School term dates
Find the planned term dates for your child’s school
Term dates and holidays for individual establishments may vary so we recommend that you check your own school’s arrangements for the most accurate information. This information should also be available on a school’s own website.
Setting school term dates and opening times
All maintained schools are required by the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999 to open for 195 days, of which pupils should attend for 190 days during each academic year. Academies and free schools are not required to provide education for 190 days, but we encourage them to do so.
The academic year in Devon is split into three terms of autumn, spring, and summer. Each term has two half-terms. Like all local authorities, Devon County Council has a duty to set the term dates for community and voluntary controlled schools in their area.
They are set after consulting with all Devon maintained schools and representatives from union associations to establish an academic year of 197 school days (including two occasional days and five staff training days).
Devon’s calendar has been created based on previous years’ calendars and through discussion with neighbouring authorities to promote consistency across the South West (where possible).
Schools then set two days of occasional holiday and five staff training days from the 197 that we recommend so there are 190 teaching days (also called non-pupil days or inset days) and five other days for staff training.
We recommend these dates for adoption by governors of foundation, voluntary aided, trust maintained, academies and free schools. We hope that for consistency across Devon, all schools will adopt the recommended term dates. However, they do not have to.
It is recommended that schools set their occasional days to avoid split week holidays, wherever they fall. However, this is the responsibility of school governors, not Devon County Council.
Academies and free schools are not bound by the 1999 Regulations but are encouraged to provide the same number of education days in each year.
Schools and academies: Setting term dates
Schools and academies can tell us about their planned term dates and opening times as well as see the term dates suggested by Devon County Council at setting term dates.