UK School Term Dates 2026/2027: Everything You Need to Know

My School Agent | 8 July 2026

Every year, the same problem. You need to know when half term is. You Google it. You land on GOV.UK. And all it says is "find your child's school term dates on your local council's website."

That's it. No actual dates. Just a redirect. Because the UK doesn't have a single national school calendar. Your child's school might have completely different dates to the one down the road.

Here's why, and how to actually find your dates without losing your mind.

Why Dates Vary So Much

Three reasons:

  1. Local authorities set dates for maintained schools. Each council decides term start/end dates for community schools in their area.
  2. Academies and free schools set their own. They're not bound by council dates. Two schools on the same street can have different half terms.
  3. INSET days are set by individual schools. These are the teacher training days where your child doesn't attend. Each school picks their own 5 days per year, often at short notice.

This means if you have children at different schools, you might have mismatched holidays. Welcome to the scheduling nightmare.

Typical 2026/2027 Term Dates (England)

These are approximate and based on common patterns across most English local authorities. Always confirm with your specific school.

Autumn Term 2026

  • Term starts: Wednesday 2 September 2026 (some schools Thursday 3rd)
  • Half term: Monday 26 October – Friday 30 October
  • Term ends: Friday 18 December

Spring Term 2027

  • Term starts: Monday 4 January 2027
  • Half term: Monday 15 February – Friday 19 February
  • Term ends: Thursday 1 April

Summer Term 2027

  • Term starts: Monday 19 April 2027
  • Half term: Monday 31 May – Friday 4 June
  • Term ends: Wednesday 21 July

Note: These are indicative dates. Your council or academy may differ by a day or more in either direction. INSET days are additional and vary by school.

What About INSET Days?

Every school gets 5 INSET days (also called teacher training days or non-pupil days) per academic year. Schools choose when to take them. Common patterns:

  • One or two at the start of the autumn term (the day before children return)
  • One attached to a half term (giving parents an unexpected long weekend)
  • One or two scattered through the year, announced in the termly newsletter

The frustrating part? Schools don't always announce all five at the start of the year. You might find out about one with just a few weeks' notice, buried in paragraph four of a newsletter.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Different nations, different dates entirely:

  • Scotland: Starts much earlier (mid-August) and finishes earlier (late June). Has an October week holiday rather than a half term, and a two-week break at Easter.
  • Wales: Broadly follows England but with variations by local authority. The Welsh Government publishes suggested dates, but individual councils make the final call.
  • Northern Ireland: Has its own structure with slightly longer summer holidays and different mid-term break patterns.

If you're near a border, or have family in another nation for childcare, these differences matter. A week's mismatch between English and Scottish holidays can wreck your holiday plans.

How to Actually Keep Track

The basic approach: find your school's published term dates (usually on their website or in the autumn newsletter), manually add them all to your phone calendar, and hope you don't miss the INSET day announcement that comes halfway through term.

The better approach: have something that reads your school communications and pulls out dates automatically. That's what My School Agent does. It picks up term dates, INSET days, and every event your school mentions, and adds them to your calendar without you lifting a finger. No more Googling. No more missed training days.

Either way, get the dates into your calendar early. Your future self, trying to book annual leave, will thank you.