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 Cambridgeshire.
How are school term and holiday dates proposed?
Cambridgeshire County Council works in conjunction with our neighbouring Local Authorities to set proposed dates for an academic year, this is known as the Eastern Region Model Calendar.
We do this because we feel it is better to have a co-ordinated approach to setting school term dates to minimise the impact on families and school transport providers.
However, whilst our 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.
Proposed dates for academic year 2026-2027
Difficult decisions have to be made regarding some dates, however we are able to propose full (rather than part) week breaks at both Christmas 2026 and Easter 2027, which align with our neighbouring authorities.
Below are the proposed dates for maintained schools in Cambridgeshire for the academic year 2026 to 2027. These dates total 195 days, from which schools should choose 5 days to set aside as professional training days.
Autumn Term Dates 2026
- Tuesday 1 September to Friday 23 October (39 days)
- Half Term: Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October
- Monday 2 November to Friday 18 December (35 days)
- Christmas Holidays: Monday 21 December to Friday 1 January
Spring Term Dates 2027
- Monday 4 January to Friday 12 February (30 days)
- Half Term: Monday 15 February to Friday 19 February
- Monday 22 February to Thursday 25 March (24 days)
- Easter Holidays: Friday 26 March to Friday 9 April
Summer Term Dates 2027
- Monday 12 April to Friday 28 May (34 days)
- Half Term: Monday 31 May to Friday 4 June
- Monday 7 June to Wednesday 21 July (33 days)
- Summer Holiday: Thursday 22 July onwards
Consultation feedback survey
We welcome your feedback and are keen to receive your views on these proposed dates. Please complete our online survey.
The consultation is now open and will close at noon on Monday 23 December 2024.
