law courts, universities and public schools - which eventually filtered down to urban schools.
However, in rural areas, problems in early autumn - with children not attending school to help with the harvest - were common until the 1950s, when agriculture became industrialised.


Seven years ago, as its then chairman of governors, Ian Foster led the move - aimed at cancelling out unpredictability caused by a "floating" Easter.
"At a very critical time of year, it could make exam preparations, planning revision and schemes of work more difficult," he says.
Now an academy - state-funded but operating outside local authority control - it has fortnight-long holidays in March and at the end of May, regardless of where Easter falls. However, it retains the six-week summer break.
A vocal minority objected to Greensward's move - but few on educational grounds.
"It was more about the social aspect of parents having kids in multiple schools... and clashes with timeshare weeks," he says.
Mr Foster now chairs the Academies Enterprise Trust, overseeing seven schools in south-east England.
The government's drive towards academies and free schools, with independent management, raises the prospect of more varied calendars, he says.
"Schools always had the ability to make these kinds of changes but there's a natural instinct not to." (from BBC)

Seems like a brillant idea to me, its about time our local schools took up this idea

What do you think??

The changes have always been perceived as 'too difficult' to implement but that is probably resistant to change mentality. Give it a go and see what it like with a trial...





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