WILTSHIRE Council director Laurie Bell has defended a consultation exercise on plans to alter school holiday dates, which ended recently but seems to have gone almost un-noticed by parents.

On December 10 the council posted proposals to change the holidays in 2011/12 on its website.

A straw poll of parents by the Wiltshire Times showed the majority were unaware of them.

The council sent details of the proposals to schools for them to consult staff and also expected them to inform parents – but not all schools have done so.

The Wiltshire Times became aware of the plans after being contacted by a parent.

Fitzmaurice Primary school in Bradford on Avon told parents about the consultation in an article written by headteacher Shiel Taylor in the January 8 newsletter.

She advised parents to visit the Wiltshire Council website to respond. However, none of the parents the Wiltshire Times approached this week about the consultation knew of it.

Mrs Bell, service director for policy and communications, said the proposals to change the school terms and holiday dates for 2011/12 were put forward by Wiltshire’s teachers joint consultative committee.

The main change proposed is to continue the increase in the October half term from five to seven days. Another option could see the summer break lengthened to a full six weeks.

Mrs Bell said: “Schools are encouraged to consult widely on the proposals and to make parents and local organisations aware by including details in school newsletters and/or by drawing attention to the details on the website.

We are open to suggestion about how we could improve the effectiveness of the consultation.

The last thing we want is parents and schools not aware of it.”

The council had received 135 responses and comments on its websites from parents, schools and governors.

Anna Mears, head of Forest and Sandridge School in Melksham, said: “We will be talking to parents about it. Staff and governors have had their say as they felt strongly about which of the three options they wanted.

“It is a long way off at the moment so we will be talking to parents properly when a decision about what is happening has been made.

“We have sent back our response to the council.

I think with school holidays, as long as all schools are doing the same thing then it works, it’s when different schools start opting out and doing different things that it doesn’t work out.”