Why do kids have 6 weeks holiday?

KiKi

lolseh wrote: »

I remember being told in primary school that here in Scotland one of the holidays we get is because children used to go out in the fields and help harvest potatos. Who knows if it is true

It is true: see my post #4 above!

balletshoes

lolseh wrote: »

I remember being told in primary school that here in Scotland one of the holidays we get is because children used to go out in the fields and help harvest potatos. Who knows if it is true

yep, it wasn't that long ago either - when I was in primary school in Scotland we had one weeks holidays at Easter, and 2 weeks at the start of October - and we did spend that 2 weeks picking tatties.

lolseh

KiKi wrote: »

It is true: see my post #4 above!

It isn't just the summer holidays it's some other one aswell but it's that long since I've been at school I've forgot what holiday it is. It will be whenever potatos are ready to harvest.. :rotfl:

Torry_Quine

Spendless wrote: »

That's true, but what we do and they don't (afaik) is break up as frequently (for at least 1 week every 6-8 weeks). They don't have the half term breaks (feb/may/oct) that we do. We have relatives in canada and their main hols were 2 weeks at Xmas and 1 week spring break, and 1 or 2 long weekends but the bulk of hols were in the summer. I believe Scottish hols are slightly different too and N. Ireland.

lolseh wrote: »

I remember being told in primary school that here in Scotland one of the holidays we get is because children used to go out in the fields and help harvest potatos. Who knows if it is true

balletshoes wrote: »

yep, it wasn't that long ago either - when I was in primary school in Scotland we had one weeks holidays at Easter, and 2 weeks at the start of October - and we did spend that 2 weeks picking tatties.

Here in Scotland or at least this part we are on week five of our six week summer holidays. We have two weeks in October, was previously one and this is known as the Tattie holidays for the tattie harvest. The Easter holidays don't even cover easter every year any more!

ebayqueen_2

Hi there
My 2 youngest 15/17 have been off since 26th June. They go back first week of September. This is normal for us and find that the English holidays seem short. Kids need a break from school too. So much pressure from Autumn to late spring preparing for exams. I find that they go quite quickly!

I also remember the potato harvesting. My older sister who is in her late 50's remembers always getting time off for gathering spuds in October.

Same all over Ireland and Scotland too I think. Wouldn't do some of the kids any harm to do some hard physical work. Would love to hear my two!

lolseh

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Here in Scotland or at least this part we are on week five of our six week summer holidays. We have two weeks in October, was previously one and this is known as the Tattie holidays for the tattie harvest. The Easter holidays don't even cover easter every year any more!

I had a feeling it was October! I think where I am they are on their 4th week but then possibly it could be the 5th week. That worries me a bit because I'm still waiting to hear from colleges about when my interviews are!

I remember when they started making the 2 week Easter break the same dates every year and I was happy because it meant I got my Birthday off all the time :T

balletshoes

ah but farmers don't pick tatties by hand anymore - they use machines, which don't need any kids to man them (and they are really boring to work on compared with being on a tattie field racing each other to finish your "bit" first ).

lolseh

ebayqueen wrote: »

Hi there
My 2 youngest 15/17 have been off since 26th June. They go back first week of September. This is normal for us and find that the English holidays seem short. Kids need a break from school too. So much pressure from Autumn to late spring preparing for exams. I find that they go quite quickly!

I also remember the potato harvesting. My older sister who is in her late 50's remembers always getting time off for gathering spuds in October.

Same all over Ireland and Scotland too I think. Wouldn't do some of the kids any harm to do some hard physical work. Would love to hear my two!

Health and safety would have a great time with kids having to do some proper work and how wrong it is. Imagine taking all the consoles and computers off the little darlings

Spendless

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Here in Scotland or at least this part we are on week five of our six week summer holidays. We have two weeks in October, was previously one and this is known as the Tattie holidays for the tattie harvest. The Easter holidays don't even cover easter every year any more!

It's only week 2 for me. Easter hols well it varies in England. Mine do 1 of 3 variants depending on whether easter falls early or late, either break up day before Good friday and off for following 2 weeks, have the traditional week before and week after easter, or break up 2 weeks before easter and go back the day following Easter Mon. I work in an office where the staff live in all corners of Yorkshire and there were 4 different variations of what our children were off for Easter this year.

sneezyboots

I'm a teacher and even I don't like the holidays. I always look forward to it, but last week I went away, this week I have cleaned house from top to bottom, got loads of odd jobs done and prepared all my data and stuff for the new kids i'm getting. Now bored! Although it is true we get one of the shortest summer breaks around, most countries get months!