Parents to have their say on Melton academy term dates

Mowbray Academy Trust, which manages schools including John Ferneley College and Brownlow Primary, will this year have their October half-term a week later than the traditional Leicestershire holiday followed by other schools such as Long Field Academy and St Francis Catholic Primary School.

Leicestershire County Council decided last week to retain those traditional term dates for the next three academic years, up to 2022, meaning there will be disparities between schools in the Melton borough.

Parents with children at different schools have told this newspaper that the difference in half-term dates will spoil family holidays and give them childcare issues.

But Mowbray Academy Trust said it had not made a final decision on its term dates to come in from next year and was now committed to carrying out a full consultation before deciding on them.

Christine Stansfield (pictured), CEO of the trust told the Melton Times: “Now the term dates for 2019/20 until 2021/22 have been confirmed by Leicestershire County Council for the schools they control, the Mowbray Education Trust will begin the process of setting term dates for its schools from 2019/20.

“As part of this, we will be contacting parents and staff to give them an opportunity to express their views, before a final decision is made.”

The trust said it had decided to give schools in its family an October half-term a week later than the traditional Leicestershire dates this year so that the Autumn 2018 term is split into two equal half-terms of eight weeks each.

The disparity has arisen because the government allows academy schools to set their own term dates.

Within the town of Melton Mowbray there are four different multi-academy trusts running primary and secondary schools, of which the Mowbray Education Trust is one.

The recent County Hall consultation only applied to schools which are not academies, although many of them adhere to the traditional county school term dates.