YES! The summer holidays! BLISS for teachers. It is the one time in the year that they can fully switch off. After a long hard year, they deserve it!
But have you ever thought about how the summer holidays can affect our children?
Children need routine. They are accustomed to having the same break time, lunch time and order of lessons every day. When you change a child’s routine, it can completely throw them.
Behaviour can start to change and get worse, concentration and focus shifts and things can become disorganised. Parents often struggle with behaviour, especially when they are working too.
When children come back to school after a half term or winter holiday, the behaviour is often very challenging. It often takes a while for the children to settle as they are all excited to see their friends again but they can also be anxious to leave their parents.
The summer holiday is the longest break of the school year. In state schools, it is 6 weeks but in private schools it can be 12 weeks. You can imagine what it’s like trying to settle the class in September!
Some children have lots of fun activities and holidays planned for them, but many have nothing. I used to get a lot of children coming back after the school holidays who said they stayed at home inside for the whole time. They couldn’t wait to come back to school because it was fun and they would be with their friends. It can be quite a lonely time for many children.
Did you know that crime rates among young people are often higher during the summer too? This is because they are not in school, have more time to hang out on the streets and can often be bored. In an ideal world, we would have more youth centres, holiday camps and schemes put on for children and young people over the holidays.
But what can we do about it?
Could:
- children have more play dates and partake in more (free) activities?
- teachers provide children with colouring/printable games to take home at the end of the school year?
- parents work from home more during the summer?
- teachers be mindful of asking children when they return what they have been doing as not to make some feel uncomfortable?
What other ideas (if any!) can you think of?
Let’s try and give our children the best chance to play, explore and make memories so that they have fun. We want them to come back to school excited to share what they have been up to!
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