Short summer break leads to higher grades

A comprehensive school claims that doing away with the long six-week summer holiday has improved its exam results.

Greensward College, a 1,530-pupil school for 11 to 18-year-olds, has introduced a radical new five-term year - with four equal breaks of just two weeks and just four weeks off in the summer.

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Since first planning the new system, its GCSE results have improved from 70 per cent getting five top grade A* to C grade passes, to 88 per cent last year.

That is despite facing competition from four selective grammar schools within 15 miles creaming off some of the brightest pupils in the area.

David Triggs, the school's headteacher, said: "The great thing is you don't have the summer learning loss that you had under the old system.

"Evidence from the United States suggests that once you move beyond a four-week break for pupils, their retention of knowledge just goes down the pan. You have to spend much of the time catching up on what you have already learnt."

Mr Triggs said he would acknowledge that the change was not the only factor behind the school's exams success. The school, in Hockley, Essex, also introduced a three-period day - with each subject lesson lasting for one hour and 40 minutes but with two mini-breaks during which pupils stayed in the classroom.

"We save 19 days a year of teacher time by not having the students moving around the school," Mr Triggs said. Under the school's new timetable, there are two fortnight-long holidays at the end of October or beginning of November, Christmas, March and the end of May. There is a four or four-and-a-half week break in the summer but - overall - pupils spend exactly the same number of days in school as with the traditional timetable. The March break is fixed with pupils just taking Good Friday, Easter Monday and the following Tuesday off for Easter.

Since introducing the new arrangements, several schools around the country have contacted Greensward to find how it works. Mr Triggs has also been appointed as chief executive officer for three other schools - including the Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough, the only one of Prime Minister Tony Blair's new flagship academies to fail its inspection by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog. Two weeks ago, it was removed from Ofsted's list of failing schools. "When we went out to consultation over the new timetable, there were objections raised - but we realised they were objections over convenience and not education," said Mr Triggs.

"At first, we offered child care during the non-traditional breaks but we soon found that no one was taking it up. We only had three staff leave because they thought it was the wrong thing to do - and one of them re-applied for the job.

"Within a few weeks, even the dissenters were saying they now believed that the system was the right way forward."

Greensward's model is a modification of a six-term year which was, a few years ago, proposed for national implementation. However, the idea was later dropped because of opposition from teachers' leaders.

About 30 authorities, however, have moved from the traditional three-term year - substituting a fixed break in late March or early April to replace the flexible Easter break.

The new routine

Holidays

Four equal breaks of just two weeks and a four-week lay-off in the summer.

Lessons

Three-period day - with each subject lesson lasting for one hour 40 minutes but with two mini-breaks during which pupils stay in the room.