Parents set for terms of endearment

An independent commission set up by the Local Government Association has just reported on how we might reorganise the present pattern of school terms and holidays, which is still largely based around religious festivals and the obsolete needs of industry and agriculture.

So how would this new school calendar affect our holiday plans? Will tour operators simply create new peak seasons in the year, with high prices to match? "Holiday patterns will shift," predicts John de Vial, UK holiday service director at Thomson, "but the basic economics of supply and demand will operate as now. If holiday periods get shorter, prices will generally rise - and the converse will also be true."

Keith Betton, spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents, which gave evidence to the commission, confirms this view. "There's unlikely to be much change in summer," he admits, "but there could be better prices at other times of the year." He argues that a two-week break in October will make it easier for families to get away without sneaking the children out of school. That's certainly good news for the Canary Islands, which has plenty of family-friendly resorts and is our best bet for reliable sunshine in late October.

Paul Chandler, of family-package specialist Travel Club of Upminster, doesn't agree. He says that the first two weeks of July are dead (even those without schoolchildren tend not to book their annual summer break then). If as a result of an earlier summer recess families fill that period, the child-free would still choose to book up in August as they do now. "This must lead to a longer high season and therefore reduce prices overall," he says.

The reaction is also positive from British resorts. "We've been lobbying for a fixed Easter holiday for years," reflects Ken Male, Bournemouth's head of tourism. "The only downside of moving the summer break forward is that it could conflict with our conference season - at the moment everything slots in nicely. As for a two-week October half-term, that would be very popular as it's already a busy time for us. People like to take a break before the winter sets in."

The skiing season would also be affected - rather than having an Easter holiday that slides wildly around the calendar, a fixed fortnight ending in early April would create new holiday patterns. "Resorts on the lower slopes and in Austria and the Pyrenees would probably suffer," reckons Vanessa Haines, of the Ski Club of Great Britain, "but it could benefit countries like Norway and Sweden, which have good facilities for families plus the certainty of snow at that time."

The commission also recommended that holiday periods be staggered regionally, and suggested that the final sixth term in June could be used for educational trips abroad. Once a standardised pattern for the school year is in place - which could be as early as August 2003 - parents would be informed of term dates at least two years in advance. It looks like going away in the school holidays will never be cheap, but at least we could have a little more time to save for them and capitalise on the benefits of early booking.

A main reason cited was the high cost in time and money that looking after the kids involves, but it also goes along with a general trend to take more holidays in the year for shorter periods. Some parents may also prefer to take children away in cooler months rather than expose them to the ferocity of Mediterranean sun in August.

The principal objections came from teachers, who value their long summer breaks, and higher income households, which find it easier to meet childcare costs and are no doubt fond of their long summer sojourns in Provence and Tuscany.

? Instead of the current three terms, the commission suggests we have six, each of roughly equal length.

? The school year would begin in early August.

? October half-term would be extended to two weeks while Christmas holidays would remain the same.

? The Easter break would become a fixed fortnight ending on the second Monday in April - irrespective of when Good Friday and Easter Monday fall.

? There would be one-week breaks in February and June, followed by a five- or six-week summer holiday starting in early July.