Parents, teachers and governors across Nottinghamshire are being invited to have their say on proposed school holiday dates for the three academic years from 2027/28 through to 2029/30.
The proposals, published by Nottinghamshire County Council this month, will form the basis of a statutory consultation running from 29 September to 14 December 2025. The move ensures the authority meets its legal duty to set school holiday and term time dates for all maintained schools in the county.
Under the 1996 Education Act and section 32 of the Education Act 2002, councils must set term dates for maintained schools. In practice, this means schools must open to pupils for 190 days a year, with an additional five days set aside for staff training.
While academies, foundation, voluntary-aided and trust schools have had the power to set their own holiday patterns since 2015, the County Council’s model still provides the benchmark. The majority of schools in Nottinghamshire, particularly primaries, continue to follow the council’s agreed pattern.
However, the report acknowledges a growing challenge for parents: some 92,481 pupils attend non-maintained schools in Nottinghamshire, compared with 34,763 in maintained schools
Families with children at different types of schools increasingly face mismatched term dates.
The council’s suggested pattern broadly maintains the existing three-term structure, including:
A two-week October half-term, a feature that has proven popular with many families.
A spring break aligned as closely as possible with Easter, though Easter’s shifting calendar means the holiday will vary year by year.
Start and finish dates adjusted slightly each year to balance the length of terms and avoid “split weeks.”
The proposed dates take into account holidays already set by neighbouring authorities such as Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Doncaster, Rotherham, North East Lincolnshire and Nottingham City, to reduce clashes for families living or working across county lines.
Nottinghamshire last consulted on long-term school holiday patterns in 2021, which set dates up to the end of the 2026/27academic year. Traditionally, the council has followed guiding principles: ensuring blocks of learning are of similar length, avoiding split weeks, and leaving flexibility for individual schools to choose their own staff training days (with one usually suggested for the first day of September).
Since 2015, as academies have grown in number, holiday dates have increasingly fragmented. The county notes that schools nearer to the boundaries of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire are the most likely to diverge from its preferred model.
The upcoming consultation will seek views from a wide range of stakeholders:
Parents and carers
Teachers and governors
Multi-Academy Trusts and voluntary-aided schools
Neighbouring local authorities
The council plans to promote the consultation through schools, social media and its website. A dedicated online survey will allow the public to give detailed feedback and suggest alternatives.
While the consultation is open, the council notes that options are limited. Nationally fixed bank holidays, exam timetables and the need for 190 pupil days constrain flexibility. For example, a previous suggestion to make summer half-terms more equal would require moving the May bank holiday, which could clash with GCSE and A-level exam periods
The consultation will run from 29 September 2025 to 14 December 2025. The consultation outlines the proposed dates which follows the current model, including two weeks for the October half-term break, a varied Easter break and slight changes to the start and end dates for the academic years.
Dates for the 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 terms have already been set.
The proposed dates are available below for each academic year:
2027 to 2028
Autumn term 2027
- 1 September to 15 October (6 weeks 3 days)
- 1 November to 21 December (7 weeks 2 days)
Spring term 2028
- 4 January to 11 February (5 weeks 4 days)
- 21 February to 31 March (6 weeks)
Summer term 2028
- 18 April to 26 May (5 weeks 3 days)
- 5 June to 26 July (7 weeks 3 days)
View the proposed 2027 to 2028 calendar (Appendix 1A) [PDF]
2028 to 2029
Autumn term 2028
- 1 September to 20 October (7 weeks 1 day)
- 6 November to 20 December (6 weeks 3 days)
Spring term 2029
- 4 January to 9 February (5 weeks 2 days)
- 19 February to 23 March (5 weeks)
Summer term 2029
- 9 April to 25 May (6 weeks 4 days)
- 4 June to 27 July (8 weeks)
View the proposed 2028 to 2029 calendar (Appendix 1B) [PDF]
2029 to 2030
Autumn term 2029
- 3 September to 19 October (7 weeks)
- 5 November to 21 December (7 weeks)
Spring term 2030
- 3 January – 15 February (6 weeks 2 days)
- 25 February – 5 April (6 weeks)
Summer term 2030
- 23 April to 24 May (4 weeks 3 days)
- 3 June to 26 July (8 weeks)
View the proposed 2029 to 2030 calendar (Appendix 1C) [PDF]
Give us your views
You can give your views on the consultation between 29 September 2025 and 14 December 2025 in the following ways:
Local authorities have a duty to determine school term dates for local authority maintained schools. Schools must be open to pupils for 190 days in an academic year, and 195 days for teachers.
Foundation, trust, voluntary aided schools and academies are responsible for setting their own holiday dates and so individual schools, which are not maintained by the local authority, may choose to follow a pattern and/or specific dates that do not match those set by the council.
