Leading headmaster says schools should ban homework during holidays

Children should not have to do any homework during school holidays, according to a top headmaster.

Dr Tim Hands, the headmaster of public school Winchester College, thinks that homework should be banned outside of term time so pupils can rest.

He has advised parents to not employ increasingly popular holiday tutors to travel with families so children can still learn while on the beach.

Dr Hands, the former master of Magdalen College School in Oxford, wrote in Attain, the magazine of the Independent Association of Prep Schools: “Every school year has a pattern to it. Holidays are part of that pattern…

“The first thing to do when working out the timetable for a holiday is to ensure that it involves plenty of rest.

“Holidays aren’t there for academic study, for concentrating on schoolwork or sitting down at a desk and writing or word processing things.

“To be sure, a little bit of cultural sightseeing, a lot of literary or historical reading, or a good bit of music practice can certainly be done.

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“But the emphasis should always be on something different from term time – something that the pressure of term time makes it difficult to accomplish.”

He added: “And, save at critical times of formal academic pressure, the absence of formal academic study is the chief thing to aim for.”

Dr Hands said that the prime purpose for holiday is “sleep” – with recreational reading second.

However, despite praising the need for holidays, the Dr Hands blasted parents who choose to take their children out of school in term time, claiming it caused resentment among teachers and pupils.

Alex Dyer, the director of Tutor House, a company that offers holiday tutors, said that the service was beneficial for families worried about children falling behind at school.

He told The Times: “Holidaying with a private tutor allows students to optimise key revision periods, such as the Easter, summer, Christmas and half-term holidays.

“Tutors provide all the revision and educational support needed to achieve exam success without students missing out on the family holiday.”

Top pic: Rex