October half term 2026, and how to check your own school's dates
Published 3 September 2026 · Updated 5 September 2026
October half term 2026 falls in the second half of the month, and how long it lasts depends entirely on the type of school. Most state schools in England take a single week, set by the local council. Most independent schools take a fortnight, and set it themselves.
If you are trying to book something, the length matters more than the start. A week and a fortnight both appear on a school website as "half term", and the difference only shows up when you read the return date.
When is October half term 2026?
For state schools in England, the usual pattern is one week set by the council, and in 2026 that is most often the week beginning Monday 26 October. Councils do vary, so treat that as the shape to check rather than the answer.
For independent schools, a fortnight is normal. Across the 3,510 schools in Cyril's registry that have a dated October 2026 half term lasting three days or more, two patterns account for nearly three quarters of them:
| Half term 2026 | Schools |
|---|---|
| Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October | 1,894 |
| Sunday 18 October to Saturday 31 October | 662 |
The single week beginning Monday 26 October is the council pattern, and it is much the larger of the two. The fortnight from Sunday 18 October is the independent-school one.
That split shows up in the term-date pages Cyril publishes, which lean independent: of those 65 pages, 11 carry the fortnight and 1 carries the single week. You can see the single week on James Allen's Girls' School, and the fortnight on Dame Allan's Schools, Hampton School, Latymer Upper School and Latymer Prep, Northampton High School, Norwich High School for Girls, Notting Hill and Ealing High School, Putney High School, Royal Grammar School Guildford, South Hampstead High School, The King's School, Worcester and Westholme School.
Why do the dates vary so much between schools?
Because 4 different bodies are setting them.
Councils set the dates for community and voluntary-controlled schools. Academies and free schools set their own, usually close to the council but not bound to it. Foundation and voluntary-aided schools are set by their governing bodies. Independent schools do entirely as they please, and their longer half term is paid for by a longer summer holiday and a shorter term.
The practical consequence for a family with children at 2 schools is that a week off at one can sit inside a fortnight off at the other, and only one of those weeks overlaps.
Why can I not find dates listed by region?
Because there is no such thing, in England, as a regional school holiday.
Dates are set at council level or at school level. There is no layer between them, so any list organised by region is either a summary of council calendars, which does not bind academies, or an average, which is true of nobody. Scotland and Northern Ireland run different calendars again, which is where a good deal of the confusion in search results comes from.
The nearest honest version is your council's calendar, if your child is at a community or voluntary-controlled school, and your school's own page if not.
How do I confirm my school's half term?
Look for 2 dates, not 1. The last day before the holiday, and the day children return. A school website that shows only "half term: October" is not telling you the thing you need.
- The school's term dates page is the source. Everything else is a copy.
- Note the return date in your calendar, not the start. That is the one that
decides when a holiday has to end.
- Check whether an INSET day is attached to either end, which quietly turns a
week into 6 days off.
- If the school publishes a calendar feed, subscribe to it. It is the only
version that corrects itself.
Cyril's school pages carry half terms, term starts and ends, and INSET days for the schools whose calendars it reads. If your school is there, both dates are on one page.
