Fredbear Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Hi we have just received our contract for funding for the next year. It states the Autumn term is 15 weeks in total, being a eight and a seven weeks. Have never had a eight week term before, would this be right. Any thoughts
BevE Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 OMG (we are a school)and I have just checked and yes the first half term in September is 8 weeks!! There will be some very tired children and adults by October half term!
SueJ Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 It could be - we don't get this from my LA this far in advance. I am only planning to open for 14 weeks for the autumn term as I think that that term is quite long enough for our little ones who definitely struggle to make it through two 7 week half terms. However ..... you don't have to open for 15 weeks do you? - if you open for 14 you will only get funded for 14
Fredbear Posted March 5, 2014 Author Posted March 5, 2014 Yes but if we don't open for the 15 weeks, the other two terms cannot be extended to give the full 38 weeks. Each term has a maximum total of weeks you can claim. Sorry if this seems a daft question, am I missing something really obvious here.
tish501 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Ours in Suffolk is 14 weeks for the Autumn but more of a problem is the Summer term being 13 weeks when Easter is soooo late so being a PVI we are having to fund a week into the summer holidays since the 2 weeks of April are officially 'stretch' weeks for those parents who chose it and signed for it on the funding form....a nightmare this week trying to put the dates on our newsletter so having to make the decision and wait for the **** to hit the fan with the LA. !
Fredbear Posted March 5, 2014 Author Posted March 5, 2014 It's a minefield. Good luck with that one tish501.
SueJ Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Yes but if we don't open for the 15 weeks, the other two terms cannot be extended to give the full 38 weeks. Each term has a maximum total of weeks you can claim. Sorry if this seems a daft question, am I missing something really obvious here. As a setting you don't have to provide 38 weeks - it is the LA's responsibility to ensure sufficiency - if you are open for 36 weeks over an academic year then you will only be funded for 36 weeks likewise if you are open for 40 weeks of a year and don't "stretch" the offer then you will only get 38 weeks funded.
diesel10 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 BUT.....if your staff are employed for 38 weeks (as shown on their contracts) they will probably expect to be paid for 38 weeks plus holiday pay.
Susan Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Hi we have just received our contract for funding for the next year. It states the Autumn term is 15 weeks in total, being a eight and a seven weeks. Have never had a eight week term before, would this be right. Any thoughts Its not unusual for the Autumn term to be 15 weeks, it is nearly always the longest of the 3 terms. 1
lynned55 Posted March 5, 2014 Posted March 5, 2014 Yes ours is 15 weeks as well, in fact the summer holidays isnt even a full six weeks this year. Here the term 'officially' finishes 23rd July and returns 1st September. However like others I feel this is far too long for most of our age children (quite frankly its to long for most older school age children) So we are going back on 8th Sept.
louby loo Posted March 6, 2014 Posted March 6, 2014 BUT.....if your staff are employed for 38 weeks (as shown on their contracts) they will probably expect to be paid for 38 weeks plus holiday pay. Yes - and remember to check the September - July[Aug] 38 weeks as apposed to the April - March 38 weeks as some years they overlap. A couple of years ago due to an early Easter, it actually worked out staff worked 39 weeks, however it almost went unnoticed due to us just assuming a 38 week year is a 38 week year!!!
Fredbear Posted March 6, 2014 Author Posted March 6, 2014 Yes know about that one thanks louby loo, nearly got caught out once ourselves.
narnia Posted March 6, 2014 Posted March 6, 2014 15 weeks here as well...............................
Inge Posted March 6, 2014 Posted March 6, 2014 A school year is 39 weeks.... I believe that includes the 5 inset days = a week... hence the funding claimed by most is 38 weeks.. and does in the majority of cases not include any fees /payment for inset or training days... we opened the same as the local school and closed on their inset days... the confusion arises when funding is from !st april to 31st march.. school year is September to July and added to the mix is some of the funding for the summer terms can often be for days before the Easter closure... or if Easter break is early some of the funding from spring term is used afterwards... causing some parents to get very irritated when I told them they could not start until 1st April unless they paid, even though summer term started in March! They dont make it easy to sort out finances or budget at all.. 3
SueJ Posted March 6, 2014 Posted March 6, 2014 Too true Inge - trying to marry up a financial year for HMRC 6/4 to 5/4, a calendar year, a funded year and a school year is a complete nightmare! 1
Guest Posted March 6, 2014 Posted March 6, 2014 (edited) Thank goodness I don't have to worry about term boundaries. In Somerset we have the EYE as 570 per rolling 3 terms so we just spread them out according to when we are open and county provide a nice spreadsheet calculator which works it all out for us Edited March 6, 2014 by max321
Guest Posted March 7, 2014 Posted March 7, 2014 All of the above is why our LA is now funding 12, 14 , 12 weeks irrespective of the weeks in the term. This way the weeks will always run Monday to Friday and nor have to bend to the extra day or two that often arises if you follow academic terms.
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