EDUCATION bosses want to unify the county and make schools take the same holidays - sounding the death knell for traditional Wakes Week breaks.

Now parents, school staff, pupils and governors have been urged to comment on plans Lancashire County Council could introduce in 2006.

The council consulted on the subject in 2002 but the move was scrapped after opposition over the loss of Wakes Weeks holidays.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) has kept the issue high on its agenda and has now received support for the proposals from the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and Education Secretary, Charles Clarke. Across the country, 13 local education authorities (LEAs) will pilot the Standard School Year during 2004/5 and another 30 agreed in principle to implement it.

Coun Alan Whittaker, cabinet member for education, said: "We have carried out initial consultations with our partners in Lancashire and discussions with other LEAs in the North West.

"I am confident there would be many benefits to introducing a standardised school year for staff and pupils. Six terms of equal length at the same time every year would help for planning purposes andpupils wouldn't get over tired."

The revelation came after it was revealed Catholic secondary schools in Burnley had failed to agree on holidays for next year, angering families with children in different schools.

Simon Jones, NUT executive member, said: "There are a number of six-term models floating around but anything that keeps the six-week holiday and fixes a two-week spring break is a good thing.

"It is vital holidays are fixed so that teachers can plan ahead. Most teachers still work a week after the children break up and are in two weeks before the start of term to plan, so they need six weeks to have any meaningful break.

"People forget that when the children are off most teachers are still in school working."