Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.

But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages(工资) or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other costs that are difficult for many families to meet.

For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. Their leave is only five weeks each year, but there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples（夫妻）can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some people，this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.

The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced teachers who are working on giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools have programs of group or single educational support. Schools also have an important role in safeguarding children's welfare(福利) through the support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.

While teachers are having holidays in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack(没有) of free school meals for six weeks can result inthe increase in family spending and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.

In making its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (市议会)is planning to reduce（减少） the summer holiday down to four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “break time" for school teachers and pupils but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.

We know that this change may be difficult for some school teachers. However, we must consider the benefits of children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

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