Questions
If yours is not here, email contact@schooldates.co.uk.
Why do schools in the same town have different holidays?
Since 2013 academies, free schools, voluntary aided and foundation schools have set their own term dates. Only community and voluntary controlled schools have to follow the council, and that is about a quarter of schools. Two schools a mile apart can break up a fortnight apart, and often do.
Where do your dates come from?
Each set of dates is read from a published source — the school's own site, its academy trust, or the local authority — and the page says which, gives the address we read it from, and shows the date we last checked. We hold 7 calendars so far.
The page shows council dates but my child's school is an academy. Can I trust them?
Not without checking. Where a school sets its own dates and we have not found them, we show the council's and label them as reference only. That label is the answer to this question: treat them as a guide and confirm with the school before you book anything.
Why does this school have no dates at all?
Because we have not found a source we can stand behind. Term dates have no national dataset in any of the four nations, so each one is collected from a published page. A blank page means we are still working, not that the school has no dates.
How do I add the dates to my phone?
Every school, council and trust with dates has a calendar feed. Press "Add to your calendar" on the page and it subscribes rather than copying, so when a date moves your calendar moves with it. It is free and needs no account.
How quickly does a change reach my calendar?
Your calendar app decides that, not us. Apple checks about hourly, Outlook every one to four hours, and Google every twelve to twenty-four. If a date really matters, the website is the thing we keep correct.
Do you list INSET and staff training days?
Where the source publishes them, yes, and the "include staff days" feed carries them as separate events. Councils rarely set them — most schools choose their own five days — so for many schools you will need the school's own calendar.
Do you publish snow days or other closures?
No. Short-notice closures are a real-time promise, and the absence of one here is not evidence a school is open. Contact the school.
I work at a school. How do I correct or supply our dates?
Claim the school's page, or email contact@schooldates.co.uk. Dates sent by a school are published as the school's own, credited to it. Corrections usually go live the same day.
Which schools are on here?
Every open establishment in Get Information about Schools: 27,127 state and independent schools, nurseries, colleges and universities. Private schools are included. Childminders are not, because Ofsted redacts their names and addresses.
Do you publish head teachers' names?
No, and they are not in the API either. A named individual at an identifiable workplace is personal data, and the open licence that covers the rest of this data does not cover processing that.
Can I use this data?
Yes. The site and the calendar feeds are free to read and to quote. If you use a date, say where it came from and link to the page it is on. The underlying establishment data is public sector information under the Open Government Licence v3.0.