Call for extra week to be added to Inverclyde school Christmas Holidays

The proposal would see an extra week added to the Christmas holiday period with the removal of a week from the Summer Holiday period 

ALBA Party have proposed that an extra week is added onto school Christmas holidays by reducing the Summer holiday period by a week. 

The plan has been proposed by Alba Party General Secretary Chris McEleny who served on an education authority in Inverclyde for a decade. 

The former Councillor has written to Inverclyde Education Chiefs to propose the plan. McEleny says that his proposal is based on “an overwhelming” body of opinion from within the parent community that the current Summer holidays that run from the end of June until mid August put strain on families who must balance child care and work. He says that a better solution could be to increase the current Christmas School holidays by a week by in turn reducing the summer break. 

If backed by local Education bosses in Inverclyde, McEleny believes the plan could gain popular support in the rest of Scotland. 

Commenting Alba Party General Secretary Chris McEleny said: 

“In recent years many parents have raised concerns with me over the strain of balancing child care and their need to go to work over such a long period at summer. It’s increasingly the case that many benefit from extra support from Grandparents but for many others the solution can often be very costly. 

“Therefore, I’ve written to Inverclyde Council to ask them to consider consulting parents and teachers on the possibility of reducing the Summer Holidays by one week and instead increasing the Christmas break by a week. An extended Christmas holiday would appeal to those that think the festive period is too short whilst at the same time meaning the summer break is not too long. It is early days but I’m sure if this idea proves popular in inverclyde you would see other areas follow suit.”