by As English state schools approach the end of term, children in private education are already broken up. The ones in some of London’s best schools have been gone since the 4th of July. And while it may seem ironic that those who pay for school get less, there is a distinct benefit to this: cheaper family vacations.
In a recent search, the lowest price found for a one-way flight to Alicante from Gatwick with Ryanair on Saturday 13 July was £102pp; that price rose to £154 in the same manner on July 27, when state schools were broken up. Similarly, the week-long self-catering holiday for a family of four in the four-bedroom Cretan villa Residence Harmony with Oliver’s Travels was before the state school holidays; during them, the price rose by almost a thousand pounds to £5,546. With savings this big (and these are for last-minute bookings; plan ahead and they’re even bigger), it’s easy to see why savvy private school parents get ahead of the crowds.
Suki Chandi is a single mother of a teenager, who splits school fees and holiday time with her son’s father. Being careful with money, she “deliberately chose the start of the break, specifically to avoid spending too much money for holidays”, she says.
“Last year was my first trip abroad after Covid and we went to Tenerife for 10 days [in the first half of July]. I checked the cost of the same holiday two weeks later and it was going to be £1,000 more.”
This year, she took her son to Center Parcs before the state schools broke up. “We only had a studio apartment because there are only two of us,” she says. “It cost £600 for four nights. If I had decided to go a week later it would have been £900! That’s a huge amount for a week.”
A stark contrast
Many airlines, holiday companies and attractions use dynamic pricing to determine costs, meaning they rise with demand: with less than six per cent of Britain’s children at private schools, the impact is far less than their state school counterparts.
It is not only in the summer that the difference is stark. Many private schools also have two-week October half-terms, which can mean savings (and more manageable temperatures) in sunny European destinations such as the Canary Islands and even the Balearics. Partly because of these lower costs, some academies and councils have followed suit.
Following a consultation in 2021, the London Charter Schools Education Trust introduced a longer October holiday for those schools that did not already have one. “The two-week break could be a positive step for some families by allowing them to take longer leave at a more relaxed time of year, which could reduce the number of unauthorized days taken at other times of the year decrease,” he said. said in a statement at the time.
With changing weather patterns, swapping your summer holiday for October is becoming more attractive – and could save you thousands. In the same recent search, a week’s all-inclusive holiday for a family of four at Tui Blue Tarida Ibiza Beach in August cost from £4,601, including flights from Luton; It was £2,409 in the first week of private (and some state) schools in October.
Meanwhile, at Christmas and Easter, a few extra days off can mean significant savings. While private school holiday dates vary, some offer an extra crucial week before Easter in 2025: EasyJet flights from Gatwick to Geneva were available from £550 for a family of four traveling between 29 March and 5 April ; Using the same route a week later, the price was £1,450.
Government crackdown
All this frustrates state school parents, many of whom feel that the Government’s crackdown on unauthorized absences has made the situation worse. Paying children on holiday during term time can currently result in a fine of £60 per child per day if paid within 21 days and this is expected to rise to £80 from September (leave longer and the cost will increase).
Shirley-Ann O’Neill, director of the Association of Visual Artists, was among the 254,530 people who signed a recent parliamentary petition calling for state school parents to receive a two-week holiday allowance during term time, meaning they could benefit also for cheaper prices and quieter resorts.
“[My family feels] the burden of rising holiday prices so we are not traveling abroad this summer,” she says. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to create cherished travel memories without financial barriers. Private school [parents] they are not fined for taking it [children] out of school during term time. It is clearly a regressive system.”
Despite this, the government’s response to the petition was unequivocal. “Based on last year’s attendance data, a child who is taken out of school for a two-week holiday each year and has an average number of days off due to illness and medical appointments will have missed the equivalent of a full school year respectively. the time they finish Year 11 at 16 years of age,” he said.
So far, it’s mostly those outside the state system who can make the most of cheaper holidays.
