Easter school holidays 2027, council by council

Early Easter, early break

Easter Sunday falls on 28 March in 2027 and on 16 April in 2028. The difference of almost three weeks moves the whole spring holiday, and with it the length of the terms on either side. A council that wants Good Friday and Easter Monday inside the break, which most do because both are bank holidays, has to finish the spring term before the Easter weekend: on Thursday 25 March 2027. The summer term that follows is then long, from 12 April to late July, with only May half term in between.

Councils that chose another pattern for 2027: Hull, Leicester, Leicestershire, North Yorkshire, York (22 March to 2 April 2027); Leeds, Manchester, Salford (5 to 16 April 2027); Wigan (25 March to 9 April 2027); Lincolnshire (26 March to 13 April 2027); Norfolk (26 March to 12 April 2027); Suffolk (26 March to 11 April 2027).

Every council, Easter 2027

Fixed Easter or fixed April?

There are two ways to set the break. The first follows Easter: two weeks that contain Good Friday and Easter Monday, whatever their date. The second fixes the spring holiday on the first two weeks of April and lets Easter fall where it falls, which keeps the terms more even in years like 2027 but leaves the bank holidays in term time when Easter is very early or very late. When a council uses the second way and Easter Monday falls in term, the school is still closed that Monday because it is a bank holiday. The table above shows which councils break before the Easter weekend and which later.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The Welsh councils on this site break a week earlier, from 22 March to 2 April 2027, so their summer term starts on 5 April. Scottish councils call it the spring holiday and set two weeks themselves; Good Friday is a Scottish bank holiday but Easter Monday is not. Northern Ireland's common closure dates for 2026-27 give 25 March to 2 April 2027, a shorter break of seven weekdays, and each school may add development days.

Easter 2028

For the councils that have published 2027-28, the break is mostly 3 to 17 April 2028. Others: Birmingham, Bradford, Calderdale, County Durham, Coventry, Derby, Derbyshire, Dudley, Gloucestershire, Hull, Kirklees, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Oldham, Oxfordshire, Reading, Redbridge, Rochdale, Sandwell, Sefton, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Wakefield, Walsall, Warwickshire, West Northamptonshire, Wokingham, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire, York (10 to 21 April 2028); Suffolk (1 to 17 April 2028); Lincolnshire (3 to 18 April 2028). With Good Friday on 14 April and Easter Monday on 17 April 2028, councils that follow Easter will start the summer term on Tuesday 18 April.

Easter clubs and exam revision

For Year 11 and Year 13, the Easter break is the last holiday before GCSE and A level exams, which start in May. Many secondary schools run revision sessions in the second week, and those are voluntary: missing them is not an absence. The council's holiday activity and food programme, for children on free school meals, also runs part of the Easter break; your council's website lists the sessions. If you are thinking of extending the break by a day or two, remember that in England a holiday in term time is unauthorised unless the head teacher agrees for exceptional reasons, and that five days missed reach the threshold at which a school must consider a penalty notice.