\n\tBut were the school holidays too long?<\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t \n\tIt is a common perception that long school holidays are a hangover of the Victorian era, when children were needed to help work on the family farm during the summer months. That theory has been challenged by those who point out that during the 19th century, vast numbers of the population migrated from the countryside to the huge new industrial towns and cities. The long summer holidays they say, were a consequence of the increasingly successful fight by trade unions for a shorter working day and more time off. As workers enjoyed holidays, family celebrations required children to be available and not at school. The development of railways boosted the family holiday by the seaside and in the UK of course that meant in the summer months.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhat of other countries? <\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tA survey of countries world-wide reveals a similar pattern to the UK with most having long school breaks at some point in the year. Japan is one of many countries which mirror the UK, with a break from the end of July to early September.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn the United States the summer break lasts about 12 weeks and in Ireland, Italy, Lithuania and Russia, summer holidays normally last three months!<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tIs it a good idea to reduce the number of holidays? <\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tHead teachers in the UK argue teachers and children benefit from school holidays. Children have important experiences over the summer, developing their own ways to fill the time, often engaging in valuable new activities and interests. The holidays can provide an opportunity for them to develop their social and communication skills outside of the familiar school environment.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs for teachers there’s the increasing problem of teacher recruitment, as well as finding time for them to fulfil their professional development responsibilities and prepare for the year. All this suggests that maybe a long holiday is just what exhausted teachers and jaded students need. As a slightly biased former teacher with 30 years in the classroom, I would of course have to agree.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tSo how can youngsters be safely, productively and affordably entertained throughout the long summer holiday? <\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn the United States, with longer school breaks than Britain and typically, less holiday leave for working parents, residential summer camps provide a home-from-home and a chance for children to develop their confidence and learn new skills. The UK already has a multitude of similar organisations providing exciting summer activities but these are often costly. So if we follow this route, who pays? Without some state support less privileged children would probably miss out. On the other hand, the idea of state support for summer camps would likely be rejected by those who fear more taxation or state intervention in education. In the meantime we can all look forward to the half-term break. However you plan to spend 29th October to 2nd November, it is probably wise to start planning now!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FANTASTIC WEATHER AND SIX WEEKS OF QUALITY FAMILY TIME But were the school holidays too long? As the Vale’s primary and secondary schools return for the Autumn Term, there are those who argue that the Summer holiday break has been too long and it would be less stressful for parents in particular, if we cut back on the length […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[127,228],"tags":[330,329],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-1hl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4870,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4870","url_meta":{"origin":4919,"position":0},"title":"Holidays with the Family","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Being on holiday with my family is something I\u2019ll never get old of. Especially if it\u2019s after a hard two years of A-Levels. Of course, my brain is telling me I must worry about results day but my heart is telling me to jump into the sea and never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Play Hard Work Hard"","block_context":{"text":"Play Hard Work Hard","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=274"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11765,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11765","url_meta":{"origin":4919,"position":1},"title":"Chatterbooks and Challenges","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th June 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE COMMUNITY HUB Tel: 02920 594176 \u2013 during opening hours or wenvoelibrary@outlook.com Like and follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com\/WenvoeCommunityLibrary For general enquiries you can email us at wenvoelibrary@outlook.com Chatterbooks With the success of the school visits to the Hub and Library, we are planning a Chatterbooks group for our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Community Hub"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Community Hub","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13433,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13433","url_meta":{"origin":4919,"position":2},"title":"ST. MARY\u2019S CHURCH NEWS – AUG 2023","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"JULY REPORT A year has gone by since Lyndon and Chris made that long journey from Canada to be our Vicar here in Wenvoe as part of the Ministry Area of De Morgannwg. Now we are in the holiday month of August. Our church school has seen the senior class\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "St Mary's Parish Church News"","block_context":{"text":"St Mary's Parish Church News","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11532,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11532","url_meta":{"origin":4919,"position":3},"title":"Lovely End To The Spring Term","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd May 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Gwenfo School News April Notes We had a lovely end to the Spring term, celebrating Easter in style with the return of our Easter bonnet parade. Thanks to all parents and children for taking part and creating some fantastic headwear! With restrictions easing we\u2019ve been delighted to have a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gwenfo Primary School"","block_context":{"text":"Gwenfo Primary School","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=58"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1060,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=1060","url_meta":{"origin":4919,"position":4},"title":"New Term Starts","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The children have settled back well into school after the summer holidays and have all been incredibly helpful and patient during the period of building work - a massive thank you to them all! Our new Reception children have all settled in very well and it is lovely to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gwenfo Primary School"","block_context":{"text":"Gwenfo Primary School","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=58"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3415,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3415","url_meta":{"origin":4919,"position":5},"title":"Summer Plans","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 WENVOE PLAYGROUP \u00a0 As I am writing this we only have a few weeks remaining until the end of term, which I\u2019m sure will be busy, fun times. Our open afternoon was held in June, however, should you wish to enquire about spaces at Playgroup you can contact us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Playgroup"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Playgroup","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=94"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4922,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4919\/revisions\/4922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/school.jpg?resize=200%2C204\")
As the Vale’s primary and secondary schools return for the Autumn Term, there are those who argue that the Summer holiday break has been too long and it would be less stressful for parents in particular, if we cut back on the length of school holidays. Working parents have to rely on a variety of cunning plans to cover the holiday period, often including costly child-care, amenable relatives and a host of planned activities.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n