As the spooky season approaches, schoolchildren across England are preparing for the October half-term holiday. This break typically lasts about a week and offers students a welcome respite from their academic routines. For the 2025/26 school year, most children will conclude classes on Friday, October 24, 2025, and commence their half-term holiday on Monday, October 27. The holiday will run through to Friday, October 31, allowing pupils to enjoy Halloween festivities before returning to school on Monday, November 3 for the remainder of the autumn term.
Parents and guardians will need to plan carefully for childcare and family time as the 2025/26 academic calendar is punctuated by several key breaks. Following the October half-term, the Christmas and New Year holidays will span from Monday, December 22, 2025, to Friday, January 2, 2026. The spring term will then begin on Monday, January 5, 2026, with a half-term break from February 16 to February 20. Easter holidays are scheduled from March 30 to April 10, and the summer term will start on April 13.
Summer break will begin on July 20, 2026, but before then there will be a May Day bank holiday on May 4 and a half-term break between May 25 and May 29. Students will resume school on June 1 after the half-term holiday until the end of the school year.
Although these dates are broadly consistent across England, slight variations do exist depending on local authorities. For example, local councils such as Royal Greenwich, Haringey, Bexley, and Sandwell outline similar term and holiday dates, with autumn terms generally starting in early September and ending in December before Christmas holidays. The half-term holidays pose no variation in start and end dates across these regions, uniformly covering the last week of October and the first days of November.
In the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the autumn term begins slightly later on September 3, 2025, but follows the same half-term and holiday patterns. Their summer term significance lies in a slightly later conclusion in July, ending on July 22.
Notably, all councils include the usual public holidays: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day bank holiday, and the Spring bank holiday within the school calendar.
Despite these small discrepancies, the overall pattern remains consistent, aiding parents, schools, and children in planning ahead well in advance.
📌 Reference Map:
- Paragraph 1 – [1] (Yorkshire Post), [2] (Royal Greenwich), [3] (Haringey)
- Paragraph 2 – [1] (Yorkshire Post), [2] (Royal Greenwich), [3] (Haringey), [5] (Bexley)
- Paragraph 3 – [2] (Royal Greenwich), [3] (Haringey), [4] (Windsor and Maidenhead), [6] (Sandwell)
- Paragraph 4 – [4] (Windsor and Maidenhead), [5] (Bexley), [7] (Southampton)
Source: Noah Wire Services