Hi melovesengland
My mother and daughter experienced the same thing a month ago.As my mum told me on her appointment at 11 am they were hundreds of visa applicants.They finish at 5pm.Her que number was past 970.
As I have never dealth with vfs manila before I thought they were as efficient and punctual as the thai vfs.I did not book them vip service.
On that day,my mum told me that even the vip applicants waited for a long time.
Anyway, i like to tell you one more thing as your family's application is similar to mine...
As my daughter is also on school break as yours I have applied last month in hoping they will be here before easter and back in P.I. in May.Their application is still under process....!
I have felt the same thing you are feeling right now.After 3 weeks of waiting to hear from them I am so stressed out and frustrated.
We never thought that a visit visa would take this long to process.May is near and maybe if we get the visa the school holiday is finish as the British Embassy Manila told us that non settlement visa could take up to 12 weeks when we enquire about their application.
Now,we don't expect much anymore.All we need is to know if it's been processed .