The brother of Virginia Giuffre has called on King Charles to strip Prince Andrew of the title "prince" after he announced he is giving up his other titles, including the Duke of York.

Ms Giuffre alleged she was forced to have sex with the prince on three occasions, including when she was aged 17 at the home of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001.

The prince made a financial payment to Ms Giuffre in an out-of-court settlement in 2022, after she had brought a civil case against him. He denies all the accusations against him.

Sky Roberts told BBC Newsnight his sister, who took her own life earlier this year, would be "very proud" of the latest development regarding Prince Andrew.

The prince has been under increasing pressure over his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with calls for Buckingham Palace to take action against him.

On Friday, the prince announced that he was deciding to voluntarily hand back his titles and to give up membership of the Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.

He will also cease be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

But Mr Roberts said he would like to see the King go a step further, saying: "We would call on the King to potentially go ahead and take out the prince in the Andrew."

"I think anybody that was implicated in this should have some sort of resolve. They should have some sort of responsibility and accountability for these survivors," he said, adding that he would "welcome any contact from the King, from members of parliament".

When Prince Andrew was born in 1960, he was automatically a prince as the son of a monarch. This could only be changed if a Letters Patent was issued by the King.

In his statement on Friday, Prince Andrew said: "In discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.

"I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first.

"I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.

"With His Majesty's agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me."

He said he continued to "vigorously deny the accusations against me".

The prince had already ceased to be a "working royal" and had lost the use of his HRH title and no longer appeared at official royal events. His role now will be even more diminished.

The prince has faced a series of scandals over recent years, including a court case he settled with Ms Giuffre.

Next week a posthumous memoir by Ms Giuffre will be published. It is likely to cast further attention on Prince Andrew's involvement with her and Epstein.

Ms Giuffre claimed that she was one of many vulnerable girls and young women who had been sexually exploited by Epstein and his circle of wealthy connections.

She alleged that she was forced to have sex with the prince at the house of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001, when Ms Giuffre was 17 years old.

Her memoir describes two other occasions on which she alleges she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew - in Epstein's townhouse in New York and on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Ms Giuffre's brother, Mr Roberts, told BBC Newsnight: "We have shed a lot of happy and sad tears today. I think happy because in a lot of ways this vindicates Virginia."

"All the years of work that she put in is now coming to some sort of justice, and these monsters can't escape from it - the truth will find its way out."

He said this was "a moment where survivors are not staying quiet any more".

"It's just a joyous moment for them because we're finally getting some sense of acknowledgement, like 'this actually happened, what we're saying is the truth'," Mr Roberts added.

He said there was "so much more to be accomplished, especially here in the United States".

Prince Andrew has faced intense scrutiny over his links with disgraced financier Epstein, more recently including questions about when he had really cut off contact.

In a now-infamous BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, Prince Andrew said that he had severed all links with Epstein after they had been photographed together in New York in December 2010.

But emails sent in February 2011 later emerged suggesting that he had privately stayed in touch with Epstein, including sending a message that read: "Keep in close touch and we'll play some more soon!"

Prince Andrew is expected to stay in his Windsor home, Royal Lodge, on which he has his own private lease which runs until 2078.

His ex-wife will be known as Sarah Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York, but their daughters will continue to have the title of princess.

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Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence says 11 people were killed, all from the same family, after the bus they were in was hit by an Israeli tank shell in northern Gaza.

The family, it said, were trying to reach their home to inspect it when the incident happened in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City on Friday night.

This is the deadliest single incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire eight days ago.

The Israeli military said soldiers had fired at a "suspicious vehicle" that had crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers continue to operate in more than half of the Gaza Strip, under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP news agency the victims were members of the Abu Shaaban family and were killed while "trying to check on their home" in the area.

The dead included women and children, according to the civil defence.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said a "suspicious vehicle was identified crossing the yellow line and approaching IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip" on Friday, prompting it to fire "warning shots" towards the vehicle.

It said the vehicle "continued to approach the troops in a way that caused an imminent threat to them" and "troops opened fire to remove the threat, in accordance with the agreement."

Hamas said the family had been targeted without justification.

The IDF has warned Palestinians from entering areas in Gaza still under its control.

With limited internet access, many Palestinians do not know the position of Israeli troops as the yellow demarcation line is not physically marked, and it is unclear if the area where the bus was travelling did cross it.

The BBC has asked the IDF for coordinates of the incident.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday the army would set up visual signs to indicate the location of the line.

In a separate development on Saturday, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open on Monday for Palestinian residents in Egypt to return to Gaza.

In another part of the ceasefire deal, Hamas on Friday had released the body of Israeli hostage Eliyahu Margalit to the Red Cross, which returned it to Israel.

Mr Margalit was the tenth deceased hostage to be returned from Gaza. The remains of another 18 people are yet to be repatriated.

Israel handed the bodies of 15 more Palestinians over to officials in Gaza via the Red Cross, the Hamas-run health ministry said, bringing the total number of bodies it has received to 135.

There has been anger in Israel that Hamas has not returned all of the dead hostages' bodies, in line with last week's ceasefire deal - though the US has downplayed the suggestion it amounts to a breach.

The IDF has stressed that Hamas must "uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the hostages".

Hamas has blamed Israel for making the task difficult because Israeli strikes have reduced so many buildings to rubble and it does not allow heavy machinery and diggers into Gaza to be able to search for the hostages' bodies.

As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israel freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Hamas also returned all 20 living hostages to Israel.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

At least 67,900 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

Lady Annabel Goldsmith, the socialite and campaigner who gave her name to a famous 1960s London nightclub, has died aged 91.

Lady Annabel was the mother of six children from her two marriages, including Zac, who was Conservative MP for Richmond Park for eight years and who ran for mayor of London in 2016.

Her youngest child Ben said she was "quite simply irreplaceable".

He added: "We are bereft, not for her – because her life has been extraordinary and complete - but for us, because of the immense hole in our lives she leaves behind."

Mr Goldsmith said: "I spoke to her every day for 45 years, she truly had my back and we loved each other very much. I will miss her terribly."

Annabel's, which was opened by her first husband in 1963 and was one of London's first modern nightclubs, was named in her honour.

It was popular with the British aristocracy and celebrities in the 1960s and 1970s.

Born in London in 1934 into an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family, Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart was the daughter of Viscount Castlereagh, who later became The 8th Marquess of Londonderry.

She became Lady Annabel in February 1949, when her father became marquess.

Lady Annabel was the mother of Rupert, Robin and India Jane with her first husband, hospitality industry entrepreneur Mark Birley: they were married from 1954 to 1979.

She then married financier Sir James Goldsmith and they had three children: Jemima, Zac and Ben Goldsmith.

Jemima is the former wife of Imran Khan, an international cricketer who served as prime minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022.

Lady Annabel was a campaigner and advocate for a range of causes, including the countryside, animal charities and working to lessen the impact of HIV/AIDS on children in South Africa.

In 2004 she published her memoirs Annabel: An Unconventional Life, where she recalled her aristocratic childhood, glamorous social life in 1960s Swinging London to her role as matriarch and grandmother.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence says 11 people were killed, all from the same family, after the bus they were in was hit by an Israeli tank shell in northern Gaza.

The family, it said, were trying to reach their home to inspect it when the incident happened in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City on Friday night.

This is the deadliest single incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire eight days ago.

The Israeli military said soldiers had fired at a "suspicious vehicle" that had crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers continue to operate in more than half of the Gaza Strip, under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP news agency the victims were members of the Abu Shaaban family and were killed while "trying to check on their home" in the area.

The dead included women and children, according to the civil defence.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said a "suspicious vehicle was identified crossing the yellow line and approaching IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip" on Friday, prompting it to fire "warning shots" towards the vehicle.

It said the vehicle "continued to approach the troops in a way that caused an imminent threat to them" and "troops opened fire to remove the threat, in accordance with the agreement."

Hamas said the family had been targeted without justification.

The IDF has warned Palestinians from entering areas in Gaza still under its control.

With limited internet access, many Palestinians do not know the position of Israeli troops as the yellow demarcation line is not physically marked, and it is unclear if the area where the bus was travelling did cross it.

The BBC has asked the IDF for coordinates of the incident.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday the army would set up visual signs to indicate the location of the line.

In a separate development on Saturday, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open on Monday for Palestinian residents in Egypt to return to Gaza.

In another part of the ceasefire deal, Hamas on Friday had released the body of Israeli hostage Eliyahu Margalit to the Red Cross, which returned it to Israel.

Mr Margalit was the tenth deceased hostage to be returned from Gaza. The remains of another 18 people are yet to be repatriated.

Israel handed the bodies of 15 more Palestinians over to officials in Gaza via the Red Cross, the Hamas-run health ministry said, bringing the total number of bodies it has received to 135.

There has been anger in Israel that Hamas has not returned all of the dead hostages' bodies, in line with last week's ceasefire deal - though the US has downplayed the suggestion it amounts to a breach.

The IDF has stressed that Hamas must "uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the hostages".

Hamas has blamed Israel for making the task difficult because Israeli strikes have reduced so many buildings to rubble and it does not allow heavy machinery and diggers into Gaza to be able to search for the hostages' bodies.

As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israel freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Hamas also returned all 20 living hostages to Israel.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

At least 67,900 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.

The organisers of the "No Kings" protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.

Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state's National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.

Organisers say that at the last No Kings protest, held in June, more than five million people took to the streets to denounce Trump's political agenda.

The protest organisers say the protest will challenge Trump's "authoritarianism".

"The president thinks his rule is absolute," they say on their website.

"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."

Some Republicans have dubbed the protests "Hate America" rallies.

"We'll have to get the National Guard out," Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.

"Hopefully it'll be peaceful. I doubt it."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state's National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state's capital.

He said the troops would be needed due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration".

Democrats denounced the move, including the state's top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: "Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do — and Greg Abbott just proved he's one of them."

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated.

Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.

The organisers of the "No Kings" protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.

Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state's National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.

Organisers say that at the last No Kings protest, held in June, more than five million people took to the streets to denounce Trump's political agenda.

The protest organisers say the protest will challenge Trump's "authoritarianism".

"The president thinks his rule is absolute," they say on their website.

"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."

Some Republicans have dubbed the protests "Hate America" rallies.

"We'll have to get the National Guard out," Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.

"Hopefully it'll be peaceful. I doubt it."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state's National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state's capital.

He said the troops would be needed due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration".

Democrats denounced the move, including the state's top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: "Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do — and Greg Abbott just proved he's one of them."

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated.

Afghanistan will no longer take part in an upcoming cricket series after it says three players in a local tournament were killed in an air strike.

The Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) said it would withdraw from November's tri-nation T20 series out of respect for the three, who did not play for the national team, who it said were "targeted" in an "attack carried out by the Pakistani regime" on Friday evening.

The strike hit a home in Urgon district in eastern Paktika province, where the cricketers were eating dinner together after a match, eyewitnesses and local officials told the BBC.

Eight people were killed, the ACB said. Pakistan said the strike targeted militants and denied attacking civilians.

The ACB named the three players who were killed as Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon, calling their deaths "a great loss for Afghanistan's sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family".

The attack came hours after a temporary truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan was due to expire following days of deadly clashes on the border between the two nations. Dozens of casualties have been reported.

Pakistan said it had targeted Afghan militants in the air strike and that at least 70 combatants had been killed.

Pakistan's Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar said claims that the attack targeted civilians are "false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan".

On Saturday, large crowds of people were seen gathering at the funeral for the strike's victims.

In a social media post, Afghan national team captain Rashid Khan paid tribute to the "aspiring young cricketers who dreamed of representing their nation on the world stage".

Other players for the Afghan national side joined the tributes, including Fazalhaq Farooqi who said the attack was a "heinous, unforgivable crime".

The strike came after Pakistani officials said seven soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghan border on Friday.

The 48-hour truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which began on Wednesday at 13:00 GMT, has reportedly been extended to allow for negotiations.

An Afghan delegation arrived in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday for peace talks with the Pakistani side.

The Taliban government said it would take part in the talks despite "Pakistani aggression", which it says was Islamabad's attempt to prolong the conflict.

Former Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said Pakistan should "reconsider its policies, and pursue friendly and civilised relations" with Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said on Saturday that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif would lead the country's delegation in Doha.

It said the talks will focus on ending cross-border terrorism and restoring peace and stability on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Tens of thousands of mourners have gathered in the Kenyan city of Kisumu to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The 80-year-old's body is now lying in state in at a stadium in his political heartland following his state funeral, which was held on Friday in the capital, Nairobi - two days after he died at a hospital in India.

Security forces are on high alert following the deaths of at least five people at events held in recent days to mourn Odinga.

"I have come here to mourn an icon of Africa," one mourner, Dixon Ochieng, told the BBC, while others could be heard to cry out "we are orphans" in their grief.

• Obituary: A founding father of Kenya's multi-party democracy

• How Odinga's court challenges have improved Kenya's elections

People of all ages began arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu before dawn on Saturday to pay their respects.

Many wore orange - the party colour of his Orange Democratic Movement - and waved branches, a traditional symbol of mourning and grief among the Luo ethnic group to which Odinga belonged.

Odinga was the country's main opposition leader for many years, losing five presidential campaigns - the most recent three years ago. He repeatedly said he was cheated of victory, citing the manipulation of votes.

Following a bloody and disputed 2007 election, he became prime minister in a unity government.

He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Kenya's multi-party democracy and has a devotional following in the west of the country.

"I remember him for giving us democracy, for giving me our freedom - and now we can talk and we can say anything that we see is bad for us," Jacob Omondi told the BBC about Odinga's impact on the country.

Another mourner, David Ouma, said: "I learned from Raila is to be resilient, because Raila was always a very resilient leader through every election… he still rose to try again to try again."

Among the dignitaries who have paid tribute to Odinga was former US President Barack Obama, whose Kenyan family is also from the area.

"Raila Odinga was a true champion of democracy. A child of independence, he endured decades of struggle and sacrifice for the broader cause of freedom and self-governance in Kenya," Mr Obama wrote on X.

"Time and again, I personally saw him put the interests of his country ahead of his own ambitions. Like few other leaders anywhere, he was willing to choose the path of peaceful reconciliation without compromising his core values," Mr Obama said.

Odinga is expected to be laid to rest on Sunday following a private burial at his farm in Bondo, about 60km (40 miles) west of Kisumu.

According to the family, he wished to be laid to rest within the shortest time possible, ideally within 72 hours.

You may also be interested in:

• How a handshake changed Odinga's heartland
• 'They aimed to kill' - BBC identifies security forces who shot Kenya anti-tax protesters
• The ever-shifting alliances that fuelled Kenya's impeachment drama
• Behind the fallout between Kenya's president and his deputy

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

US prosecutors have accused a Louisiana resident of participating in the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, recently unsealed court documents show.

Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub al-Muhtadi, 33, allegedly armed himself and joined a paramilitary group that fought alongside Hamas in the 2023 attack that saw about 2,000 people killed and 251 taken as hostages.

At least 67,900 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

A year after the attack, Mr al-Muhtadi allegedly travelled to the US on a fraudulent visa and became a permanent resident.

He was charged with providing, attempting to provide or conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and the fraud and misuse of a visa or other documents.

Mr al-Muhtadi was allegedly an operative of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the complaint brought by the FBI.

He is accused of coordinating a "group of armed fighters" to cross into Israel after hearing about the attack and asked one man to "bring the rifles", court documents show.

Mr al-Muhtadi sent messages asking others to bring a bulletproof vest for another man and ammunition, prosecutors allege.

Hours after the 7 October attack began, his phone pinged a cell tower near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the sight of a massacre, the documents said.

The complaint said that Mr al-Muhtadi denied ever having been involved in terrorist activities on his US visa application.

After coming to the US, he lived in a handful of places before landing in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he worked in a local restaurant.

He was arrested on Thursday, the Justice Department said.

During a court appearance in Louisiana on Friday, he was asked if he understood the charges against him. An interpreter translated his response as: "Yes, but there are a lot of things mentioned here that are so false, I'm innocent," according to the New York Times.

The documents do not accuse Mr al-Muhtadi of specific crimes or killings. Federal prosecutors have previously charged senior members of Hamas with the deaths of American citizens on 7 October.

Sir David Attenborough has broken the record for the oldest winner of a Daytime Emmy award for his work on documentary Secret Lives of Orangutans.

The 99-year-old came out top in the outstanding daytime personality, non-daily category, with the Netflix film - which follows a group of apes living in the jungles of Sumatra, Indonesia - also coming away with two other awards.

Sir David beat the record previously held by actor Dick Van Dyke, who was 98 when he won the guest performer in a daytime drama series category in 2024.

The 52nd annual Daytime Emmys was held on Friday in Pasadena, California, but Sir David - who is eight months away from his 100th birthday - was not in attendance.

• Attenborough at 99 delivers 'greatest message he's ever told'
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Secret Lives of Orangutans also won outstanding music direction and composition and outstanding directing team for a single camera daytime non-fiction programme.

Writer, broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David's career spans more than 70 years during which his voice has become synonymous with natural history programmes both in the UK and across the English-speaking world.

His award-winning natural history programmes include Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants and The Blue Planet.

More than 40 animals and plant species have also been named after him.

Earlier this year he released his cinema-length film Ocean, which he described as one of the most important projects of his career and spoke of his belief it could play a decisive role in saving biodiversity and protecting the planet from climate change.

Other winners at Friday's ceremony included long-running daytime soap General Hospital for outstanding daytime drama series and actress and presenter Drew Barrymore for outstanding daytime talk series host.

As the end of October approaches, teachers and pupils alike are looking forward to the half-term holiday. But in some places, the traditional week off has become a fortnight. What do parents, teachers and experts think?

Unity Schools Partnership has decided to implement a two-week half-term across its eight primaries in Norfolk, following a trial last year.

The partnership, which already operates a two-week holiday in its Suffolk schools, said it was doing so to improve everyone's wellbeing and reduce ill-health absences.

Elsewhere, some other councils, including Nottinghamshire, already have two-week autumn half-term holidays, while others, including Surrey, are soon to adopt them.

In England, maintained schools - those funded and controlled by the local authority - must provide at least 190 days of education a year.

Other schools, including academies, free schools, foundation schools and voluntary-aided schools, have more freedom to set their own term dates.

While many are moving towards two-week autumn half-terms, most of these are shortening the summer holiday by a week to compensate.

That is not happening at Unity's schools, which are instead able to choose how to make up the lost 32.5 hours.

Colman Junior School, in Norwich, which piloted the longer half-term last year, has opted for an extra hour on Wednesdays.

The trust says it carried out two rounds of consultation before extending the half-term break and found most parents (58%) and staff (89%) in favour.

Its interim chief executive, Sarah Garner, says the autumn term is the "longest and hardest" for both teachers and pupils, and that its schools regularly see a spike in illnesses just before the Christmas break, impacting "wellbeing and more importantly... learning".

Ms Garner acknowledges the move might mean some some families with children at different schools now have to juggle three weeks of childcare, but says most parents have been managing.

Most are able to take advantage of community half-term activities as well as using parental leave, she says.

However, the trust will be organising additional childcare for the second week of the forthcoming half-term.

Waiting to pick up her children outside Colman Junior School is Abby Simpson.

"It's been OK," she says. "The good thing is that holidays are cheaper in the second week because all the other kids have gone back to school.

"But it's a little bit tricky around childcare sometimes, because it's that longer amount of time to find childcare when I'm working. So it's a sort of mixed bag but, overall, I'd say it's a good thing."

Her friend, Natalie, who does not want to give her surname, says the move actually helped her family situation.

"I think it's a good thing. I'm separated from my daughter's dad so she has a week on, week off. So we both get a week with her."

"But I'm self-employed, so I'm a bit different. So I have to take that week off because the childcare is non-existent in the second week.

"Also, it's a tricky term for most of the students when it's getting dark."

Picking up his son is Aaron Rushworth, 36, who believes the move could help improve teacher retention.

On the extra childcare required, he says: "It's no more than you have to adjust your pattern of life to having children generally.

"It's not saying that I'm impacted negatively; I just build it around having my son around."

He also feels the longer day prevents the need to rush for pick-up time.

Spencer Ward's son joined the school last year, so he "was aware of the policy and had planned for it", asking relatives to help out with the second week.

"I think overall it's really beneficial and this extra hour on a Wednesday gives him time to do stuff he wouldn't normally do in school," he says.

"It's extra-curricular, so it's fun stuff. It's music; it might be dancing, or the arts; might be gardening, something he doesn't normally do, and [he] spends time with other kids he doesn't normally spend time with."

While schools and government often emphasise the impact of time away from school on children's learning, Mr Ward does not agree.

"The children need a bit of time to relax as well," he says.

"We know what they're doing curriculum-wise and I think there's enough stuff we can do at home if we need to."

Michael Burdett, 31, teaches Year 6 at school and is its maths lead. He is also a parent with school-age children.

After the longer holiday was piloted last year, he noticed a huge drop in staff absence and sickness. Fewer children were ill, too.

And he says small adjustments were made to the curriculum to ensure there was no impact on the children's education.

"I don't think I could consider working somewhere that didn't have the two-week half term now, just because it has such an impact on my wellbeing," he says.

"Having that extra week off really charges me as a teacher again to go forward and be the best teacher I can heading towards that Christmas term.

"I also think it's vitally important for pupils to also rest and recover during that time."

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, thinks a revision of the school year is called for.

"We need a rebalanced school calendar that reflects the realities of modern family life — supporting working parents, reducing holiday hunger, and ensuring pupils don't fall behind over the long break," he says.

"Reducing summer holidays and extending breaks during the autumn term would potentially help to reduce learning loss for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, spread workloads more evenly for teachers, and relieve the childcare burden that weighs heavily on working families during the summer."

However, parenting blogger Ruth Davies Knowles says she approves of children having as many holidays as possible, but not the longer half-term.

Until all schools adopt the policy, she says, families could have to juggle childcare issues over a longer period.

Up until 2013, head teachers could grant absences of up to 10 days for a family holiday in "special circumstances", and she would like this policy brought back to allow families to take time off when it suits them.

"Whenever we talk about school absences, head teachers always come on and tell us how vital it is that children are at school," she says.

"What sort of message does it send out when they're saying every day at school is important, but you can have an extra week off?"

The charity Coram Family and Childcare says more needs to be done about holiday childcare after finding fewer providers available over the half-term breaks.

It found particular gaps in provision for older children, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and those with parents working non-typical hours.

The average price of childcare for children between five and 11 was £179.33 per week for holiday clubs and £233.83 for childminders.

Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, is concerned about the impact to learning of the move.

Some of Unity's schools have opted to extend the school day by 10 minutes, but he dismisses this as "a conjuring trick", saying that if a longer half-term is to work, a week must be cut from the summer holiday.

"The children need to be in school, and they need to be in school when they're fresh and alert, and at the end of the school day, 10 minutes is not really going to help," he says.

"Look, for middle-class parents, maybe it would work. But for many mums and dads, they've got to go to work themselves; kids are hanging around.

"I think it's pretty dangerous territory."

Asked by the BBC how many schools in England were operating a two-week half-term, the Department for Education did not respond.

However, a spokesperson says local authorities and schools, not the government, set their own term dates, so already have the flexibility to change the length of holidays if teachers and parents want to.

"Every school day is vital to ensure every child, no matter their background, can achieve and thrive," they say.

"While academies have the flexibility to change the length of holidays that best suit their community, it is of utmost importance that no child loses out on essential learning time."

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