Commenting on proposals by the Nuffield Foundation to cut the length of the summer holidays from six weeks to four, NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said:

“The crisis in our education system requires substantially more investment in services for children and families, not another policy predicated on placing further demands on schools that are over-stretched, under-funded and at breaking point.

“These proposals to shorten the school summer holidays are nothing new. Depressingly, what is also not new is the lack of credible evidence demonstrating that such changes would improve educational standards.

“The last 14 years have seen schools trying to fill the gaps as wider children’s services and support for the most vulnerable have all but disappeared.

“Fixing the cumulative impact of the pandemic and 14 years of under-funding of our schools, children’s services and wider public services requires a future Government that is willing to invest in the high quality services that our children and young people deserve.”