An hour to an hour and a half in the morning if you are at home. Nothing at all if you are away.
Christmas is the holiday to be relaxed about, and that is a deliberate position rather than a soft one.
How much, actually
The aim over Christmas is consistency, not volume. Keeping a child ticking over so the routine survives the break, rather than making ground.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Away on holiday | Nothing. It is not expected |
| At home, ordinary days | An hour to an hour and a half, in the morning |
| Christmas week itself | Leave it alone |
| Keen child who wants more | Fine, let them |
If you are away
Then do not work, and do not feel bad about it.
A lot of families go on vacation at Christmas, and when families travel with their children they are realistically not going to do much work. Planning an hour a day on a trip sets up a fortnight of failed intentions and friction, which costs more than the hour was worth.
Go away, enjoy it, and restart when you are home.
If you are at home
Then designate a plan, and keep it light.
- An hour to an hour and a half, in the morning. Done early, and that pretty much sets them up for the day.
- Write the days down at the start of the holiday, including the days off.
- Rotate the subjects rather than doing maths every morning.
- Keep reading daily, which does not count as the hour.
- Take Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off without discussion.
Morning matters more than people expect. Work done before lunch leaves the rest of the day genuinely free, so the child is not carrying it around.
Why Christmas is not the one that matters
This is the reason the advice is light.
With a September test, the holidays that count are Easter and the summer. Easter is where the work steps up to three or four hours a day, and the six weeks of summer are the final push. That is roughly nine weeks of free time, and it is where the ground gets made.
Christmas sits a long way from the test, in a fortnight when the family is together and the child is tired from a full term. Spending it hard buys little and costs goodwill you will want in July.
See our guide to Easter and our guide to the summer before the test.
Families who want to work right through
Some do ask, and the answer is not simply no.
If a child is willing and the family is at home, more time is fine. What I would not do is impose it. A fortnight of enforced work over Christmas, against a child's will, is how resentment starts, and resentment in December is expensive in June.
It is a time of celebration and families getting together. Keep it consistent, keep it short, and save the intensity for when it pays. See our guide to managing pressure.
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Keep it consistent, and keep it short
Christmas holidays are a very unique time. It is a time of celebration, and a lot of families want to go on vacation. We do not put emphasis on Christmas. The best thing to do is just keep consistent.
If they are on vacation, fair enough, it is not expected. When families go on holiday with their children, they are less likely to do any work. However, if they are at home, then the best thing is to designate a study plan for the holidays, not to keep it too strenuous, just to keep them going. So maybe an hour in the morning, an hour and a half in the morning, and that pretty much sets them for the day. If they can put in more time, fantastic.
But I think the holidays that really matter are Easter and the summer, within the year before the test. So what we suggest is just to keep things going over Christmas. It is a time of celebration and families getting together, so just be consistent. That is probably the more important thing here.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
How much 11+ work should a child do over the Christmas holidays?
An hour to an hour and a half in the morning if you are at home, and nothing at all if you are away. The aim over Christmas is consistency so the routine survives the break, not making ground.
Should my child do 11+ work on holiday at Christmas?
No, and it is not expected. Families who travel with their children realistically will not do much work, and planning an hour a day on a trip just creates a fortnight of failed intentions and friction.
Which holidays matter most for the 11+?
Easter and the summer, with a September test. Easter is where work steps up to three or four hours a day and the six weeks of summer are the final push, roughly nine weeks of free time in total. Christmas sits a long way from the test.
What does a good Christmas break look like for a Year 5 child?
A written plan with the days off included, an hour or so each morning rotating between subjects, daily reading that does not count as the hour, and Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off without discussion.
Should we work right through Christmas if my child is willing?
If the child is willing and you are at home, more time is fine. What is not worth doing is imposing it, because a fortnight of enforced work against a child's will starts a resentment that costs more later in the year.