When my DDs were in primary school I used to take them out for 1 week either side of the October mid term holiday to give a 3 week holiday. However, now they are in secondary school I feel that they would miss too much and so this year we are going in the summer for the first time. However, we are going one week before the school breaks up. I have no qualms about this whatsoever - they are only sitting round watching videos etc. during the last week anyway.