calendar

It is a familiar situation in many families: one child’s school is on half term while a sibling at a different school is still in class. It is not usually a mistake. In England, different types of state school have different bodies responsible for setting their term dates, and those bodies do not always choose the same dates.

This guide explains who sets the dates for each type of school, why they differ, and what you can do if your children’s calendars do not line up.

Who sets the term dates?

The rules come from the Education Act 2002. Responsibility follows the employer of the school’s staff:

Type of school Who sets term dates
Community schools, voluntary controlled schools, community special schools and maintained nursery schools The local authority
Foundation schools, voluntary aided schools (many church schools) and foundation special schools The school’s governing body
Academies and free schools The academy trust

So the dates published by a council, including the dates on this site, apply directly to community and voluntary controlled schools only. Many voluntary aided schools, foundation schools and academies choose to follow the council’s dates anyway, because it makes life easier for families and staff. But they do not have to, and some do not.

That matters more than it used to. Around half of state-funded schools in England are now academies, including most secondary schools. Essex is a good example: Department for Education data shows that around 64% of schools in the county are academies, rising to 95% at secondary level. For many families, the council’s calendar is the starting point rather than the final word.

The 190-day framework

Council-maintained schools must open for at least 380 sessions, or 190 days, in each school year under the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999. Teachers in maintained schools work a further five days without pupils, the INSET days. The council sets the term dates, but in most areas the school chooses its own INSET days, so even two community schools using the same council calendar can close on different days.

Academies set their own dates and length of school day, within the terms of their funding agreement with the Department for Education. In practice most still aim for a year of a similar length, so the differences are usually about where holidays fall rather than how much holiday there is.

The two-week October half term

The most visible difference in recent years has been the two-week October half term. The autumn term is the longest of the year, and some trusts and councils have moved to a longer break in the middle of it, making up the time elsewhere, often with a shorter summer holiday or an earlier start in September.

This is no longer limited to academy trusts. In the council term dates on this site for 2026/27, eight councils give their maintained schools a full two-week October half term: Bromley, the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly, Northumberland, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Surrey. Several others, including Norfolk, Swindon, West Berkshire and Wiltshire, add one or two extra days to the usual week. Surrey’s two-week break is new for 2026/27; its October 2025 half term was a single week.

Where a council moves to a two-week break, the academies and church schools in the same area do not automatically follow. That is when sibling clashes are most likely.

Other common differences

  • The Easter holiday. Most councils fix the spring holiday around Easter, but a few keep it in early April even when Easter is early. In 2026/27, Leeds and Manchester break up on 2 April 2027, so Good Friday (26 March) and Easter Monday (29 March) fall during term as bank holidays. A school in the same area that follows Easter will have a different two weeks. Our guide to Easter and bank holiday mismatches covers this in more detail.
  • The start and end of the year. A few councils start in late August and finish in early July. In 2026/27, Leicester and Leicestershire start on 24 August 2026 and Bromley on 26 August, while most councils start on 1 or 2 September.
  • Council boundaries. If you live near a boundary, your children may attend schools in different council areas, each with its own calendar. The dates that apply are those of the council where the school is, not where you live.

Planning when your children’s dates differ

  • Get both calendars, including INSET days, as early as possible. Schools that set their own dates usually publish them on their website, often a year or more ahead.
  • Mark the overlap first. Christmas usually lines up, and the summer holiday largely overlaps, but do not assume Easter or October will.
  • Check the days at the edges. A single INSET day attached to one school’s half term is the most common cause of a one-day childcare gap.
  • Look at holiday clubs that run for longer periods. Some providers run during the weeks when only some local schools are closed, because they know families are caught in between.
  • Do not book holidays around one child’s calendar. If the other child’s school is open, an absence will usually be unauthorised, and the rules on term-time holidays and fines still apply.

As a teacher, I saw this most often in families with a child at the local primary and an older child at an academy secondary. The parents who coped best kept both calendars side by side from September rather than finding out about a clash a week before it happened.

Sources

← Back to all articles