States schools break up early for Christmas to give teachers an extra day off in lieu

Wednesday 30 March 2016

School's out early for Christmas to give teachers an extra day off for Liberation Day 2015, after ministers backed down in a row with unions.

The decision means that alll States primary and secondary schools will close for Christmas on Thursday 15 December.

Earlier this month Ministers were forced to back down and give thousands of States workers an extra day off for Liberation Day last year - a move that's expected to cost the government around £1.5 million.

The threat of action by unions over collective agreements forced them to offer an extra day's holiday this year in lieu of Liberation Day falling on a Saturday in 2015.

Education Minister Deputy Rod Bryans said: “We’ve worked with the unions to find the most suitable day for our teachers to take their day and we’ve agreed that the most sensible option is to bring forward the end of term by 24 hours.

“I hope students and staff enjoy the extra day’s holiday and families take the chance for some extra quality time with their children so that everyone returns in the New Year refreshed and ready for learning.”

The private schools, including Beaulieu, De La Salle and FCJ, don't have to follow the same term dates. 

Teachers work an extra three ‘inset’ days, which are used for training or professional development and have to work the day of the International Air Display each year.

Next year one of the three days could change and head teachers have the option to move the inset day on 18 April 2017 to another day.

Chief Education Officer Justin Donovan said: “Good teachers can learn from each other but they don’t have many opportunities to do this at the moment. Giving them more control over this one day means teams can visit colleagues in other schools to share ideas and best practice. This will benefit their students and is exactly what we aimed to do when we launched the Education Business Plan. I am glad this has come to fruition.”