I think that the problem extends beyond just making sure that schools within a local area all have the same holidays because now do how do you define fine what constitutes that local area. Good friends of mine live in the neighbouring council area and their two daughters go to the local primary school. But their father works as a teacher up the road in the the council area that I live in. The children's school and his are less than 3 miles apart but could end up with different term dates if this proposal goes ahead.

The other complication up here is that the nearest secondary school for many people who live close to the council boundaries might be in the neighbouring authority. Up to now common sense has generally prevailed, especially in the more rural areas but this can mean that the children go to the local village primary school under the control of the authority where they live but when they move up to secondary school go the one in the next door authority rather than have a much longer journey to school. So it is not unusual for a family to one or more children in a primary school controlled by one council and and one or more children in a secondary school controlled by another. If this goes ahead parents will have to decide whether they are going to make their child travel farther to school in rode to ensure that the school holidays coincide or else take the risk that they won't and if they are to have a family holiday they will have to take or other of them out of school during term-time.

Nightmare! What is being proposed as a solution could turn into a very big headache for some parents.

SM

Each state in Germany where I live has it's school summer holidays at different times but usually those that are adjacent to each other will usually have at least 3 weeks when they are on holiday at the same time. Families who have children at school in the different areas are still able to have holidays together.

My concern with this proposal is how it will work with exams for older pupils. At the moment term times are roughly standardised so exams fit in with that but if different schools/areas are allowed to set their own holidays then exam timetables will be very difficult to coordinate unless the exam times are set first which will mean that the holdays won't actually change that much.
I live less than a mile from a council boundary and there are a lot of families working/schooling across the boundary. A change in the holidays will cause chaos for them. One Scottish council (East Lothian) has gone out on a limb and the schools there are stopping at least a week later than anywhere else in the surrounding area (my kids stop 9 days before their cousins). This week will make a big difference for families (my brother lives there) as many families live in East Lothian but parents commute to Edinburgh. The traditional Edinburgh trades holiday is the first fortnight in July so for some families parents will be off but the children will be in school.