Archived decisions

LGA Committee on the School Year - Chair: Christopher Price

Recommendations for 'pupil year' - 2006/2007

1 The principles on which these days are based are:

(a) 'Reasonable' standardisation' of term dates across England.

(b) A start of the school year as near to 1 September as possible.

(c) As even a pattern of term lengths as possible (approximately two blocks of seven weeks before the Christmas break and four of six weeks after Christmas).

(d) A start to term five during the second, or early in the third, week in April irrespective of the incidence of Easter.

(e) The possibility of a summer holiday of at least six weeks for those schools which want this length of break.

2 'Training days'

On the basis of these principles, LGA is recommending 190 pupil days for 2006/2007 and future years. It is making no specific recommendation for the timing of 'training days' in the light of:


(a) very different LEA and school practices in designating different numbers of days for each school year - as many as 200 or as few as 190, and


(b) a DfES letter on LEA responsibility (Appendix C) which makes a clear distinction between LEAs' 'pupil day' and 'training day' responsibilities.


LGA urges LEAs which designate whole days as 'training days' to do so not only reasonably but also, wherever possible, outside the 190 'pupil days# recommended by LGA.

3 Recommendations on variations of the dates

(a) 'Reasonable standardisation' implies a variation of no more than two days from recommended days in any of the six terms.


(b) Reasons for variation may include local tradition, local religious festivals and LEA 'training day' arrangements. (The first day of the school year is often taken as a training day, with a replacement day added at a later date.)


(c) LGA accepts that those LEAs which designate 195 days, undifferentiated as to which are 'pupil' and 'training' days, may appear to produce a greater variation from the recommended pattern than those which designate 190 'pupil' days.