How a private education can save families hundreds of pounds on holidays
As English state schools trudge towards the end of term, children in private education have already broken up. Those at some of London’s top schools have been off since July 4. And while it may seem ironic that those who pay for school get less of it, there is one distinct advantage to this: cheaper family holidays.
In a recent search, the lowest price found for a one-way flight to Alicante from Gatwick with Ryanair on Saturday July 13 was £102pp; that price rose to £154 on the same route on July 27, once state schools have broken up. Similarly, a week’s self-catering for a family of four in the four-bedroom Cretan villa Residence Harmony with Oliver’s Travels was £4,585 before the state school holidays; during them, the price went up by almost a thousand pounds to £5,546. With such large savings (and these are for last-minute bookings; plan ahead and they’re even bigger), it’s easy to see why savvy private school parents head off before the crowds.
Suki Chandi is a solo mother with a teenager, who splits both school fees and holiday time with her son’s father. Careful with money, she “deliberately chose to have the start of the break, specifically to avoid paying extortionate money for holidays”, she says.
“Last year was my first trip overseas post-Covid and we went to Tenerife for 10 days [in the first half of July]. I checked the cost of the same holiday two weeks later and it was going to be £1,000 more.”
This year, she took her son to Center Parcs before the state schools broke up. “We only had a studio apartment as there are only two of us,” she says. “It cost £600 for four nights. If I had decided to go a week later, it would have been £900! That’s a huge amount for a week.”
Stark contrasts
Many airlines, holiday companies and attractions use dynamic pricing to determine costs, which means they rise with demand: as less than six per cent of British children are at private schools, they have far less impact than their state school counterparts.
It’s not just in summer that the difference is stark. Many private schools also have two-week October half-terms, which can mean savings (and more manageable temperatures) in sunny European destinations such as the Canaries and even the Balearics. In part because of these lower costs, some academies and councils have followed suit.
Following a 2021 consultation, London’s Charter Schools Educational Trust introduced a longer October holiday at those of its schools that didn’t already have one. “The two-week break could be a positive step for some families by allowing them to take a longer holiday at what is often a cheaper time of year, thus potentially reducing the number of unauthorised holidays taken at other times in the year,” it said in a statement at the time.
With shifting weather patterns, swapping a summer holiday for an October one is an increasingly appealing prospect – and it could save thousands. In the same recent search, a week’s all-inclusive holiday for a family of four at Ibiza’s Tui Blue Tarida Beach in August cost from £4,601, including flights from Luton; in the first week of private (and some state) schools’ October half-term it was £2,409.
Meanwhile, at Christmas and Easter, an extra few days off can also mean significant savings. Though private school holiday dates vary, some offer a crucial extra week before Easter in 2025: EasyJet flights from Gatwick to Geneva were available from £550 for a family of four travelling between March 29 and April 5; using the same route a week later, the price was £1,450.
Government crackdown
All of this is frustrating for state school parents, many of whom feel that the situation is exacerbated by the Government’s crackdown on unauthorised absence. Taking children on holiday during term time can currently mean a fine of £60 per child per day if paid within 21 days and this is expected to rise to £80 from September (leave it longer and the cost doubles).
Shirley-Ann O’Neill, director of the Visual Artists Association, was among the 254,530 people who signed a recent parliamentary petition requesting that state school parents receive a two-week holiday allowance during term time, meaning they could also benefit from cheaper prices and quieter resorts.
“[My family feels] the burden of rising holiday prices so we aren’t travelling abroad this summer,” she says. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to create cherished travel memories without financial barriers. Private school [parents] aren’t fined for taking [children] out of school during term time. It’s clearly a regressive system.”
Despite this, the government response to the petition was unequivocal. “Based on last year’s attendance data, a child who is taken out of school for a two-week holiday every year who also has an average number of days off for sickness and medical appointments will have missed the equivalent of a full year of school by the time they finish Year 11 at age 16,” it said.
For now then, it’s largely those outside the state system that can make the most of cheaper holidays.