Term dates for Warwickshire schools from September 2026 have been set with one key change from next year's pattern. 

The schedule, rubber stamped by Warwickshire County Council's portfolio holder for education Cllr Kam Kaur on Friday, broadly follows the one put in place by the education authority for 2025-26.

However, there is a tweak in 2027 due to the movement of the spring bank holiday at the end of May, meaning children will have an extra week in school between Easter and May half-term.

Children will make a midweek return to school following the summer holidays, arriving back on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, with Tuesday being one of two teacher training days allocated by the council – Monday, August 31 is a Bank Holiday. 

That kicks off an eight-week spell in school with children breaking up for a week for half-term on Friday, October 23. 

Back from Monday, November 2, there are then seven weeks until the Christmas holiday kicks in after Friday, December 18.

It is back to the classroom from Tuesday, January 5, with Monday being the council's second dedicated training day, with children in until Friday, February 12, when a week-long half-term break begins. 

There are then just five weeks in school until the fortnight-long Easter holiday kicks in after Thursday, March 25 – the day before an early Good Friday – with the children returning on Monday, April 12. 

The next spell in school is interrupted by a Bank Holiday on Monday, May 3, with half-term interval kicking in from Friday, May 28.

The last leg of the academic year kicks off on Monday, June 7, with pupils preparing to transition from primary to secondary schools having their induction day on Wednesday, July 7.

The framework has been set in line with the West Midlands Term Dates Regional Group – a collection of local authorities that seeks to set similar patterns for term dates across neighbouring local authorities. 

In an informal consultation, schools were told that Staffordshire had already set the same dates with Coventry, Solihull, Worcestershire and Birmingham likely to follow suit. 

This year only 23 of 305 schools and stakeholders responded compared with 81 this time last year. The council's report said: "This might reflect that the proposed dates this year are very similar to the previous year and therefore uncontentious."

Only four respondents objected, arguing that the autumn term "is too long compared with a shorter spring term" and that the use of shortened weeks is "not conducive to good attendance". 

The report concluded: "These issues were considered but it is not possible to address them while fulfilling our statutory duty to provide 195 school days and balance the other guiding principles."