Parents and headmasters from across Lincolnshire have voiced their support for changes to shorten the school summer holidays.

In response to an initiative to shorten summer breaks in Welsh schools by one week, which would be added to the autumn half-term, there is a growing anticipation that it might pave the way for similar revisions in England.

Despite the total number of holiday days remaining unchanged, this initiative aims to achieve a more even distribution of school term lengths over the year. If approved, the changes could come into effect from September 2025.

Welsh Education Minister Jeremy Miles said the summer break "can be a real strain." He added: "Families struggle to find childcare over the six weeks, and others struggle with the additional costs long summers bring."

In Lincoln, former CBeebies presenter Sarah-Jane Honeywell described the traditional six-week summer break as "old fashioned."

Supporting the proposed changes, she said: "I think it's probably a good idea. The summer holidays are really long and I know it's difficult for me work-wise in the summer."

However, Mrs Honeywell, who runs the Curious Theatre School in Lincoln, also raised concerns that the reduction in available holiday weeks might prompt summer holiday providers to increase their prices further.

Linda and Joseph Verney also shared their perspective. They agree that the current summer break is overly extended, posing challenges in balancing childcare costs and annual leave.

"However, I do feel that there are just too many weeks off from school overall and it's impossible to cover it all without help from grandparents or paying for childcare."

Glen Thompson, Headmaster of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Alford, also endorsed the proposed changes to the school holiday schedule, believes that an extra week in the autumn half-term could enhance student engagement.

"I think six weeks is too long," he said. "It all comes down to the loss of learning. From a teaching point of view, during the run from summer to Christmas, young people start to get tired.

"They're just not punching as hard because they're knackered."

Mr Thompson also acknowledged the necessity for a uniform implementation of the new schedule across all schools. He emphasised this is crucial to enable families, especially those with children in different schools, to utilise the summer break for holidays.

"Everybody needs to do it or nobody needs to do it," he continued.

The headmaster also reflected on the potential implications of the proposed change on teacher recruitment. He suggested that the length of the summer break is a significant factor that attracts individuals to the profession and that adjusting this could, therefore, have notable effects on attracting new teachers.

Meanwhile, Dale Hardy, Headmaster of Sir Robert Pattinson Academy in North Hykeham, compared the proposed changes to similar initiatives by several local authorities in England over 20 years ago.

Under those earlier plans, the summer holidays were scheduled to be cut down from six weeks to four, spanning from the latter half of July to the first half of August.

He said: "When I was working in Lincolnshire back in the early 2000s, a system such as this was trialled by schools at this time. This lasted no more than two years before a decision was taken that it was not working.

"Some local authorities have taken the decision to offer a two week half term in October and shorten their summer holidays, but this headline from Wales would suggest only a four-week break in the summer, which in my view, is far too short after a long academic year.

"It is also not yet clear how this would impact examination groups given that results are produced in the summer and are usually collected prior to the beginning of the new term. If it isn't broken, why fix it?"