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Bryan Slater Director of Education |
Distribution |
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Headteachers and
Chairs of Governors of Norfolk Maintained Schools |
The
attached document is provided for your information:
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INFORMATION |
Title
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Term dates – School
Year 2005/06 |
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Summary of contents |
The school term and
holiday dates for the 2005/06 school year are now published and are attached
for information. The rationale behind
the pattern of dates is explained in the attached letter. Headteachers are
requested to forward the second enclosed copy of this letter to Chairs of
Governors. |
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Associated documents |
MI Sheet 26/04 |
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Date |
7 June 2004 |
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Effective from |
Immediate |
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LEA Contact |
Malcolm Reeve |
( |
01603 638077 |
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E-mail address |
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Norfolk Self Review reference |
1. How high are
standards? 3. How well are
pupils taught? 5. How well does
the school care for its pupils? 6. How well does the school work in partnership with parents? 7. How well is the
school led and managed? |
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Document reference |
MI 125-04 |
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Dear Colleague
I attach for your information the term and holiday dates for
the school year 2005/06. The dates are based on a 193 day pattern as adopted
for 2004/05. In setting these dates we
have taken account of the national proposals of the Local Government Association
(LGA) Standing Committee on the School Year and worked in close liaison with
other LEAs in the Eastern Region. We
have also carefully considered all comments received from schools and teaching
associations and consulted with the Education and Cultural Services Review
Panel and the Cabinet Member for Education.
The pattern chosen is Model D, as identified as our
preferred option in the feedback exercise we undertook earlier this year (MI
26/04). Having considered all views and
issues, we have concluded that this is the best pattern to adopt for
2005/06. This model:
- provides
continuity by extending the 2004/05 pattern into 2005/06;
- received
a good level of support form schools as indicated in the recent feedback
exercise;
- is
based broadly on the LGA proposals, thus incorporating the initiative to
create more even teaching and learning blocks (the spring and summer terms
are more even in length by having the Good Friday and Easter Monday Bank
Holiday period at the end of the two week holiday period in 2006);
- provides
a compromise between the national recommendations (where schools have to
find five training days outside the calendar, some of which may be
disaggregated days) and the traditional 195 day pattern;
- eliminates
transport costs arising from schools on the same bus routes having
uncoordinated training days;
- provides
a full 6 week holiday for staff as well as pupils;
- reflects
the model proposed by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, apart from the pattern
for training days. We are
committed to working closely with other regional Authorities in
determining school terms and holiday dates.
With regard to the Inset days, we will be monitoring and
evaluating the success of the 193 day pattern.
The LGA is encouraging Authorities to provide schools with the
flexibility to set some INSET time through the use of disaggregated time. In their view, supported by the Secondary
Heads Association, ‘disaggregation’ into hours is found to be beneficial to
both whole-school improvement planning and to individual teachers who are able
to undertake training tailored to personal development needs. Headteachers may wish to consider
self-directed professional development as an alternative to twilight training
sessions for persons with carer responsibilities.
You will probably
be aware that future arrangements for INSET days forms part of the review being
undertaken by the Workload Agreement Monitoring Group. Consequently, any national agreements that
arise from this review may have an impact on arrangements for subsequent
years.
The dates do not accommodate a Christmas holiday period
which gives two complete weeks with three weekends. Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved without losing holiday
time elsewhere in the calendar, i.e. during the Easter or summer holiday
periods. We do acknowledge that there
are strong feelings about this amongst some school staff and we will write to
the LGA to ask them to take this into account when drawing up dates for future
years.
You will also note that we have not continued the extended
October half-term arrangement adopted for 2004/05. The reason for this is that most of the other Eastern Region LEAs
have decided not to adopt this pattern at present. An extended October break is still an option for the future but
we would wish to move forward on this on a regional basis. I wish to stress that the 2004/05 dates will
remain as published with an extended October half-term holiday period.
Some responses to our feedback exercise suggested that the
current proposals are not radical enough, bearing in mind the original six term
year vision which was promoted nationally two years ago. The LGA has advised us that further change
may be recommended if and when the introduction of post-qualification admission
(PQA) to higher education takes place.
The universities have been asked by the DfES to study a number of
‘access’ issues to higher education, including PQA, under which pupils would
apply to higher education with their actual A-level grades. This may involve moving public examinations
slightly earlier in the year to make this possible. Hay fever sufferers would also benefit from not having to sit
examinations at the height of the hay fever season. If examinations were moved earlier, the LGA would re-examine the
position (not necessarily the length) of the summer holiday and may recommend
an earlier end to the final term with an earlier start the following year. We are informed that this is unlikely to
happen in the near future.
I hope that I have been able to clarify the rationale behind
the pattern of dates we have set but if you require any further information,
please do not hesitate to contact my colleague, Malcolm Reeve.
Yours sincerely
Bryan Slater
Director of Education