Contact: Melanie Saunders, Education Officer (Secondary/Post-16), telephone 01962 846364, e-mail: m[email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report seeks approval to consult on the dates of school terms and holidays in 2007/2008.

1.2 Establishing more balanced term lengths with regular breaks supports Aim 1 of the corporate strategy, maximising life opportunities, by helping schools and families to plan learning more effectively. Aim 4, building strong and safe communities, is supported by achieving agreement on dates across the county so that schools and their communities can work effectively together in school and out of school hours.

1.3 Achieving a proper structure of to school year contributes to all aspects of The Children Act. Properly structured periods of learning and rest help children to remain healthy, enjoy their school time and achieve more. Children are safer in school and good attendance supports educational achievement laying the foundation for a positive contribution to society and economic well-being. The publication of dates well in advance enables families to plan holidays and arrange childcare so that school attendance need not be compromised.

2 Background

2.1 The structure of the school year has been a subject of national debate for some years and attempts to make more radical changes have resulted in dispute in some areas of the country.

2.2 The Local Government Association (LGA) National Standing Committee on the School Year has agreed on the implementation of a "Standard School Year" with terms of roughly equal length regardless of the position of Easter in the calendar.

2.3 Local authorities have always determined the dates of school terms and holidays unilaterally and, despite attempts to secure national agreement, not all authorities have agreed to abide by the recommendations of the LGA.

2.4 Hampshire teachers' professional associations, represented by the Conditions of Service Working Party (CoSWP,) has worked closely with officers of the local authority over several years in order to secure an agreed approach to setting dates for the county's schools.

3 The current position

3.1 The attached pattern of term and holiday dates for 2007/2008 (Appendix A) follows the pattern recommended by the LGA. The national recommendations do allow for a degree of local flexibility. Some authorities schedule 190 days with schools expected to identify an additional five days for staff training. Other authorities, such as Hampshire, have agreed to schedule 195 days so that schools may identify five days from within those to use for training.

3.2 The Hampshire CoSWP support the pattern of dates offered in Appendix A since it is in accordance with the dates agreed by the national executives of their professional associations as represented on the LGA standing committee. CoSWP are keen to agree dates with Hampshire County Council in order to avoid the consultation with schools establishing a preference for dates which are unacceptable to either party.

3.3 The term and holiday dates suggested in Appendix A may not be the same as some neighbouring authorities who might chose to disregard the recommendations of the LGA. Discussions with neighbouring authorities are ongoing.

3.4 The school year 2007/2008 is the first year in which the Easter weekend will be separated from the two-week spring holiday. The purpose of this is to avoid the extremes of term length which a very early or very late Easter causes with the attendant planning difficulties for schools.

3.5 At the suggestion of teachers, the LGA has chosen to separate Easter from the holiday by nearly two weeks to avoid the attendance issues predicted by a return to school of only four days between Easter Monday and the spring holiday.

4 Consultation

4.1 It is proposed to send just one pattern of term and holidays to schools for comment. The recommendations of the LGA result in this pattern of dates for a 195 day school year and the proposed pattern has the support of Hampshire CoSWP. Schools have, in the past, been sent three different year patterns from which to express a preference.

4.2 The separation of Easter as part of moving to a standard school year, which was agreed in principle by the Cabinet of Hampshire County Council in December 2002, has not been necessary until now. Schools may find the shape of this particular year unfamiliar and wish to comment on the proposed pattern. Such comments will be taken into account and presented to the Executive Member at his decision day following the close of the consultation period.

5 Other options considered

5.1 Two other options were considered.

(i) To disregard the recommendations of the LGA and schedule a traditional school year. In 2007/2008 this would result in a three week long first half to the spring term and a eight week second half. It would also disregard the 2002, in principle decision by the Cabinet of Hampshire County Council to move to a school year based on a more even distribution of term and holiday dates, then referred to as "The Six Term Year," and previous agreements with CoSWP.

(ii) To schedule a more radical pattern in which the weekend of the Whitsun bank holiday (26 May) is separated from summer half term in addition to the separation of the Easter weekend. This would provide even better balance to the terms and create pressure for the suggested permanent move of the bank holiday to the first week in June, as in the Jubilee year. However, this does not accord with the recommendations of the LGA and would be unlikely to be replicated in our neighbouring authorities. The level of variation from previous years would be even greater and, therefore, even less likely to receive the support of schools.

6 Legal implications

6.1 All schools with the exception of foundation secondary and voluntary aided primary schools are bound to abide by local authority imposed term and holiday dates. They must provide 190 teaching days in each academic year and must select five out of the 195 days scheduled, during which they are closed to pupils for the purposes of staff training.

7 Financial implications

7.1 There are no financial implications arising directly from this report.

8 Personnel implications

8.1 Extensive consultation with representatives of teacher professional associations has taken place. These have been with CoSWP which is part of Hampshire Teachers' Liaison Panel. Members of the national executives of these associations sit on the LGA National Standing Committee on the School Year. The pattern of term and holiday dates recommended in this report are in line with the agreement reached by the National Standing Committee and have the support of CoSWP.

9 Crime prevention issues

9.1 If the early publication of agreed term and holiday dates leads to a reduction in truancy then there is a positive impact on crime and disorder. Otherwise, there is no direct implications from this report.

10 Impact Assessment

10.1 No adverse impact in regard to race, culture, gender or disability arising from this report has been identified. Parents have the right to withdraw their children from school in order to observe religious holidays. Christmas and Easter are statutory public holidays in Britain.

11 Views of the local County Councillor

11.1 The views of County Councillors have not been sought.

Recommendations

That approval be given to consult schools on term and holiday dates for the academic year 2007/2008 by sending for comment, a pattern of proposed dates which have the support of Hampshire County Council, the CoSWP of Hampshire Teachers' Liaison Panel (TLP) and are in line with the recommendations of the Local Government association (LGA).

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None.