Hi Lulu -
My school was a little bit different to this, they only had the last week as activities week - which apparently they do because the 'term' for public schools is i guess, legally not allowed to end until then. Either that or maybe the schools do it because it's and extra week of 'babysitting' / letting the parents have more time to finish up with work and whatnot.
At my old high school our awards ceremony was normally at the end of this week and noone seemed to go after that...
Personally i hated holidays so much i'd rather have had another week of routine and being able to see my friends!