CONSULTATION ON SCHOOL TERM AND HOLIDAY DATES FOR THE 2024-2025 ACADEMIC YEAR

The Local Authority (LA) is consulting on the draft school term and holiday dates for the 2024-25 academic year which will apply to Community and Voluntary Controlled schools.  Academies, Voluntary Aided, Foundation and Free schools,  can set their own term dates and holidays, although most choose to align their dates with those set by Somerset County Council.

Feedback from the consultation will be collated and presented to a working party who will meet to agree the dates.  The finalised dates will be published on the Somerset Council’s website in April 2023.

(1)       As in previous years, a total of 195 school days have been identified including 5 INSET days.   

(2)        As far as possible, the terms will be of similar length and will start on a Monday and finish on a Friday.  

(3)        There has been some initial consultation with Somerset’s neighbouring Local Authorities and it is understood that these LA’s will be consulting on similar proposed dates.  

We would like to receive your views on the term dates calendar being proposed for Somerset’s Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools for 2024-25.  The deadline for responses for both consultations is Friday 17 March 2023.   

Please circulate this as widely as possible by making parents and organisations local to your school aware of the consultation.  All comments received will be taken into consideration during the final decision-making process.

Please note that there is a separate consultation for the 2025-26 academic year. 

To check the school type of a specific school, please check the Government website “Get Information about Schools” and search by school name or location

https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Search?SelectedTab=Establishments

INSET days are set by individual schools. There are some dates schools often choose in common, but quite often these will vary considerably.

If INSET days are consistent between schools, there may be some advantages as follows: -

• Help parents plan childcare arrangements and organise their holiday time. For example, parents with children in different schools would have all their children off school on the same day, rather than having to make arrangements for different inset day at each school. 
• Help schools do their learning and development together across schools, which can be cheaper and have more impact than if a school works alone.
• Help employers of teachers (like trusts and the local authority) offer training for multiple schools at once.

If you have any queries before submitting your comments, please do not hesitate to contact Wendy Kerslake (email EducationPlaces@somerset.gov.uk) 

The deadline for responses for both consultations is Friday 17th March 2023.