Government looking at plans to split school years into five terms and shorten summer holidays
5 March 2021, 08:14 | Updated: 5 March 2021, 08:16
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has confirmed that he is looking at potential plans to split the year into five terms.
Gavin Williamson has confirmed that the school year could be split into five terms with a shorter summer holiday.
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The Education Secretary has said that changes to the school calendar were among a number of options being considered by Sir Kevan Collins, the education catch-up tsar, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
When asked by the i newspaper whether the current six year summer holiday was too long, Mr Williamson replied: "I think we should never be nervous about looking at new routes and different ways of doing things.
He added that there had "always been a lively and strong debate around actually is the distribution of holidays the right distribution?".
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And speaking about the issue of five-term years, he said: "There’s been discussion about five-term years. It’s right to have that discussion, look at the evidence and make an assessment as to what are the best options, about how we can really drive children’s attainment in schools, especially children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, so this is why we’ve asked Kevan to look at all options."
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Mr Williamson added: "Sir Kevan Collins is looking across a whole broad range of different ways of giving children a boost - not just in terms of kids being able to catch up the learning they have lost.
"But to more fundamentally make major changes to how we drive educational attainment for a generation and more. All of this is something Sir Kevan will be looking at."
Schools reopen for all pupils in England next Monday in the first phase of lockdown-easing.
Speaking about their reopening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week: "When schools re-open on 8 March, I want to make sure no child is left behind as a result of the learning they have lost over the past year."
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