School holidays 2026/27 in England, and how to find your own school's dates
Published 3 September 2026
There is no national list of school holidays in England. Councils publish dates for the schools they still set dates for, and every academy, free school, foundation school, voluntary-aided school and independent school sets its own. That is why a search for "school holidays 2026" returns a council page that may or may not apply to your child.
The dates that matter are your school's own. This is who decides them, how far they drift from each other, and the fastest way to get them somewhere you will actually see them.
Who sets school holiday dates in England?
Four groups, and only the first follows the council:
- Community and voluntary-controlled schools. The local council sets the
dates. This is the calendar published on the council's website.
- Academies and free schools. They set their own. Most follow the local
council closely, because families and staff overlap, but they are not required to and some deliberately differ.
- Foundation and voluntary-aided schools. The governing body sets the
dates.
- Independent schools. Entirely their own, and usually a different shape
altogether: a later start, longer half terms, a shorter summer term.
Most secondary schools in England are now academies. So for a lot of families, the council calendar is a reasonable guess and not an answer.
How much do the dates actually differ?
Enough to matter when you are booking anything.
Cyril holds and publishes 2026/27 term dates for 60 schools. Within that one set, the end of the autumn term alone lands on 9 different dates:
| Autumn term ends | Schools |
|---|---|
| Friday 11 December 2026 | 22 |
| Wednesday 16 December 2026 | 15 |
| Thursday 17 December 2026 | 6 |
| Tuesday 15 December 2026 | 4 |
| Friday 18 December 2026 | 3 |
| 10, 12 and 21 December 2026 | 1 or 2 each |
The autumn half term is wider still: 20 different patterns across those schools, from a long weekend to a full fortnight.
Those schools lean independent, which is why the December dates sit early and the half terms run long. A set of state primaries would cluster harder. The point stands either way: "the school holidays" is not one thing, and 2 children at 2 schools can easily have 2 different weeks off.
Where do I find my school's dates?
In the order you should trust them:
- The school's own term dates page. Every other version is a copy of
this, and copies go stale.
- The newsletter, usually at the start of term and before each holiday.
- The school's calendar feed, if it publishes one. This is the only
version that updates itself when a date moves.
- The council calendar, but only if your child is at a community or
voluntary-controlled school. Otherwise treat it as a strong hint.
Cyril's school pages carry term starts, ends, half terms and INSET days for the schools whose calendars it reads, compiled from each school's own calendar rather than the council's.
What is worth putting in the calendar now?
Not the whole year. The 5 things that decide childcare and cost money:
- The first day back and the last day of each term.
- Each half term, with its exact end date, because a fortnight and a week
look identical on a school website until you read the small print.
- Every INSET day, including any announced for the summer term.
- Occasional days the school has already flagged, such as a closure for local
elections or a staff day attached to a bank holiday.
- The last day before Christmas, which is often a half day and almost never
says so on the calendar.
If your school publishes a feed, subscribing to it is the version of this job that stays right. If it does not, entering those 5 by hand in September takes 10 minutes and is the only reliable way to stop a date arriving as a surprise in November.
