roger wrote:

My friend has children off both this week and next. And to add insult to
injury neither school would let their children have the week off for a
holiday. There is a huge difference over Christmas and the weeks are
different again in February.

It has got very stupid and something has to give.

There have been attempts at co-ordination in London and the Home Counties
with authorities agreeing a common calendar for state schools and a lot of
private schools appear to be following this, albeit with variations such as
a two week autumn half-term and ending the summer term earlier. Although as
the year I was looking at had a late Easter that may have forced more
conformity than usual. (Having said that in many places Easter is no longer
treated as an absolute requirement for the spring holidays.)

But that's possibly down to a combination of an area where multiple school
authorities are common (not just children being taught in different
authorities but also teachers with children at different schools and even
workplaces that structure operations to allow as many parents as possible to
be off for half-term) and parental/political pressure for conformity. If all
the education authorities in the area are singing from the same hymn sheet
and other local independent schools are copying it then it becomes much
harder to whine that it's too difficult to sync up term dates. (Even the
internet is a factor - it's much easier for a parent to get the term dates
of common other schools and call bull**** on the school's objections.)
Parents rarely give a toss about school sports matches, especially if their
own children aren't in the team, and just aren't interested in having to
take extra weeks off work or forgo the chance to have a family holiday at
half-term just because of some silly friendly game.

It may also hinge on whether a school has got a good idea of where its
pupils go onto and also where their siblings are. From what little I've seen
my old prep school has partially adapted to now also officially prepare for
the 11+ as well as Common Entrance two years later. And if the number going
on to boarding schools is in decline as it seems then elder siblings are
more likely to be in the catchment radius doubled.

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