North Yorkshire Council
Children and Young People’s Service
Corporate Director Meeting with Executive Member
24 June 2025
School Term and Holiday Dates for the Academic Year 2026-27
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 This report provides information about a consultation exercise undertaken with schools about proposals for the term and holiday dates for the academic year 2026-27 and seeks the approval in respect of a recommendation made.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 Section 32 of the Education Act, 2002 requires that the Local Authority determines the dates for school terms and holidays for community, voluntary controlled and community special schools, and maintained nurseries.
2.2 The responsibility for the determination of school term and holiday dates for other schools is vested with the respective employers, i.e. the governing body for foundation and voluntary aided schools, and the academy trust for academies and free schools. However, all schools in North Yorkshire have traditionally utilised the dates set by the Local Authority in order to provide consistency across the county.
2.3 As of 1 April 2025, there was the following numbers of schools in North Yorkshire by type: -
· 162 Community or Voluntary Controlled
· 20 Voluntary Aided
· 173 Academies
2.4 The following table shows the cumulative pupil numbers for the different categories of schools based upon the January 2025 census: -
|
January 2025 Full-time and part-time pupils |
Maintained C, VC & Foundation |
Maintained VA |
Academies, free schools and UTC |
Total Pupils |
|
Nursery |
1006 |
70 |
1317 |
2393 |
|
Primary - KS1 & KS2 |
18489 |
1741 |
20716 |
40946 |
|
Secondary – KS3 & KS4 |
7748 |
631 |
23615 |
31994 |
|
Sixth Form – KS5 |
810 |
187 |
3532 |
4529 |
|
Special & PRU |
585 |
0 |
803 |
1388
|
|
Total Pupils |
28638 |
2629 |
49983 |
81250 |
2.5 The Education (School Day and School Year) (England) regulations 1999 require all maintained schools to educate their pupils for at least 380 sessions (190 days) in each school year.
2.6 In addition to these teaching days each school has five inset days for teaching staff. As in previous years, the authority has proposed three of these days. The remaining two days will be identified by each school from the calendar.
2.7 The Local Government Association (LGA) continues to urge local authorities (LAs) to try to achieve a common approach when determining term dates. North Yorkshire Council is part of the group of LAs across Yorkshire which has agreed a set of guiding principles the aim of which is to achieve more consistent holiday dates across local LA areas. These guiding principles were applied to the production of our proposals for consultation which are detailed below.
2.8 North Yorkshire shares a boundary with a total of 13 neighbouring education authorities. The table below demonstrates the number of pupils from North Yorkshire who attend schools within each of the 13 neighbouring authorities, and shows the percentage of all pupils who attend a school outside North Yorkshire: -
|
Local Authority |
Number of Pupils that Attend |
%
|
|||
|
Primary |
Secondary |
Special |
Total |
||
|
Bradford |
81 |
19 |
4 |
104 |
4.14 |
|
County Durham |
14 |
15 |
1 |
30 |
1.19 |
|
Darlington |
14 |
51 |
35 |
100 |
3.98 |
|
Doncaster |
13 |
16 |
3 |
32 |
1.27 |
|
Lancashire |
78 |
15 |
1 |
94 |
3.74 |
|
Leeds |
215 |
143 |
44 |
402 |
15.98 |
|
Middlesbrough |
20 |
9 |
3 |
32 |
1.27 |
|
Redcar and Cleveland |
29 |
18 |
10 |
57 |
2.27 |
|
Stockton on Tees |
34 |
37 |
0 |
71 |
2.82 |
|
Wakefield |
51 |
92 |
5 |
148 |
5.88 |
|
Westmorland and Furness |
15 |
221 |
0 |
236 |
9.38 |
|
East Riding of Yorkshire |
206 |
311 |
3 |
520 |
20.68 |
|
York |
227 |
381 |
46 |
654 |
26.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other |
20 |
11 |
4 |
35 |
1.4 |
|
Total |
1017 |
1328 |
159 |
2515 |
100.00 |
3.0 PROPOSALS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2026-27
3.1 Proposals for the term and holiday dates for the academic year 2026-27 are complicated by the year’s calendar. The start of the school year would normally start on the first Monday in September. However, as September 1st, 2026, is a Tuesday this means that the first Monday in September is 7th September.
3.2 The 13 local authorities who have a boundary with North Yorkshire have been consulted about their proposals for the year, and have confirmed the following numbers in respect of the commencement date for the academic year: -
· 7 September 2026 2
· 1 September 2026 11
3.3 Arising from the differing arrangements proposed by the neighbouring authorities, a consultation exercise was undertaken in respect of two options for term and holiday dates for the 2026-27 academic year, as below: -
1. Option 1 (Appendix A) - has Monday 7th September 2026 identified as the start of the academic year 2026-2027. Within this option, the February half term and Easter holidays start earlier than option 2.
This calendar aligns with the East Riding of Yorkshire and City of York councils.
2. Option 2 (Appendix B) - has Tuesday 1st September 2026 September identified as the start of academic year.
This calendar aligns with the other 11 neighbouring local authorities.
4.0 CONSULTATION UNDERTAKEN AND RESPONSES
4.1 An online consultation exercise was undertaken with all schools, academies, professional associations and other stakeholders during the period 1 – 28 May.
4.2 In total, 73 responses were received including from federations and Multi Academy Trusts. The responses formally represented the views of 101 separate schools, with a combined roll of 21,999 pupils, amounting to 27.8% of the total pupil population in maintained schools and academies in the county.
4.3 The table below demonstrates the preferences of the schools who responded to the survey, showing: -
1. The responses by Area Committee area, as an indicator of the location of the responding school (but noting that, for the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee area in particular, schools in different parts of the area have potential to align with different neighbouring authorities)
2. The total number of pupils on roll at the responding schools / academies in each area are shown in brackets.
3. Those responses shown as ‘other’ reflect the responses received from federations and Multi Academy Trusts representing the views of multiple schools situated in different Area Committee Areas.
|
Area Committee Area |
Option 1 |
Option 2 |
|
|
No. of Schools (Total Roll) |
No. of Schools (Total Roll) |
|
Scarborough and Whitby |
6 (978) |
3 (1147) |
|
Thirsk and Malton |
15 (2,056) |
4(697) |
|
Selby and Ainsty |
9 (1,251) |
3 (522) |
|
Skipton and Ripon |
6 (1,713) |
9 (2,938) |
|
Harrogate and Knaresborough |
2 (541) |
5 (2458) |
|
Richmond (Yorks) |
3 (236) |
14 (2,322) |
|
Other |
17 (4949) |
5 (191) |
|
Total (Schools / Academies) Primary Secondary Special / PRU
Total |
51 (7,139) 5 (4,433) 2 ( 152)
58 (11,724) |
34 (3,543) 7 (6,337) 2 ( 395)
43 (10,275) |
4.4 In addition to the preferences indicated above, respondents also made comments in respect of the options that were presented, and which included in respect of: -
· A preference to align holiday dates with those of neighbouring local authorities
· The potential disruption arising from a 7 week summer holiday; and
· The proposals for the PD days, specifically that which was proposed for 4 May and the potential impact that this would have upon preparation for SATS within primary schools.
5.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
5.1 The alternative options for the term and holiday dates are described above.
6.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1 The authority continues to propose three inset days. The purpose of this is to continue to achieve efficiency savings by rationalising transport across the county and to make life easier for parents who have children attending different schools. It also enables greater consistency in planning for services such as transport and school meals.
7.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
7.1 As noted above at paragraph 2.1, the LA currently has a duty to set dates of terms and holidays for community, voluntary controlled, community special schools and maintained nursery schools under the Education Act 2002 Section 32. This decision is compliant with the legislation.
8.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS
8.1 There are no equalities impacts arising from this report.
9.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS
9.1 As noted above, the authority continues to propose three professional development days. The purpose of this is to continue to achieve efficiency savings by rationalising transport across the county which has the impact of reducing emissions arising from home to school travel.
10.0 CONCLUSIONS
10.1 The responses received to the consultation exercise demonstrated that: -
· 58 schools, with a total of 11,724 pupils on roll favoured Option 1; and
· 43 schools, with a total of 10,275 pupils on roll favoured Option 2
10.2 Option 1 broadly aligns with the term and holiday dates adopted for 2026-27 by the East Riding of Yorkshire and City of York Councils. Although the dates adopted by the 11 other local authorities who have a boundary with North Yorkshire, a total of 46.68% of North Yorkshire pupils who attend a school outside the county attend a school in either the East Riding of Yorkshire or City of York.
10.3 Although a total of 51.92% of North Yorkshire pupils who attend a school outside the county attend a school in one of the other 11 local authorities with which the council shares a boundary, a majority of responses indicated a preference for Option 1 and it is therefore recommended that the council should adopt that option.
10.4 The comments received through the consultation exercise have been noted, including in respect of the desire for term and holiday dates to be aligned with neighbouring local authorities. As noted at 3.3 above, however, the term and holiday dates that have been set by the 13 local authorities that have a boundary with North Yorkshire for the academic year 2026-27 do not align.
10.5 The comments made in respect of the proposal for the Inset day on 4 May is noted, and it is proposed that the proposal is amended such that that it is changed to occur on January 4, 2027. A calendar showing this revision is attached to this report at Appendix A(1).
11.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
11.1 The recommendation made in this report enables the Local Authority to fulfil its statutory responsibility arising from Section 32 of the Education Act, 2002.
|
12.0 |
RECOMMENDATION
|
|
|
i) To approve the term and holiday dates for community, voluntary controlled, community special schools and maintained nursery schools in North Yorkshire as set out in the calendar at Appendix A; subject to the following recommendation
ii) To amend the proposal for the inset day, provisionally scheduled for 4 May 2027, to occur on 4 January 2027, as shown at Appendix A(1)
|
APPENDICES:
Appendix A – Option 1 Term and Holiday Dates for the Academic Year 2026-27
Appendix A(1) – Revised Option 1 Term and Holiday Dates for the Academic Year 2026-27
Appendix B – Option 2 Term and Holiday Dates for the Academic Year 2026-27
Appendix C – CCIA Screening
Appendix D - EIA Screening
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
Report Author – Jon Holden
Presenter of Report – Head of Strategic Planning (CYPS)
17 June 2025
Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.