Term dates and the school day: what to expect

Last reviewed October 2026

When your child needs to be at school, when they are not, and what wraparound care is available are all practical factors worth weighing when you compare your options.

How the school year is structured

The school year in England runs roughly from early September to late July, split into three terms: autumn, spring and summer. Each term usually has a half-term break in the middle, with longer holidays at Christmas, Easter and over the summer.

The exact dates are not the same everywhere. Local authorities set term dates for the schools they maintain, while academies and some other schools can set their own, so neighbouring schools can differ by a few days. Always check the specific school’s calendar rather than assuming a shared one, especially if you have children at more than one school.

INSET days and occasional closures

Schools also have a small number of training days each year, often called INSET days, when staff are in but pupils are not. These are set by the school and are easy to be caught out by, so note them at the start of the year. Schools publish their dates in advance.

A typical school day

Primary days generally run from somewhere around 8:45am to around 3:15pm, and secondary days often start and finish a little later and run a little longer. Within that, the shape differs by age.

In primary, the day is built around a class teacher, with literacy and numeracy often in the morning, broader subjects and activity later, and playtimes and lunch breaking it up. In secondary, the day is a timetable of separate subjects with different teachers and rooms, which is part of what makes the move up such a step, covered in starting school and moving up to secondary.

Many schools offer breakfast clubs and after-school or wraparound care, which can matter a great deal for working families. If that is relevant to you, ask what is available, what it costs, and how to book, because provision varies widely.

Why this is worth checking when you choose

Start and finish times, wraparound care, and how a school’s term dates line up with any siblings’ schools all shape daily life. They are practical details, but over a school career they add up, so they are worth weighing alongside the things that get more attention.

Where to find out more

Each school publishes its own term dates, INSET days and daily timings on its website, and your local authority publishes the standard term dates for the schools it maintains. Those are the sources to rely on, as the details change year to year. Use the map to find the schools near you and follow through to their information.

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