A CONSULTATION on school term dates which could affect thousands of families across Derbyshire ends tomorrow - but very few parents say they are even aware of it.
Traditionally, councils hold a consultation at this time of the year to approve a series of term dates for the next few years.
In Derby city and Derbyshire county council areas, the dates have always matched each other and the consultation has been a paper exercise.
But this year, there are two options covering the five academic years from 2015 through to 2020.
Option A consists of term dates that would be the same for schools within both the city and county council areas.
Option B would see Derby city schools varying their dates from those in the county at the beginning and end of the academic years. City schools would start back in September two or three days sooner than the county and break up two or three days earlier at the end of the following summer term.
As well as causing inconvenience for anyone with children attending schools either side of the city boundary, it is not clear who has been told about the consultation. It is likely that schools, trade unions and companies in the affected areas have been contacted but whether the information has been disseminated down to parents, union members and workers is not clear,
Certainly a large number of people the Derby Telegraph spoke to, including parents and teachers, were not aware of the options.
Karen Duckworth, of Sawley Road, Derby, said: "I have children attending school in Spondon and Borrowash, so any chance their holidays would not be the same is crazy. I know nothing about this."
A secondary school teacher, who did not wish to be named and lives in Alfreton, works in Derby. She said: "My children attend school near home so this would be madness for me."
Councillor Martin Rawson, city council cabinet member for children, said: "We have asked people in Derby if they would prefer our school term dates to mirror those of Derbyshire County Council community schools, or to follow an alternative set of dates.
"We are required to contact key partners such as other local authorities, businesses, local schools that are not under local authority control, and trade unions.
"We would urge people to go to the Your City Your Say section of our website, study the sets of proposed dates and tell us which they prefer."
