West Berkshire Considers New School Term Options

West Berkshire council is consulting on three school-term options for 2027/28. Responses are requested by Wednesday, 24 June. One option would introduce a two-week October half-term.

Local authorities set term dates for community and voluntary controlled schools and maintained nursery schools. Foundation, trust, voluntary aided schools, free schools and academies set their own dates.

Legally, schools must open for at least 380 sessions (190 days) each year, the school year must begin after July and schools must set five INSET (training) days a year. West Berkshire-maintained schools must open for 194 scheduled days, have one fixed INSET day at the start of the autumn term and use the remaining four INSET days as they choose.

At present all neighbouring areas propose a one-week October half-term. Within West Berkshire only Kennet School and its academy trust primary schools currently operate a two-week October break, using INSET days within the holiday.

Option 1 (aligns with Hampshire and Wiltshire): one-week October half-term, earlier Easter and two balanced six-week spring terms. Autumn term 2027 starts Wednesday 1 September (INSET day) and ends Friday 17 December 2027. Half-term is 25-29 October 2027. Spring term starts Tuesday 4 January and ends Friday 31 March 2028, with half-term 25-29 February 2028. Summer term starts Tuesday 18 April and ends Friday 21 July, with half-term 29 May-2 June.

Option 2 (aligns with Reading, Oxfordshire and Wokingham): one-week October half-term, later Easter and an uneven spring term (seven weeks before Easter, five weeks after). Autumn term starts Thursday 2 September (INSET day) and ends Friday 17 December 2027. Half-term 25-29 October. Spring term 2028 runs Tuesday 4 January to Friday 7 April, with half-term 14-18 February. Summer term runs Monday 24 April to Friday 21 July, with half-term 29 May-2 June.

Option 3: schools must place their four remaining INSET days within school holidays. It includes a two-week October half-term, later Easter and the same uneven spring term as option 2. The council says this option may require extra holiday activities and Food (HAF) programme support to cover the two-week October break, which may place pressure on working and low-income families, and that academy, foundation or voluntary aided schools might not adopt it, creating differing term schedules for parents.

For option 3, autumn term 2027 starts Thursday 2 September (INSET day) and ends Friday 17 December 2027. The proposed two-week October half-term is 18-29 October 2027. Spring term starts Tuesday 4 January and ends Friday 7 April 2028, with half-term 14-18 February. Summer term runs Monday 24 April to Friday 21 July 2028, with half-term 29 May-2 June.

Parents are asked to respond by Wednesday, 24 June via the councils online consultation hub.

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter