A fixed Easter holiday period

[Roses]

I think the first Sunday in April would be a good time to have Easter Sunday. This would make more sense than having it as early as mid March or late April as this year. Quite a number of authorities in the UK have fixed the Easter school holidays so the summer term isn't too long or too short. Three of my grandchildren went back to school yesterday, having had their two week spring holiday, they will have Good Friday and Easter Monday off of course.

What do others think?

[jeremyp]

I think the first Sunday in April would be a good time to have Easter Sunday. This would make more sense than having it as early as mid March or late April as this year. Quite a number of authorities in the UK have fixed the Easter school holidays so the summer term isn't too long or too short. Three of my grandchildren went back to school yesterday, having had their two week spring holiday, they will have Good Friday and Easter Monday off of course.

What do others think?

I quite like the way Easter moves around. However, I can understand why it is a pain in the arse for schools. If the consensus was that it should be fixed to a specific weekend, I would not complain.

[Harrowby Hall]

The problem here, though, is that "Easter" does not belong to any single organisation or enterprise nor to any nation. Perhaps the British government could institute a fixed holiday- as LR has suggested - and call it something appropriate such the All Fools Holiday.

[Roses]

Even if there is no consensus for fixing Easter itself, there shouldn't be any problem about fixing the school holidays.

[Harrowby Hall]

Even if there is no consensus for fixing Easter itself, there shouldn't be any problem about fixing the school holidays.

You are absolutely right about this.

[jeremyp]

Even if there is no consensus for fixing Easter itself, there shouldn't be any problem about fixing the school holidays.

Yes there is no reason why the school holidays have to match the timing of Easter. You could just select the two week period that is most likely to contain Easter.

[SteveH]

This suggestion regularly comes up, including from Rowan Williams, whom I usually have great respect for, but I think it's a bad idea. Conservative Christians will be in uproar if it's ever introduced, and will insist on celebrating it as a moveable feast, as now, so it'll just cause confusion. Anyway, unlike Christmas, Pasch (Easter, if you insist) has to be on a Sunday, so it couldn't be completely fixed.

[ProfessorDavey]

This suggestion regularly comes up, including from Rowan Williams, whom I usually have great respect for, but I think it's a bad idea. Conservative Christians will be in uproar if it's ever introduced, and will insist on celebrating it as a moveable feast, as now, so it'll just cause confusion. Anyway, unlike Christmas, Pasch (Easter, if you insist) has to be on a Sunday, so it couldn't be completely fixed.

Christians can choose to celebrate the passion whenever they wish - I think this discussion is about whether the spring public holiday which we (appropriately) call Easter should be fixed to a particular weekend. Those are 2 completely separate discussions.

[ad_orientem]

I think the first Sunday in April would be a good time to have Easter Sunday. This would make more sense than having it as early as mid March or late April as this year. Quite a number of authorities in the UK have fixed the Easter school holidays so the summer term isn't too long or too short. Three of my grandchildren went back to school yesterday, having had their two week spring holiday, they will have Good Friday and Easter Monday off of course.

What do others think?

Seeing as you can calculate the date for Easter for the next million years I see no problem in having such a movable holiday. Don't think much of the idea.

[jeremyp]

There’s actually two problems here.

1. When to celebrate Easter.

2. When to have the school holidays between the Spring term and the Summer term.

The timing of the former is of no concern to anybody except Christians. They can have it when they like.

The timing of the latter is of concern to a lot of people. It would be much better if it were fixed.

There is also the issue of the two bank holidays associated with Easter. Maybe they could be distributed more evenly over the year.

[ProfessorDavey]

There’s actually two problems here.

1. When to celebrate Easter.

2. When to have the school holidays between the Spring term and the Summer term.

The timing of the former is of no concern to anybody except Christians. They can have it when they like.

The timing of the latter is of concern to a lot of people. It would be much better if it were fixed.

There is also the issue of the two bank holidays associated with Easter. Maybe they could be distributed more evenly over the year.

But the whole issue of the two bank holidays is wrapped up with the school holidays - certainly you can uncouple the main school holiday from the christian easter, but if the bank holidays remain linked to the latter there will still be problems for schools.

This year is a good example. Many schools would prefer (for evening out term lengths etc) to have school holiday the first couple of weeks in April. They can do this now, but if they do they'd have a two week holiday and the weeks of stop-start, with a 4 day weekend just after they'd returned, plus a 3 day weekend jus a week or two later.

Better to fix the bank holidays to the second weekend in April, allowing schools to include this in their holiday (virtually all would be happy with this) and if the christian festival falls outside this weekend, so be it - the christians can celebrate as they wish, but there is no reason why the state should add two bank holidays to that (non fixed) weekend.

[jeremyp]

But the whole issue of the two bank holidays is wrapped up with the school holidays - certainly you can uncouple the main school holiday from the christian easter, but if the bank holidays remain linked to the latter there will still be problems for schools.

This year is a good example. Many schools would prefer (for evening out term lengths etc) to have school holiday the first couple of weeks in April. They can do this now, but if they do they'd have a two week holiday and the weeks of stop-start, with a 4 day weekend just after they'd returned, plus a 3 day weekend jus a week or two later.

Better to fix the bank holidays to the second weekend in April, allowing schools to include this in their holiday (virtually all would be happy with this) and if the christian festival falls outside this weekend, so be it - the christians can celebrate as they wish, but there is no reason why the state should add two bank holidays to that (non fixed) weekend.

Agreed. The bank holidays couldn’t remain attached to Easter. That’s why I said they could be redistributed. At the moment we have four bank holidays in spring, one in summer and three at Christmas. This is strongly weighted towards one time of year.

[Gordon]

This year in my area (East Dunbartonshire schools) the 'Spring Break/Easter Holidays' (their term) was from 1st to 12th April inclusive, then the kids returned to school only to have the Fri/Mon 'Easter Weekend' (their term) over 19th - 22nd April. This seems more fragmented than is ideal.

If there are to be two bank holidays in April, and since some bank holidays dates aren't UK wide anyway (though the Easter ones are) I wonder why it essential to have two over the same weekend and not space them out more: but if there are to be two in April then incorporating these PH's into a defined spring break would make more sense and save working parents using non-PH annual leave entitlement when, like this year in my area, the Easter PH's occurred after the kids returned to school after their Easter break.

 

[Anchorman]

Even if there is no consensus for fixing Easter itself, there shouldn't be any problem about fixing the school holidays.

   


There are no fixed 'British' school holidays.
Holidays in Scotland differ from those in Northern Ireland, and both differ from those in England.

[ProfessorDavey]

   


There are no fixed 'British' school holidays.
Holidays in Scotland differ from those in Northern Ireland, and both differ from those in England.

There are no fixed holidays in England and Wales either.

The Easter holidays for my kids (in Hertfordshire), my wife's sister's kids (in Cardiff) and her brother's (in Chester) were radically different. Ours had the Easter holiday leading up to the Easter weekend, going back on the day after Easter Monday. Her brother's kids had Easter in early April - returned to school and then had a four day weekend in the new term. Her sister's kids didn't break up until Maunday Thursday for the Easter break with their summer term only starting at the beginning of May.

The reason being the non-fixed and very late Easter - were the 4 day Easter to be fixed to the second weekend in April, I'd imagine (give or take) they's all have had similar Easter holiday dates.

[Anchorman]

I blame the Synod of Whitby.....

[ProfessorDavey]

I blame the Synod of Whitby.....

Hmm - always better to blame an event from 1400 years ago, that is entirely irrelevant now, rather than actually fix the issue in the here and now