Hey guys! Here in the US, it’s very common for schools to sort of “wind down” in the last 2 weeks or so of the year, especially in the earlier grades. Typically you won’t really have any work (and if you do it’s easy gimmes) and the teachers will put on movies, have a class party, among other fun activities. I was curious if this was a thing in your country? Do schools go easier on the students in the final few weeks; or do they operate as normal until the very last day?
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Yeah similar in my experience. Often you watch films, do some more fun activities or also popular during my time at school was having a big breakfast together during the lesson where everyone would bring something and you talk about stuff that is not strictly related to the subject.
In Greek Cypriot public schools we had the tradition of saving our allowance of “non-excused absences” for the end of the year, especially for the graduating classes. I think it came down to around two weeks, more if you also got a sick note for some vague illness to also use the excused absences allowance.
It being nearly universal practice also meant that the classes for anyone showing up at all were less of a lecture and more of a casual revision session.
It wasn’t done for fun, for most students. We were literally cutting class to go to [cram schools](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontistirio) for even more hours than the usual amount, in order to prepare for the University Placement Exams.
It’s as stupid as it sounds.
Only classes that are done with their curriculum. Usually, there are too many things to finish and the last month can be harsh.
The last month of the last high-school year is freaking bananas. That whole year is basically a preparation for an exam to access University. That exam counts for half your GPA, the other half being the total average of high-school. You will never be accepted into a University below the grade they request, no matter how much money your daddy has. Highly requested degrees have the highest grade threshold, and few people have even any option. Entrance to the limited places follows a strict grade position; even if you have a grade that allows you to get in, if too many people request entry with better grades than you, you’re out.
So, stress. Lots of it.
Generally yes, but this is mostly up to the individual teacher, there is no single rule. In general, school trips are organised in the spring, and in the last weeks of school some professors decrease their activities a bit, some do outdoor classes, and on the last day of school there is generally no class (as you said, we watch films and other things). But there are also some professors who continue classes until the last weeks. Especially in the last year of high school, in anticipation of the final exam, the last weeks of school are aimed at preparing for the exam.
We had nothing resembling a class party or such, but it kind of rings true with my experience.
It wasn’t really for the purpose of winding down, it’s just that most teacher’s planning would take unexpected delays into account. And since everything usually went according to plan, the last week or two usually had little new content to cover. The curriculum was already finished.
Yes. There is this thing called “Notenschluss” (grade deadline), a day some weeks before the end of the school year, when teachers allegedly can’t give out any more grades. Teachers insist that this is not the case and they can hand it grades when if the report cards are already printed if it needs to be, but rumors among students persist about this magical day, from which on you can basically do what you want.
I had a Latin teacher who had a reputation (rightfully so) to go through his curriculum at break-neck peace just so he would have at least 4 weeks to spare at the end of the year to watch movies.
Keep in mind that in Bavaria summer holidays start only around 1st of August, and therefore it’s often very hot in the last month of school, classes are dismissed die to heart and nobody, including the teachers, feel like working in that time.
Yes, it’s very common in France and you can even leave 1 or 2 weeks before the official holiday date (for my part, I always left 1 week before the holidays but some students even leave 2 or 3 weeks in advance).
Often the last week there is only a third / a quarter of the class left.
Increasingly it seems to be the latter in the UK, kids work up until the last day.
Otherwise there is the risk of having the kids go from lesson to lesson just watching an hour of 5 different films.
Although by the last day of term some year groups will have sat their final exams and left school several weeks before.
At the same time there are teacher strikes across the UK, 3 public holidays this month, and today (Friday) a lot of primary schools will probably be off lessons all day to celebrate King Charles’ Coronation on Saturday…
EDIT: as predicted there were lots of primary school kids in their own clothes and paper crowns in the supermarket this morning.
Yes, sorta. In the lower grades, it’s also just chill and movies or whatever. The sorta comes in when you reach 9th grade and high school where exams are a thing, as we need to define “end of year”. In Denmark we have something called “reading holiday” leading up to exams, and it is a time meant for self-study and revision. If we include this, then yes it is also pretty chill (all things considered) as students can do things in their own rhythm without any classes taking place. But we have what we call the “last school day” (with the oldest students tossing out candy, dressing up, and so on) held on the last day before this “reading holiday”, and right until that last day it’s pretty much school as normal
Over here the teachers are required to put in the students’ final grades some time before the end of the year (typically about 2 weeks). This quite naturally leads to most teachers treating the few days remaining after grading as wind-down time. As for pupils, it’s not that uncommon for people to just go into _100% vagrancy mode_ once they get their grades stamped.
Yup, the teachers basically have a teaching program that they prepare at the beginning of the school year for the whole year and usually they are done with the entire thing in mid June (and the summer vacations start at the end of June), so they basically let us watch movies, or they would tell us “do what you want” or they would go with the class to the schoolyard and the kids would play soccer, basketball, volleyball or just play around at the gym, it depended on how much stuff there was at the particular schoolyard.
Sometimes they would go with the kids for a short walk, if there’s some nice park or a forest near the school. When I lived on the shore we would often go to the beach with the teachers. We would also help clean up the classes for the Summer, since it was a popular vacation destination and the school used to house summer camps. So we were basically removing the desks from the classrooms and bringing mattresses in. That was still better than regular lessons and we would basically run around the corridors while doing that, so we had loads of fun. But that was like 20 years ago, nowadays someone would probably label it as child labor, lmao.
I remember spending hours on the playground.
Like, you had gotten your report card but school only ends on the 30th of June no matter what so meh, we spend hours playing football. Endscore at one point was 20+ goals for each is a random fact I remember.
Nope. At my school we have to get permission from the CEO to watch a film, it has to be connected to the curriculum and we have to do learning activities. We might do a learning quiz in the last day but we are expected to work them to the last minute. And it is checked by senior team.
It really depends of the school/teacher.
In mine, we used to work normally until the very last minute…
In many teachers will adapt, especially because schools end late (7 of july the year for elementary schools) and it’s to hot in classroom (about 40°c/104°F or more). Some common things:
– lesson outside
– “fun” learning and games
– bring your own board game
– Olympiades (basically fun sports games against each others like in summer camp)
– summer kraft and art
But it’s never the last 2 weeks! mostly the last 2 or 3 days and almost only for elementary kids.
In Lithuania, school generally end on May 31st for younger kids, and 3 weeks later for high schoolers. Those last 3 weeks at the end were definetly bullshitting weeks when I was at school, with some pupils not even always showing up.