In most years, schools have their two week Easter holidays either side of the Easter weekend. But this year, Easter falls comparatively late – Easter Sunday will be the 20th April and a full three weeks later than last year.
If schools were to stick to the ‘two weeks either side’ model, that would mean they would be off this week and next week, with kids not back at school until the 28th April. It also means that the spring term at school will have been longer than normal, leaving a long stretch of teaching from Christmas onwards, and then a compressed summer term. So, our nine-year-old’s school is now in its second week of the Easter holidays, having had last week off as well. School re-opens the day after Easter Monday, on Tuesday 22nd April.
But not all schools are doing this. One local secondary school had an extended half term break before Christmas, giving them two weeks in October/November, and then shortened the Easter holidays to just a week and a bit. Over in South Yorkshire, they’re already done with their Easter holidays – they broke on the 28th March and were back at school on Monday. The actual Easter weekend is therefore detached from their Easter holidays. I suppose this keeps the spacing of the holidays more consistent but it feels a bit weird to have ‘Easter holidays’ that don’t include the actual Easter weekend.
My workplace always offers a customary holiday on the day after Easter Monday, and so I’ll be off work when our nine-year-old goes back to school. It gives me an extra break, I suppose.
Next year’s Easter holidays
In 2026, Easter Sunday will be a couple of weeks earlier on the 5th April. And, certainly where we are, that means a return to the standard pattern where the Easter holidays wrap around the Easter weekend. It’ll be another week earlier in 2027 as Easter Sunday will be the 28th March.
If you need to know when school holidays are, you can check local authority web sites which usually have dates for both this year and next year. However, individual schools may vary their dates – especially if they have Academy status.
The latest date for Easter
Wikipedia has a list of when Easter falls, and, in particular, the earliest and latest possible dates for Easter. Easter Sunday is comparatively late this year, but the latest possible date is actually the 25th April. The last time this happened was in 1943, and it’ll happen again in 2038. We’ll also have a late Easter in 2030 when it falls on the 21st – a day later than this year.
The earliest date for Easter is the 22nd March, and the last time this happened was before living memory, way back in 1818. Indeed, the next time it happens will also be (most likely) beyond the lifespan of anyone living today, as it won’t be until 2285. However, Easter Sunday fell on the 23rd March in 2008, something which I apparently didn’t blog about at the time. A shame, because the next time Easter Sunday falls on the 23rd March will be in 2160.
So, is it the Easter holidays?
So, to answer the question I posed in the title of this blog post: it depends. Most schools are off this week (the roads have definitely been quieter) but not all of them are. It’ll most likely be back to normal next year though.
