School Term and Holiday Dates 2025-26 consultation

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, voluntary aided, academies and free schools are responsible for setting their own dates and so may choose to follow a pattern and / or specific dates that do not match those set by Peterborough.

When setting our proposed dates, we have, wherever possible, tried to do this in conjunction with our neighbouring local authorities. However, whilst proposed dates align, we cannot guarantee that our term dates will be identical to those of our neighbours, as there is no formal mechanism for the regional setting of school term and holiday dates.

As always there have been difficult decisions regarding some dates. Nevertheless, the way the dates have fallen for 2025-2026 has meant that we are able to propose full (rather than part) week breaks at both Christmas and Easter, which aligns closely with our neighbouring authorities.

Proposed school term and holiday dates for 2025-26 academic year

Below are the proposed dates for maintained schools in Peterborough for the academic year 2025-2026.

These dates total 195 days, from which schools should choose five days to set aside as professional training days.

Given the way the dates have fallen, schools may wish to consider designating Monday 20 July 2026 as a staff training day and disaggregating it so that the training takes place in twilight sessions spread across the year, and the last day of term for pupils might become Friday 17 July 2026.

Autumn term dates 2025

• Monday 1 September to Friday 24 October 2025 (40 days)
• Half Term: Monday 27 October to Friday 31 October 2025
• Monday 3 November to Friday 19 December 2025 (35 days)
• Christmas Holidays: Monday 22 December to Friday 2 January 2025

Spring term dates 2026

• Monday 5 January to Friday 13 February 2026 (30 days)
• Half Term: Monday 16 February to Friday 20 February 2026
• Monday 23 February to Friday 27 March 2026 (25 days)
• Easter Holidays: Monday 30 March to Friday 10 April 2026

Summer term dates 2026

• Monday 13 April to Friday 22 May 2026 (29 days)
• Half Term: Monday 25 May to Friday 29 May 2026
• Monday 1 June to Monday 20 July 2026 (36 days)
• Summer Holiday: Tuesday 21 July 2026 onwards

Let us know your views

We welcome your views on the proposed school term and holiday dates for 2025-26.

Please email us your comments at admissions@peterborough.gov.uk.

The consultation runs until 12 January 2024.