No early holiday

While school leaders wait for the Ministry of Education to decide on the timing of Term 3 holidays, Wairarapa principals say bringing them forward would not serve anyone well.

School holidays were scheduled to begin on Saturday, October 2, but could come earlier, depending on the Ministry’s advice to Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

In a covid-19 update to school leaders this week, Secretary for Education Iona Holsted said she had received many questions about whether holiday dates would change.

“That advice has not yet been provided, and it is premature to presume what it might be, or what decision the Minister may take,” Holsted said.

Solway College principal Janine Tupaea said students had only just settled back into on-site classes, and any change to the holidays would disturb their learning.

“They are currently very focussed on finishing off their remaining internal assessments and preparing towards external examinations,” Tupaea said. “It would therefore be much

more of a disruption to their learning to bring the school holidays forward and send our boarding students home again.”

Tupaea said her colleagues in Auckland – still teaching remotely under alert level 4 restrictions – had also expressed concern that moving the holidays forward would result in a long term 4.

“Following the disruptions that Auckland schools have already faced, this would be an additional challenge and therefore not conducive to an effective overall learning year.”

Masterton Primary School principal Sue Walters said changing the holidays would be more of a hindrance than a help for students, teachers, and parents.

“I think it’s an appalling idea,” Walters said.

She said any changes could disrupt teachers’ holiday plans.

“They already spend half of the school holidays preparing for the next term, so I certainly think they need to have their holidays in the right place.”

Walters said that teachers ended up working harder than ever during lockdowns.

“Some parents have assumed that teachers are available from 6am until 10pm.

“At least during the school day, it’s six hours face to face.

But if you’re doing distance learning … parents expect you to be available for 16 hours a day at the end of a screen. That’s pretty emotionally draining.”

Greytown School principal Patrice O’connor also said the holidays should remain unchanged.

“Our children and staff have continued to learn and teach during lockdown with high engagement levels,” O’connor said.

“In returning to school, they have settled back in and have great momentum that we want to continue for the next few weeks. Stopping early slows this momentum and then makes the last term extremely long for them.”

O’connor said holidays could not keep changing due to lockdowns.

“Unfortunately, we may have others [lockdowns] before vaccination rates are high enough not to require them. Let’s keep routines going through the uncertainty.”