North Somerset's 2026/27 term dates, half terms and Christmas break, plus the INSET days at Gordano, Backwell, Churchill, Nailsea and Clevedon schools.
North Somerset Council’s school year for 2026/27 runs from Thursday 3 September 2026 to Friday 23 July 2027. October half term is Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, and schools break up for Christmas on Friday 18 December.
Those are the council’s dates, and they bind only the community and voluntary controlled schools it maintains. Academies, trust, foundation and voluntary aided schools set their own. In North Somerset most of the big secondaries are academies, and their training days differ even where the holidays match.
The quick answer
- October half term: Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026. Schools reopen on Monday 2 November, though Nailsea School pupils are not back until Wednesday 4 November and Churchill Academy pupils until Tuesday 3 November.
- Clevedon School is the exception: its pupils finish on Friday 16 October, a week earlier, because of three INSET days on 19, 20 and 21 October.
- Christmas: schools finish Friday 18 December 2026 and return Monday 4 January 2027. Gordano and Clevedon School use 4 January as an INSET day, so their pupils return on Tuesday 5 January.
The council’s term dates for 2026/27
The council says the year is 195 days, including five in-service days for staff training (North Somerset Council, 2026-27 term dates). North Somerset runs six terms, so the “half terms” are the gaps between them.
| Term | Starts | Ends | Holiday after it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | Thursday 3 September 2026 | Friday 23 October 2026 | October half term, 26 to 30 October |
| Term 2 | Monday 2 November 2026 | Friday 18 December 2026 | Christmas, 21 December to 1 January |
| Term 3 | Monday 4 January 2027 | Friday 12 February 2027 | February half term, 15 to 19 February |
| Term 4 | Monday 22 February 2027 | Thursday 25 March 2027 | Easter, 26 March to 9 April |
| Term 5 | Monday 12 April 2027 | Friday 28 May 2027 | May half term, 31 May to 4 June |
| Term 6 | Monday 7 June 2027 | Friday 23 July 2027 | Summer holiday |
The council also lists the public holidays when schools are closed: Christmas Day on Friday 25 December 2026, the Boxing Day substitute on Monday 28 December, New Year’s Day on Friday 1 January 2027, Good Friday on 26 March, Easter Monday on 29 March, the May Day holiday on 3 May, the spring bank holiday on 31 May and the summer bank holiday on 30 August 2027. Its printable 2026-27 calendar shows the year on one page.
The council does not publish which days each school uses for INSET. Schools choose those themselves, which is why the table below matters.
School by school: where the big secondaries differ
We checked five of the district’s largest secondary schools against their own published calendars. All five use the same six terms as the council. The differences are the training days, and at Clevedon a whole extra week in October.
| School | First day for most pupils | October break for pupils | INSET days (school closed to pupils) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gordano School, Portishead | Tuesday 8 September (Years 7 and 12 on Monday 7) | 24 October to 1 November | 3, 4 and 25 September; 20 November; 4 January; 22 February |
| Backwell School | Tuesday 8 September (Years 7 and 12 on Monday 7) | 24 October to 1 November | 3, 4 and 18 September; 20 November; 22 February; 12 April |
| Churchill Academy | Monday 7 September, after two INSET days | 24 October to 2 November | 3 and 4 September; 1 October; 2 November; 20 November; 22 February |
| Nailsea School | Tuesday 8 September | 24 October to 3 November | 3 and 4 September; 2 and 3 November; 22 February |
| Clevedon School | Friday 4 September (Years 7 and 12 on Thursday 3) | 17 October to 1 November | 1 and 2 September; 9 October; 19, 20 and 21 October; 4 January; 9 July |
Sources: Gordano School 2026-27 term dates, Backwell School, Churchill Academy, Nailsea School (dates set by the Wessex Learning Trust), Clevedon School.
Three things stand out.
- Friday 20 November is a closure day at Gordano, Backwell and Churchill. A family with children at two of those schools gets the same day off, but a primary-age sibling at a council-maintained school does not.
- Monday 22 February is a training day at all of Gordano, Backwell, Churchill and Nailsea. Nailsea’s calendar labels it a Wessex Learning Trust day, so pupils at those schools return from February half term on Tuesday 23 February.
- Clevedon School’s October break is two weeks. Its calendar says students finish on Friday 16 October, with INSET on 19 to 21 October and the half term after that. It is the only one of the five that does this.
Nailsea School’s calendar also lists Friday 23 October as a teaching staff INSET day and the end of term, and does not list the rest of its 2026/27 closures beyond February yet. Churchill lists Monday 22 February as an LSP Trust training day.
Primary schools
Most primaries in North Somerset follow the council’s holidays, but each chooses its own five INSET days, and academy primaries can move holidays too. Check your child’s school website before booking anything that costs money. If you have children at two schools, check both.
Planning around the dates
- October half term: what is on locally that week, with prices, is on our October half term in North Somerset page.
- Christmas: bin collections change over the festive fortnight; the council’s revised days and last year’s pattern are on our Christmas bin collections page.
- School runs and roadworks: see our roadworks and travel page and parking page.
Still to be confirmed
- Nailsea School’s INSET days after February 2027.
- The 2027/28 year: the council has published it already, and Backwell, Churchill and Clevedon have given the first term, with the rest of their training days to follow. Churchill says its 2027/28 INSET days will be confirmed in January 2027.
Last checked 25 September 2026 against the council’s and each school’s own pages.
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