Do someone knows why the school summer holidays are so short here considering the kids will have another 3 weeks in sept/october...in Canton Bern It's bad enough this year with the weather ,but cutting the summer like this to have again 3 weeks just after 5 weeks into the new school year is beyond me? but there must be a rational explanation ?!
I'm a little confused about what you were trying to ask exactly. Have your school summer holidays been reduced? For the past 8 years my kids have had the 5 weeks in the summer, then they get 2 weeks in October. Last year, they got 3 weeks in the October because the teachers were doing something (i can't remember exactly) . are you upset that they have been reduced or what ?
Sorry my English is confusing you. I am not upset as we have only been 1 year, I don't know if the holidays used to be longer or not...
my question is : why do they have again a 3 week break in sept/october when they just come back from their summer holidays.. It would make more sense to me to extend the summer holidays and only have only a short week for mid term....
now you seem to think there is an educational purpose for the teachers during this 3 week break ?
Ok, I got you now. The school holidays vary from canton to canton. Zurich and surrounding cantons get about 5 weeks, I've just seen on a site that Geneva get 7 weeks in the summer http://geneva.angloinfo.com/information/11/pub_hols.asp which I didn't know. I guess it does seem like a short time between the summer and autumn holidays, but there always seems to be some break or another every 5 to 6 weeks during the school term.
Tuborg: but they only go to school in the morning? how can they get tired after just being back 5 weeks from summer holidays? I come from a French system , taught both in England and in international schools so I do know when the students ( and us teachers ) get tired..I taught in a school where we had to teach a 10 week block from 8.30 to 15.30 ( 50 minutes lunch max and a 10 minute break in the morning) , which was far too much I am the first one to say especially for 4 years old.. but here , we are falling into another extreme.
the only good thing i see is for parents as they can move their summer holidays in September..it is off season for vacations in hot places!
and I 'm not trying to argue which system is better or worse, coming from my experience, it is a very different way of organising the school holidays, and at is a big debate in France at the moment ( changing the school hours, having the summer holidays shorter etc..), it is interesting to see the differences and try and understand WHY?
We do seem to have longer holidays over here, that's right. Although, I am used to 8wks in the summer, a few days in the fall and then 2wks over at xmas and a week off in spring and that's it.
The way it works here is hard to get used to, since anytime you really get into learning something properly, you break it by having another long time off. The pace in school is so light, I wonder why the need for holidays every few weeks (and with the long lunch breaks and Wednesdays off). Beats me. Nice for teachers, though, fo sho.
There are two explanations for this: Without the autoumn holiday the term would last 18 weeks till Christmas, which is considered to be far to long for the small ones.
The other explanation is that the parents working in tourism can't take a holiday during Easter time or during the peak season. In fact the holidays in September or October are the only weeks families can spend together.
My little maniac gets 6 weeks. I noticed in comparison that in some parts of Italy they have a full 3 months, or even more, but don't have so much of a break during the rest of the year.
I read of an academic study recently where they found that students with long summer breaks would forget some higher percentage (plucking a figure - 30%) of what they'd learnt during the summer than kids with shorter breaks. In the US, some are trying to reduce the length of summer breaks to reduce this annual dumbening of their students. (Dumbening - )
I like the shorter summer breaks with other decent breaks in between the summers. Not just for the anti-dumbening aspects, but so we can have decent holidays other times of the year too.
@Simplon: does this mean most of the people here work in tourism I assume, which makes sense..this explanation i can understand.. the first one, they could extend the summer holidays by another week or so and then have 1 or 2 week mid break before christmas , put a bit later on the calendar..
If it is for the parents who work in travel industry why on earth are all the shops closed? There have been so many small business going bankcrupt past two years in our street, but every single holidays they were closed. Incl 3-4wks in the summer, then two weeks in the fall, then xmas, then two weeks in the spring.. I can't imagine anything worse for business.
Anyways, since it is my nagging week, it can be hard to focus on doing something, having all these little breaks, etc. It takes some time getting used to, but overall, it's lovely (if one has an ok daycare situation , so many creches and kid activities also close during school holidays, ugh).
At one time (certainly until 1975) in Furna, Canton Graubünden, the kids only had school in late autumn, winter and early spring. Late spring to early autumn they'd be up on the alp working with the rest of the family. Maybe Allegra could tell us how widespread this was.
They have three weeks in September/October. When would you like to have the 2 week mid brea?. In November? Believe me, this would be the worst possible month for a holiday. Till October the hotels in Spain, Portugal and Italy are open, after this they close down. Where should the families go for a holiday?
And by the way, most parents ask their children after the fourth week of summer holiday, what date the school starts again.
When our youngsters were small, we often went to Tessin in the school autumn holidays. The weather was mostly warm enough to enjoy a swim in the open-air pool in the middle of the day and cool enough to really enjoy hiking. Only trouble was that when it rains in Tessin it really rains. We had six days and six nights of it once, which put us off a bit.
sounds really fun Longbyt , unfortunately, this reminds me that as par of his assignement here, my husband has to fly 2 times to Asia in October and this year it will fall exactly during my dauther's school holidays..
I always felt the summer break in the US was too long. (too much lost.)
I believe it was originally tied to agriculture there, or so I heard.
At the British School in Bern the summer break is 7 weeks and I'm a bit terrified.
We have one week in S FR planned, and I'm now checking on all the cousins in the US to see who wants a free Swiss holiday with my little one. School is only half days for my four year old, but the structure and social interaction really helps.