Residents want school terms to stay as they are

RESIDENTS across Leicestershire have overwhelmingly called for school term and holiday dates to remain the same in the county.

Earlier this year, the county council launched a consultation to capture the views of the public on three suggested options for autumn 2019 onwards, one of which aligned with patterns in Leicester schools.

However, cabinet members will be told next week that 71 per cent of the people who had their say were in favour of remaining with Leicestershire’s traditional pattern.

That would mean staying with early autumn and spring breaks at half-term, with the summer holiday break including the last two weeks of July, traditionally the fortnight factory break.

A term-time pattern based on Leicester City Council’s arrangements from autumn 2019 received 22 per cent support, with six per cent favouring an alternative pattern with a later autumn and spring half-term. One per cent of the respondents didn’t express a preference.

Coun Ivan Ould, county council cabinet member for children and families, said: “We acknowledge the significant feedback in favour of remaining with the traditional patterns, but it was important to gauge the views and we had more than 6,000 responses.”

The report to be discussed by cabinet members says that, while the county council is responsible for setting school term-time dates, the advent of academies has led to a disparity with some of them already moving away from the traditional Leicestershire pattern.