School Holidays & Training Days
Welsh Ministers have used the Education (Wales) Act 2014 to make legislative changes to how term dates are set in order to enable harmonisation of school term dates for all maintained schools.
These changes mean that local authorities and the governing bodies of voluntary aided and foundation schools can be directed by the Welsh Ministers on what their term dates must be if those dates are not harmonised, or if they need changing.
Standard Training Dates
Please note that five training days for teaching staff are held annually. On training days, the school premises are open but pupils are not admitted.
The local authority no longer recommends set training days. Schools are responsible for setting their own training dates.
Please see your child’s school website for details.
Autumn Term:
- Start: 2 September 2024
- Half Term: 28 October 2024 - 1 November 2024
- Finish: 20 December 2024
Spring Term:
- Start: 6 January 2025
- Half Term: 24 February 2025 - 28 February 2025
- Finish: 11 April 2025
Summer Term:
- Start: 28 April 2025
- Half Term: 26 May 2025 - 30 May 2025
- Finish: 21 July 2025
Autumn Term:
- Start: 1 September 2025
- Half Term: 27 October 2025 - 31 October 2025
- Finish: 19 December 2025
Spring Term:
- Start: 5 January 2026
- Half Term: 16 February 2026 - 20 February 2026
- Finish: 27 March 2026
Summer Term:
- Start: 13 April 2026
- Half Term: 25 May 2026 - 29 May 2026
- Finish: 20 July 2026
You should not normally take your child on holiday in term time as it can be disruptive both to your child's education and to the school.
Holidays in term time can only be agreed by the Head teacher or someone with appropriate authority. Schools can use their discretion to grant up to 10 days’ authorised absence in a school year if:
- the parent the child normally lives with applies to the school in advance of the holiday
- there are special reasons for the holiday.
Schools can only agree to more than 10 school days’ absence in any school year in exceptional circumstances. Schools must judge each holiday request on a case by case basis. They can take into consideration:
- the time of year for the proposed trip
- if it's near any exam dates
- your child's overall attendance pattern
- any holidays already taken in the school year
- the age and stage of education of your child
- your wishes
- the ability of your child to catch up the work that they have missed
- the reason why you are taking the time off during term time.
Schools should not take into consideration:
- availability of cheap holidays
- availability of desired accommodation
- poor weather experienced in school holiday periods
- overlap with the beginning or end of term.