Last term Nottingham City Council embarked on a consultation for possible changes to the School Holiday and Term patterns. The plans involve moving to a 5 term year with a much shorter summer break and no half-term holidays. We are not convinced that there is any evidence to support this significant alteration. The NUT has been challenging the changes in the strongest terms.

The consultation has been presented by Nottingham City in a very one-sided way to support the changes they would prefer to make. There is little or no evidence provided to back up their assertions. It is also interesting that the City Council chose to conduct the consultation so that most of it fell during the 6 week summer break.  

The consultation which received more than 5000 responses has now closed and we are awaiting the conclusion.

However, it is not too late for members to contact City Councillors about the proposals. the Councillor representing the ward where your school is situated or, if you live in the City, the Councillor representing the ward where you live. (Or do both!). You can find your Councillor here:

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=397

Some arguments to consider:

1. Convincing evidence for ‘learning loss’ over the 6 week holiday, if it exists, is not provided by the City. In fact, a longer summer break is vital for the rest and recuperation of both teachers and pupils and supports learning. The UK has a shorter summer break than almost all other developed countries. We are consistently out-performed by nations with longer summer holidays. The tiredness of staff and pupils at the end of 8 or 9 week terms is likely to be an obstacle to learning.

2. Teaching is classified by the Health and Safety Executive as the most stressful occupation and levels of stress related illness amongst teachers are rising. Nottingham City does not even monitor such illness. Absence and turnover caused by stress illness have a negative impact on learning. Because teachers routinely work for significant parts of the school holidays the longer summer break is the only time when they can properly rest and recuperate.

3. The City Council argue that changing the holiday pattern will make holidays cheaper for parents. This would only be the case if the holiday pattern were substantially different from other schools in the region. If not, holiday companies will just move the dates of expensive holidays to match the new dates. This is simply a matter of supply and demand. If however, the pattern is very different from other schools locally (in the County etc). School staff may have their own children or partners in schools with very different patterns making child care difficult and expensive.

4. A number of colleagues may leave the City for employment elsewhere because of the differences in holiday patterns or loss of the 6 week break. Resultant difficulty in recruitment and retention of staff can only have a detrimental effect on standards in the City.

5. The length of terms (1/2 terms) can be solved through maintaining the current holiday pattern but with a fixed 2 week break instead of the variable date for Easter. Bank Holidays would of course continue to be observed. Many local authorities already have adopted this solution.

The NUT is making representations on your behalf and you can read our formal response here