I'm sorry to say that children and teenagers are working harder than ever these days. A single school day can feel like torture with all the school work we have to do, not to mention pricey commuting and collective punishment... the list goes on. Michael Gove's new, more demanding GCSEs have made us feel like robots. Overwork a machine and it malfunctions and overwork a human and he/she also breaks down. Harder exams and stricter schools are not the answer, in a new world where communication and understanding is the way to learn, not just learning how to answer an exam question. That is why I call for longer holidays across all schools in the UK, so here are some things we would like to see:

1) A longer, at least 8 week summer holiday (reasons below)

2) Break up earlier and come back later to school during half term, Christmas, and Easter to make sure all children get their standard break.

3) In High Schools, introduce some holidays, or at least a few days of if they have had something like an exam week or public exams, etc.

If this petition succeeds, then this should be done WITHOUT extending school hours or setting more national homework, as this would make school life even worse and is clearly not the right thing to do when today's children need more rest than ever.

If we do have to suffer with more demanding exams, then we must require more holidays to cope with them. The UK's 6 week break is one of the world's shortest on the planet. Why can't we be like Finland with a 9 week holiday? They are among the happiest children in the world and we have some of the saddest, according to a recent survey found where we came 12th out of 13th. The most common argument against longer holidays is that "children would get bored". There are plenty of activities children and teens do in the holidays and trips abroad. I also believe that parents should be supported with this petition and also be allowed more time off to be with their children, so they can go on more trips or holidays etc. So if you want to get your well deserved break, then sign here!