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To: The Education Authorities of the Eastern Counties, UK - planning of 2020 academic year

Move school summer holiday 1 week forward to start mid-July: Friday 17 July - Tuesday 1 Sept in 2020

Shorten the school summer term so children are on holiday by approximately 15th of July or earlier.
For 2020, the suggestion would be 17 July - 01 September

Why is this important?

It's July, it's 7 pm and it's hot, incredibly hot. The sun is shining bright and high still at this time of day. Sadly, July means school, homework and 7:30 pm bedtimes. Even more sadly, the heat and long daylight of July is not a feature of late August/September nights when the kids are still on holiday (why?!!). They simply miss the best part of the British summer because they have to be at school so late into it!

Why should we shorten the summer term to finish by 15th July?
1) The warm, long, light evenings make school-night bedtimes a nightmare for kids and parents. 8pm easily becomes 10pm.
2) Children get less sleep at this time of year and it greatly affects their learning and behaviour
3) The academic learning objectives and targets for the year will have been largely reached and it’s just a waiting game for everyone before the end of term. Late August / September are much more productive in terms of learning, NOT hot July!
4) The hot, sunny weather makes it difficult for the children to learn at school / do homework, making the teacher's job more difficult.
5) At the moment, the children cannot enjoy the long July summer nights… because they are school nights. That means heading home early from parks, pools and beaches and missing out on a lot of physical exercise. Late August and September do not offer the same outdoor opportunities in the evenings as people go indoors when evenings are dark and cold. Also, you are unlikely to make a long drive for a swim in the sea in September, but July would be ideal (but it's a school night, so we can't)
6) In our fight against the dramatic rise in childhood obesity, we need to enable everyone to be physcially active by giving them opportunties do so (long daylight, evenings in the park)
6) For those who do not go abroad, mid-July is really the best time for camping to make the most of the weather and the light evenings.
7) It is likely to reduce school absences as the motivation dwindles in hot weather at the end of the academic year.

To enable the legally required 190 school days per academic year, we propose starting the autumn term a little bit earlier when the lesser daylight and lower temperatures at night are more conducive to studying. Although this will make the autumn term slightly longer, this time of year is more productive for both children and parents. It’s a small price to pay to be on holiday at a more suitable time in mid-July. Alternatively, the Easter break could be shortened or all training days could be shifted to the end of the summer term. This year, some schools are having their training days at the end of term, thereby letting the children go on holiday on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 July. It would also be very considerate to family holiday planning if all schools could finish the summer term on a Friday.

Being able to finish the summer term by th 15th of July or earlier would make a huge, huge difference to the many families.

Please let school children enjoy the best time of the British summer.
England

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2018-07-10 17:15:06 +0100

100 signatures reached

2018-07-05 19:47:28 +0100

50 signatures reached

2018-07-04 12:14:30 +0100

25 signatures reached

2018-07-03 21:21:39 +0100

10 signatures reached