Danny Nicholson

Teacher, ITE lecturer and award-winning education author

sciencefix.co.uk

Danny Nicholson has 30 years' experience as a teacher and has delivered professional development for teachers for 25 years. He now works mainly in initial teacher education as a science lecturer and personal tutor, and is the author of Science Fix, winner of the ASE Textbook of the Year 2025.

Danny provides training and consultancy for schools, multi-academy trusts and initial teacher education providers, including Essex and Thames SCITT. He works with STEM Learning and Science Learning Partnerships, and is a Hub Leader and Professional Learning Partner for the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM). His published work includes titles for Corwin, Rising Stars, Heinemann and Twig/Imperial College London, and he runs ScienceFix, which supports primary science teaching and subject leadership.

He set up School Term Dates UK to bring term dates for every local authority in England into one place. As a parent of a primary-age child, he plans around the school calendar too. Term dates on this site are taken from official local authority publications, and each local authority page links to its council source where one is available.

School Term Dates UK is run by Think Bank Ltd, based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

Articles by Danny Nicholson

Why Academies and Council Schools Can Have Different Term Dates

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 […]
8 Jul 2026 · 5 min read Read article →

Religious Festivals and School Absence: What the Law Says

Many families in England mark religious festivals that fall during term time, such as Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Diwali, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or Vaisakhi. Attendance law makes specific provision for this, but the protection is narrower than many parents expect, and the difference between the festival day and any extra days around it matters. […]
3 Jul 2026 · 4 min read Read article →

Term-Time Holidays and School Fines in England: What Parents Need to Know

Family holidays booked outside the school holidays are usually cheaper, and every year a large number of parents decide that the saving is worth the risk of a fine. The Department for Education’s figures show how common this is: in the 2024/25 school year, councils in England issued 492,800 penalty notices for school absence, and […]
7 Jun 2026 · 6 min read Read article →

Summer-Born Children: Deferring or Delaying the Start of School

Children in England usually start Reception in the September after their fourth birthday. For a child born in August, that means starting school only just after turning four, alongside classmates who may be almost a year older. Many parents of summer-born children ask whether their child has to start then, and what the alternatives are. […]
1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read Read article →

How INSET Days Are Chosen, and How to Find Your School’s

INSET days, also called training days, staff development days or teacher days, are the days when a school is open for staff but closed to pupils. For parents, they are often the hardest part of the school calendar to plan for, because they are not on the council’s published term dates and they vary from […]
16 May 2026 · 4 min read Read article →

The 190-Day School Year: How Term Dates Are Put Together

The school year can look as though it is arranged differently every year, and in some ways it is. But underneath the variation there is a fixed requirement that every council works to: 190 days with pupils, plus five days for staff. This guide explains where that comes from, how councils fit it around Easter […]
15 Apr 2026 · 5 min read Read article →