Lucy Walker-Etchells, 40, is a teacher at Dixons Brooklands Academy in south Manchester. Her school has a two-week half term, but for the majority of her teaching career she’s had one week.
“I definitely much prefer two weeks,” Walker-Etchells says. “Most teachers would agree because autumn is an intense term. It’s really nice to have two weeks to recharge and come back feeling refreshed.”
Moving a week’s holiday from the summer to the autumn half term could benefit pupils too, she believes.
“Sometimes, vulnerable students really struggle being off for so long over the six-week holiday if they’re in difficult circumstances,” she says. “That’s a long time out of structure, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing to break up the summer holidays.”
Unity Schools Partnership runs 40 primary, secondary and special schools across the east of England. The trust introduced a two-week half term in autumn 2023 and asked parents and staff how they felt about the switch the following year.
Their consultation found 58% of parents were in favour of the two-week break, with the remainder against. Strikingly, 89% of staff supported it.
“It’s cited as a reason why they would stay with us as an employer, which helps us build quality in schools,” says Dominic Norrish, Unity’s chief executive.
He adds that the number of days lost to staff sickness absence has fallen by 16% since the two-week half term was brought in. “People are getting ill less frequently because they’ve got longer to recover between half terms,” he adds.
Ultimately, getting the best teachers in front of pupils more regularly means “children will receive a better education in the autumn term”.