Westminster School Term Dates 2026/27: A 2-Week October

If you are looking up Westminster school term dates for 2026/27, the council’s calendar is only half the answer, and for a lot of families in the borough it is the wrong half. Westminster City Council determines term dates jointly with Kensington and Chelsea, and that calendar binds community and voluntary controlled schools. Academies, free schools and independent schools set their own, and in a borough where most secondaries are academies, that is not a footnote.

The clearest example this year: the council calendar gives a one-week October half term. At least two Westminster secondaries are taking two weeks.

Below is the council’s determined calendar in full, then the schools we have checked that differ, with a link to each one’s own page.

The council’s determined dates for 2026/27

These come from the bi-borough determined term and holiday dates for 2026-27, agreed between Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.

The Easter weekend falls on 26 to 29 March 2027, the May Day bank holiday is taken on Monday 3 May 2027, and the spring bank holiday on Monday 31 May 2027, which is why the summer half term sits where it does.

The 195 that is really 190

The council calendar shows schools open for 195 days. Your child will not attend 195 days.

Five of those are staff training days, and the determined dates say plainly that they “are to be determined by the school’s governing body”. So every school subtracts five days from that calendar somewhere, and no two schools have to subtract them in the same place. Some governing bodies avoid taking whole days at all, holding training in twilight sessions after school and extending the staff holiday instead, which changes nothing for pupils.

This is the single most common reason a parent turns up on the wrong day. The council calendar is the container. The school’s own calendar is the actual answer, and it always wins.

There is also a note in the determined dates that any school closing for local elections has to make the day up, either by extending the summer term or by aligning it with an INSET day.

Bank holidays inside the 2026/27 year

Worth knowing, because two of them do not fall where you would guess.

Boxing Day 2026 is a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. That matters more for work than for school, since the whole fortnight is holiday anyway, but it catches people planning childcare around a parent’s leave.

The schools that break for two weeks in October

Here is the divergence that will cost families money if they book a half-term holiday off the council calendar.

Westminster City School publishes its own 2026/27 dates. Staff INSET falls on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 September 2026, with no students in. Year 7 start on Thursday 3 September, and lessons begin for all students on Friday 4 September. The last day of the first term is Friday 23 October 2026, and then the school states that all students return on Thursday 5 November 2026 after the October half term. That is a break running 26 October to 4 November, roughly a fortnight rather than the council’s week.

Pimlico Academy also lists INSET on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 September 2026, with students starting Thursday 3 September. Its published autumn half-term break runs Monday 26 October to Friday 6 November 2026, a full two weeks. In the spring, Pimlico has an INSET day on Monday 4 January 2027 with students returning on Tuesday 5 January, a day later than the council calendar.

Two schools, two different September start days for students, two different November return dates, and neither matches the determined calendar. Both are academies, both are entitled to do this, and both publish it clearly on their own sites.

What this means if you have children at more than one school

It is a real problem in Westminster, and worth planning around rather than discovering in October.

If you have a primary-age child at a community school on the council calendar and a secondary-age child at an academy running a two-week October break, your two half terms do not line up. The primary child is back in school for the week the secondary child is off. Childcare, holiday bookings and grandparent logistics all have to absorb that.

The practical approach is to build a single family calendar from each school’s own published dates at the start of September, not from the borough calendar, and to re-check it in the spring, because INSET days are frequently confirmed late.

How to check your own school

Every state school in England has to publish its term dates on its own website, usually under a “term dates”, “key dates” or “calendar” heading in the parents section. That page is the authority, not the council’s, and not a third-party term-dates aggregator, several of which are still showing last year’s figures.

Three checks worth doing for 2026/27:

• The September start day for students, which is 1, 2, 3 or 4 September depending on where the school puts its INSET
• The October return date, since a two-week break is now common in Westminster secondaries
• Any additional INSET in December or the spring term, which schools often add later in the year

For results-day dates, which are set nationally rather than by the borough, see our coverage of the 2026 GCSE results and A-level results. Other borough services that catch parents out are in our guides to Westminster bin collection days and council tax bands.

Frequently asked questions

When does the autumn term start in Westminster in 2026? The council’s determined calendar has the autumn term starting on Wednesday 2 September 2026. Several Westminster academies place INSET days on 1 and 2 September and start students on Thursday 3 September, and Westminster City School has all students beginning on Friday 4 September. Check your own school’s page rather than the council date.

How long is the October half term in Westminster? It depends entirely on the school. The council’s determined calendar gives one week, Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026. Westminster City School has students returning on Thursday 5 November 2026, and Pimlico Academy publishes a break running to Friday 6 November 2026, both roughly a fortnight.

Why are 195 days listed when schools only open for 190? Because five of the 195 are staff training days, allocated by each school’s governing body rather than the council. Some schools take them as whole days spread through the year, others run twilight training sessions after school instead. The 190 figure is the number of days pupils actually attend.

Do academies in Westminster have to follow the council term dates? No. Academies, free schools and independent schools set their own term dates, and the council’s determined calendar binds only community and voluntary controlled schools. Most Westminster secondaries are academies, which is why the borough calendar is a starting point rather than an answer.

When does the Westminster school year end in 2027? The determined calendar ends the summer term on Thursday 22 July 2027. Individual schools may finish a day earlier or later depending on how they have used their INSET allocation, and any school that closed for local elections has to make that day up by extending the summer term.

When is the Year 6 transition day for Westminster secondary schools? The council suggests a common transition day on the first Wednesday in July, which is Wednesday 7 July 2027 for pupils starting secondary school in September 2027. Schools are not bound by it, though the council notes the logistical advantages of primaries and secondaries using the same date.

Sources

• Bi-borough determined school term and holiday dates 2026-27, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster
• Westminster City Council: school term and holiday dates
• Westminster City School: term dates
• Pimlico Academy: term dates