Confusion over extra school holidays

How are parents going to cope with the extra school holidays coming up? The end of the first school term is towards the end of March with a week of school holidays before the second term begins on April 6.

However the beginning of the second term is littered with public holidays and extra “school holidays” as announced by some schools in recent newsletters to parents. While some parents are shocked, these extra school holidays have actually been on the 2014 school calendar, as published by Basic Education Minister, Angelina Matsie Motshekga, in 2013, and has been available on the Education Department website since last year.

Even some of the school players themselves, while having had the calendar are only really seeing how these extra holidays are going to impact them now as they prepare for the second term. The Easter weekend will see schools closed from 18 April to 21 April, effectively shortening both weeks either side of the weekend.
Following that, the whole of the following week has been declared “school holidays” with the days between Freedom Day, 27 April, which falls on a Sunday, and 2 May, falling on the Friday after 1 May Worker’s Day, as days when schools will be shut.
Further, Wednesday, 7 May, Election Day has been provisionally declared a school holiday pending confirmation. Some schools which are voting stations have been told they might need to close for extra days around the election day.

Independent schools have their own school calendars which sometimes differ from the one followed by public schools. Maris Stella’s website download of the school holiday dates indicates they too will be closed on the extra days between holidays and their school terms closely match those of government schools. Parents are rather confused about whether their children’s schools are going to be closed or not as it seems some school have still not informed parents of the extra school holidays.

Cally Maddams, principal of Danville Park Girls’High School said: “Although the number of public holidays, with the added school holidays in between, is disruptive, we still have the total number of requisite school days for 2014, i.e. 200 days. “
Maddams said this takes into account the 7 May election date.  She added that in 2013 there were a total number of 199 school days.

“We are aware that the disruption will affect the children’s routine, so we have made provision for keeping the momentum of teaching and learning by setting tasks and assignments which the girls will have to do in their own time and by setting assessments on certain days.”