Somerset School Year 2025-26: Key Dates and Deadlines for Parents

The first day of term is the easy part. It is the week before October half-term, the morning of the Year 6 tests and the Thursday you realise the parents' evening booking closed yesterday that families tend to remember.

What follows is a working version of the Somerset school year for 2025-26: when term starts and ends, which weeks are holidays, which deadlines genuinely do not move, and when exam season and parents' evenings land.

One caveat before you write anything on the fridge. Schools set their own training days, and a break occasionally shifts by a few days to line up with a neighbouring authority or a multi-academy trust calendar. Treat the dates below as the framework, then confirm the specifics on your child's school website or app before you book leave.

How the 2025-26 year is shaped

Most Somerset schools run the same three-term pattern: an autumn term from the first days of September to the third week of December, a spring term from early January to the end of March, and a summer term from mid-April to late July.

Reception and Year 7 usually start a day or two after everyone else, with shorter sessions so new pupils can settle without a full playground on day one. If your child is starting school for the first time, expect a staggered start across that opening week and check which day belongs to you.

The autumn term is the longest uninterrupted stretch of the year, and it is the one that wears children down. Half-term is not a bonus week. It is the reason November works.

Holidays, half-terms and training days

• Autumn half-term: the last full week of October, with schools back in the first days of November.
• Christmas holidays: about two weeks, usually finishing on the first Monday or Tuesday of January.
• February half-term: one week in the middle of the month. Some schools take it a week later than their neighbours.
• Easter holidays: two weeks, sitting either side of Easter Sunday, which falls on 5 April 2026. Expect the break to run from late March into mid-April.
• May half-term: the last week of May, arriving just after the main exam weeks begin.
• Summer holidays: from the final week of July to the start of September.

Training days, often called INSET days, are the ones that catch people out. There are five in a school year and they are not standardised, which means your neighbour's children may be in class while yours are not. Two usually sit at the very start or end of a term. Add each one to your calendar the day the school publishes it, and check whether a wraparound club is running that day.

Admissions deadlines that do not move

A handful of dates in the admissions round are set nationally. Late applications are still considered, but they are processed after everyone else's, which matters most when a popular school is oversubscribed.

Secondary places for September 2026

The application window for children moving up to Year 7 closes on 31 October 2025, with offers issued on 1 March 2026. Proof of address usually has to be dated and submitted alongside the form, so gather it in the first half of October rather than the final week. List your genuine preferences in the order you actually want them; putting a school down that you would not accept does not improve your chances elsewhere.

Primary places for September 2026

Reception applications close on 15 January 2026 and offers go out on 16 April 2026. If your child turns five during the school year, you may be able to defer entry until later in the year or hold the place until compulsory school age begins. Rules vary, so ask the school office to confirm what applies to you.

Moving mid-year

In-year applications go to the council or directly to the school, depending on the school's status. Allow at least twenty school days for a decision, and do not hand in notice at your current school until a new place is confirmed in writing. For anything involving an appeal, an admission decision that affects your family's arrangements, or a special educational needs request, ask for the process in writing and consider taking independent advice.

Exam and assessment weeks

Exam season starts earlier than most parents expect, and it is worth marking the dates before anything else fills the diary.

Primary

Year 6 pupils sit their key stage 2 tests over four mornings in the second or third week of May. Many schools run a breakfast session beforehand. Do not book dental appointments, family trips or anything optional that week.

Secondary

GCSE, A-level and vocational exams run from mid-May to late June, with the heaviest concentration in the first three weeks. Mock exams usually fall in November or December and again in February or March, and revision for them begins weeks earlier. Results arrive in mid-August, A-level first with GCSE a week later. The exact days are published nationally each spring, so check them before booking any late-summer travel.

Everyone else

End-of-year assessments for Years 7 to 10, and for younger primary year groups, generally happen in June. There is nothing to revise at home, but it explains the tiredness and the sudden interest in an early night.

Parents' evenings: when they are and how to use them

Most schools run one consultation evening per term, and in secondary schools the booking opens a week or two beforehand online. Slots are usually ten minutes, and the popular times go within hours.

1. Read the last report or progress tracker first, and write down two questions rather than ten.
2. Ask one question about progress against targets and one about what would help most at home.
3. Take notes as you go. By the third teacher, everything blurs together.
4. If you need longer than your slot allows, email the teacher afterwards and ask for a short phone call. Staff would rather have that than an awkward overrun.
5. If your child has additional needs, ask for a separate conversation with the SENCO, and keep a written record of what was agreed.

Your one-page family checklist

An hour with the school calendar in late

Photo: Darkmoon_Art / Pixabay