Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have varied the dates of their school terms in the last three years.

Head teachers, school governors and local authorities are best placed to set school term and holiday dates, in the best interests of the pupils and parents in their local area. As such, term dates are determined locally by schools and local authorities. The Department for Education does not collect data on schools’ term-dates.

For maintained schools, community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools, the governing body or local authority are responsible for setting term dates. This must be done in line with the requirements of the length of the school year, as set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999.

Academies, free schools, and other schools where the governing body is the employer of staff, such as foundation or voluntary-aided (church) schools, are free to set their own term and holiday dates. Some of these schools have already made innovative changes in the interests of pupils and parents.

Schools and local authorities can find guidance on the responsibilities for setting school term dates in the published School Attendance Guidance, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance.