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 2008/2009.

1.2 Establishing more balanced term lengths with regular breaks supports the second priority of the corporate strategy, maximising wellbeing, by helping schools and families to plan learning more effectively. Agreement on term and holiday dates across the county supports schools and their communities in working together during the school term and maximising the use of resources out of school hours.

1.3 Achieving a proper structure to the school year contributes to all aspects of The Children Act 2004. 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 Following some years of national and local debate over the structure of the school year, The Local Government Association (LGA) National Standing Committee on the School Year agreed on the implementation of a "Standard School Year" with terms of roughly equal length regardless of the position of Easter in the calendar for the school year 2007/08. This has been the preferred approach in Hampshire since the in-principle decision by the cabinet of the County Council in December 2002.

2.2 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.

2.3 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 2008/2009 (Appendix A) follows the recommendations by the LGA. These national recommendations do allow for a degree of local flexibility as 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 In the school year 2008/2009 public holidays fall in a way which is consistent with scheduling a standard school year. It is, therefore, unnecessary to separate the Easter weekend from the two-week spring holiday as is the case in 2007/8.

3.5 Although the Hampshire commitment to retain a published school year of 195 days means that the last day of the summer term 2009 will be a Wednesday. This pattern of scheduling allows schools to select any five days from within the 195 for staff training days. Early information for parents concerning which days a school chooses to close to students is recommended.

4 Consultation

4.1 It is proposed to send this pattern of term and holidays (Appendix A) to schools for comment. The recommendations of the LGA result in the attached pattern of dates for a 195 day school year and the proposed pattern has the support of Hampshire CoSWP. This form of consultation was used last year and replaced the previous practice of sending three different year patterns to schools from which to express a preference.

5 Other options considered

5.1 The only other option considered was a return to school on Tuesday 2 September, making the final day of the school year, Tuesday 21 July. This pattern was rejected on the basis of discussions with CoSWP concerning split weeks which concluded that better student attendance was encouraged when the greater part of such a week was scheduled as school days.

6 Legal implications

6.1 All maintained schools with the exception of foundation and voluntary aided schools are bound to abide by local authority imposed term and holiday dates. However, 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 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 has 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 are 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 2008/2009 by sending for comment, the attached pattern of proposed dates (Appendix A) which has the support of Hampshire County Council, the Conditions of Service working Party (CoSWP) of Hampshire Teachers' Liaison Panel (TLP) and is 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.