Cllr Paul Brading, the former Conservative Cabinet member responsible for education, brings his motion about school term dates back to full council tonight (Wednesday).
Cllr Brading says a previous decision by the Conservative administration to have a two-week break for October half-term, was reversed by the Alliance administration without proper consultation.
The councillor for Lake South argues that the two-week October half-term was brought in following an extensive consultation, but that the Alliance reversed the decision without any consultation at all with parents, unions, or the wider community.
On the table for debate
He calls on full council tonight to agree three points:
- The relevant Cabinet Member will bring a paper to Cabinet early in 2022 setting out how the Council intends to undertake a meaningful consultation with relevant stakeholders on future School Term Dates (2023-24 onwards).
- Any such consultation should ensure that stakeholders are given a genuine choice between different options, including one which includes a reversion to a two-week October half term. Views should be sought as to the pros and cons of the different options, looking at both education and other reasons such as wellbeing and quality of life.
- The feedback received from this consultation is taken into account ahead of any Cabinet decision to approve a calendar for School Term Dates for the academic year 2023-24.
You can read more background to the motion in this article shared by Cllr Brading last November.
The Full Council meeting takes place from 6pm today (Wednesday). See the agenda for the link to live stream of the meeting.
