'S**t idea!' Parents erupt in fury over suggestion school summer holidays should be cut to just 4 weeks - 'I would hate this'

It suggested the current structure has been “stuck in place since Victorian times” and highlighted how longer half-term breaks could also prove beneficial.

The report will suggest reducing summer holidays from six-weeks to just four and extending half-term breaks from one-week to a fortnight.

Worried parents took to Mumsnet to vent about the suggested change to the term timetable in England.

One user wrote: “What struggling families really need is even more pressure on the already expensive 6 week summer holiday period when they can take their kids away?

“Who on earth wants extra weeks in November and February, especially families who can't afford to go abroad?

“The last two weeks have been so b****y wet and miserable here in the UK; I can't imagine if a February holiday was my best hope of a break.

• Neighbours demand closure of next door glamping site over noisy sex in 'thin tents'
• BA supervisor 'on the run' after charging immigrants £25k to use 'loophole'
  
• School summer holidays would be drastically cut under new recommendations

“I do think that the autumn term is long and could do with a longer holiday, but February, really?”

More than 250 mothers responded to the post.

One wrote: “I think it's a s**t idea. The problem is poverty in the community which means schools are having to shore up children as social services, not that school holidays are too long in the summer. Pretty much every other country manages with long summer holidays.”

Another said: “It's already a struggle to enable everyone in my team who wants time off in the summer school holidays to have this. It would be impossible if only 4 weeks.”

A third wrote: “It’s going to make finding childcare more difficult and expensive. Lots of summer childcare is based on summer sports camps who ideally need to use outdoor space.”

Another argued: “My child's school is doing 2 weeks in October and a shorter summer holiday already. It's causing issues already for those with younger siblings. All the schools have different holiday dates. It's chaos sorting childcare. Not sure how the holiday clubs will work if all schools don't align with the same holiday dates.”

However, a seemingly more supportive parent wrote: “On the other side of this, it would mean that my holiday club costs were a bit more evenly spread through the year. At the moment, my childcare bill for august is eyewatering, add to that school uniforms etc, and it's just a lot of money to be spent in that month. I have to carefully save all year round to make sure I can cover it. August is by far my most expensive month of the year, and we rarely actually take a holiday.”

She added: “My main question though is would it be better for the kids? DS loses all sense of routine over the summer, and going back to school in September is very jarring for him, it takes him a while to transition back into it. A shorter holiday might help with that.”

Another wrote: “I think it's a good idea and should be looked into more. There are loads of studies that show that the long summer holiday has a negative effect on children's learning. There's also staff wellbeing aspect - again research shows that the period between October and December had the highest staff absence.”

A third penned: “So much better as four weeks, the kids get bored by the second week and it drags for them. Not all of us can afford fancy summer clubs!”