A primary school is introducing a
two-week October break to allow families of Asian heritage the chance to
visit their relatives in Pakistan and other countries when the weather
is cooler.
Wensley Fold Primary School, a Church
of England academy in Blackburn, Lancashire, said the changes are being
made after requests from parents to take their children out of school
to visit relatives abroad.
The
school, which until now has had a week off for the October half-term,
said the changes would be introduced as a trial for the new school year
in September.
A statement on the school's website said the extra five days off would be made up at the start of the school year.
The
latest Ofsted figures, from an inspection in 2006, show the school has
an above average number of pupils from minority ethnic groups, with 85
per cent of pupils not speaking English as their first language.
That number was up from the 2001 inspection when 66 per cent of pupils were found to have English as an additional language.
There are currently 304 children on the school roll.
The
new two-week autumn break at Wensley Fold Primary comes shortly after
the government announced more freedom to allow headteachers set term
dates.
In a letter a letter
to parents, the governing body said the changes were being made in
response to requests from families to visit their relatives abroad.
One
parent, who asked not to be named, said October was the best time to
visit family in Pakistan due to the more reasonable temperatures.
Average daily temperatures in the capital Islamabad can reach 33C in the height of summer.
A
letter to parents, published on the school's website, said: 'In light
of the changes by the government to holidays in school time and the many
requests we have from parents to take children out of school to visit
relations overseas, the governors have decided to review the school
holiday pattern 2014-2015.
'In October 2014 the school will close for two weeks from October 20 until October 31, instead of the usual one week closure.
'The five days will be made up at the
beginning of the school year and we will of course, have to comply with
the regulatory school openings.
'We are giving all parents as much notice as possible to book flights.
'The
governors have decided that this will be a trial for one year initially
and we would welcome feedback from parents in the future.'
The changes in the government’s
Deregulation Bill will pave the way for all individual schools to change
the timing and duration of terms and holidays from 2015.
Academies and
free schools already have this power.
One union leader said piecemeal changes at individual schools would cause ‘chaos’.
Blackburn
with Darwen NUT representative Simon Jones said: 'People may teach at
one school, their kids go to another and their partner may teach at a
third, so their holidays need to match.
'Siblings also often go to different schools. It causes so much family disruption.
'What is needed is a co-ordinated overall plan for term times, which isn’t trendy but it is true.'
The MailOnline approached the school for comment but no one was available.
