East Sussex School Term and Holiday Dates for 2025-2026

Overview

Overview

East Sussex County Council would like to know your views on the proposed school term and holiday dates for the academic year 2025-2026. East Sussex County Council proposes that schools would begin the academic year on 3 September 2025 and continue through until 22 July 2026 (last day of term).

Term 1:

* Wednesday 3 September 2025 to Friday 24 October 2025 (38 school days)

Term 2:

Monday 3 November 2025 to Friday 19 December 2025 (35 school days)

Term 3:

Monday 5 January 2026 to Friday 13 February 2026 (30 school days)

Term 4:

Monday 23 February 2026 to Friday 27 March 2026 (25 school days)

Term 5:

Tuesday 13 April 2026 to Friday 22 May 2026 (29 school days)

Term 6:

Monday 1 June 2026 to Wednesday 22 July 2026 (38 school days)

Total:  195 school days

*INSET Day

A calendar format of these dates is available to view below or can be downloaded in the 'Related' section below.

Why your views matter

Why your views matter:

The local authority (LA) has a duty to determine school term and holiday dates for local authority-maintained schools. Foundation, trust and voluntary aided schools and academies are responsible for setting their own dates and may choose dates that do not match those as set out by the LA.

A number of 'guiding principles' are used to set the pattern of term and holiday dates. These include:

• Schools must be open for 190 days in an academic year, 195 days for teachers (a legal requirement).
• Five In-Service Education Training (INSET) days (a legal requirement). The proposal recommends a common INSET day on Wednesday 3 September 2025. Schools can then decide four further training days themselves.
• In proposing these dates, the LA consults with neighbouring authorities about proposals for school term and holiday dates within their areas. In doing this the LA seeks to ensure that dates coincide where possible across borders to minimise the potential disruption and attendance issues that may arise for families with children attending different schools and school staff with children at schools in areas other than where they are working. 

We have shared our proposal with neighbouring local authorities in Brighton & Hove, Kent, West Sussex and Surrey. Where possible we will align with neighbouring authorities by prioritising the following principles:

• The need to maximise learning and revision time in the terms before SATs (Standard Attainment Tests in Year 2 and Year 6), GCSEs and post 16 exams.
• Easter and bank holiday dates. Working parents often rely on these being part of school holidays to use annual leave efficiently.

Foundation, trust and voluntary aided schools and academies decide their own term time and holiday dates so there may be variations across the county. We are consulting all schools to unify dates across East Sussex as far as possible. Unifying dates helps to facilitate good attendance and minimises the implications for families with children who attend different schools.

Your views on the proposal for school term and holiday dates for 2025/2026 are important to us so we would welcome any suggestions on improving the school calendar in East Sussex.

To comment, click on ‘Online Survey’ below or email your comments to School.Consultations@eastsussex.gov.uk

Please submit your comments or survey responses by no later than Sunday 12th May

Privacy information: This survey is anonymous, although we do ask you to complete an optional 'about you' section at the end. Please ensure that any comments you make do not include any names or personal details of you or anyone else. For more information about why we collect ‘about you’ information and how the data will be stored and processed by East Sussex County Council please click here