Lee Elliot Major, Professor of Social Mobility, University of Exeter 
I believe it's time we reform a school calendar that has been stuck in place since Victorian times. Spreading school holidays more evenly across the year could boost the progress of pupils from under-resourced backgrounds and improve the working lives of teachers and early years practitioners.
Many believe that the long summer break came from the need for children to help farmers with the harvest in centuries gone by. But the practice may in fact originate from the extended summer holidays required by the Victorian professional classes.
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