The Welsh Government, through its Programme for Government and Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru, had committed to explore reform of the school year. From November 2023 to February 2024 a 12-week consultation was carried to gain insights on 3 options for reform and individual aspects of change. 

This consultation followed on from previous studies on the effects of changes, attitudes towards school year reform, and, by Miller Research, the effects of the current school structure on learners, their families, and education staff.  

At Miller Research we were commissioned, together with Children in Wales, to support the consultation and undertake additional qualitative fieldwork alongside analysing the consultation survey. 25 focus groups and 10 interviews were carried out with a range of stakeholders such as those from the education sector (including staff and unions), tourism, events, and agriculture sectors, parents, and learners themselves. 

Altogether we analysed 16,279 responses to the survey which contained 12 closed questions, and 3 open questions with text boxes plus demographic questions. Over 200,000 cells of data were analysed to identify the trends, themes, and patterns in the responses to provide the Welsh Government with greater depth than simple quantitative counts of the returns.   

Additionally, 351 emails, letters, Easy Read responses and school self-completion toolkits were received and analysed. 

Miller Research’s experience and team structure makes us uniquely positioned in Wales to undertake research of this scale. 

The overall findings presented a mixed picture of feeling in Wales. More than half of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the school calendar could be better structured to support modern living, disadvantage and wellbeing. However, Option 1, maintaining the current school year, was still favoured by just over half of respondents.  

The full report can be found here.