School Holidays

EDM number 283 in 2014-15, proposed by Barry Sheerman on 22/07/2014.
Categorised under the topics of Child care, Children and families and Schools.

That this House notes that across the country, parents will be preparing for the long summer school holiday by arranging and paying for additional childcare required as a result of having a long holiday block between July and September; further notes that the timing of this and some other school holidays is based on centuries-old traditions rather than the needs of children and their parents in modern Britain; further notes that children in receipt of free school meals and from other low-income households have been proven to fall behind their peers during the long summer school holiday, exacerbating the disadvantage they already experience; and therefore calls for the calendar of school holidays to be examined with a view to being amended to better serve children, young people and families.

This motion has been signed by a total of 13 MPs.