YUROP

It's on next monday in France. On the 19th of August in Switzerland, Vaud district.

In Germany, it's different from state to state - some children have been back in school since 31 July (Saxony), while others still have their holidays until 9 September (Bavaria).

But it's six weeks everywhere, so some start very early while others finish quit late.

Apparently it was either last week Wednesday or Thursday here in Germany (North-Rhine-Westfalia). At least that's what I heard from colleagues who actually have kids 😬

One week ago in Sweden. Summer vacation started June 12th.

Ireland: Some secondary schools started back late last week. My own secondary level kids were today. Primary kids are this coming Wednesday.

Next Monday in Canada.

It’s today in Ohio (though different school districts go back in on different days, so it’s not even uniform across the state).

Seems like Germany has a good idea to vary it, to reduce pressure on travel. However we should think bolder still, reimagine the whole timing of the academic year which derived from nineteenth century traditions when children helped plant and gather crops. Now instead we should consider climate change, and July became too hot for comfortable travel in most of continental europe. So it would be better to have long holidays in May-June and maybe September, while also investing in cooling for school buildings (maybe more practical than for small homes).