October half term 2026
Also called autumn half term, half term 1.
For most councils
26–30 October 2026
Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October · 5 school days
130 of 145 councils in England and Wales (90%) take these dates. The other 15 are listed below.
October half term 2026 by council
Grouped by the dates each council takes, most common first. Every council links to its own year.
26–30 October 2026
130 councils · 5 school days- Barking and Dagenham
- Barnet
- Barnsley
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Bexley
- Birmingham
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Blaenau Gwent *
- Bolton
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
- Bracknell Forest
- Bradford
- Brent
- Bridgend
- Brighton and Hove
- Bristol, City of
- Buckinghamshire
- Bury
- Calderdale
- Cambridgeshire
- Camden
- Cardiff
- Central Bedfordshire
- Cheshire East
- Cheshire West and Chester
- Conwy *
- Cornwall
- County Durham
- Coventry
- Croydon
- Cumberland
- Darlington
- Denbighshire
- Derby
- Doncaster
- Dorset
- Dudley
- Ealing
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- East Sussex
- Enfield
- Gloucestershire
- Greenwich
- Hackney
- Halton
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Hampshire
- Haringey
- Harrow
- Hartlepool
- Havering
- Herefordshire, County of
- Hertfordshire
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Islington
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Kent
- Kingston upon Hull, City of
- Kingston upon Thames
- Kirklees
- Knowsley
- Lambeth
- Lancashire
- Leeds
- Lewisham
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Medway
- Merton
- Middlesbrough
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Newham
- North Northamptonshire
- North Somerset
- North Yorkshire
- Northumberland
- Oxfordshire
- Peterborough
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Reading
- Redbridge
- Redcar and Cleveland
- Richmond upon Thames
- Rochdale
- Rotherham
- Salford
- Sandwell
- Sefton
- Sheffield
- Shropshire
- Slough
- Solihull
- Somerset
- South Gloucestershire
- Southampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- Southwark
- St. Helens
- Staffordshire
- Stockport
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Suffolk
- Sunderland
- Sutton
- Tameside
- Telford and Wrekin
- Thurrock
- Torbay
- Tower Hamlets
- Trafford
- Wakefield
- Walsall
- Waltham Forest
- Wandsworth
- Warrington
- Warwickshire
- West Northamptonshire
- West Sussex
- Westminster
- Wigan
- Windsor and Maidenhead
- Wirral
- Wokingham
- Wolverhampton
- Worcestershire
- York
19–30 October 2026
5 councils · 10 school days24 October – 1 November 2026
5 councils · 5 school days23–30 October 2026
2 councils · 6 school days19–23 October 2026
1 council · 5 school days22–30 October 2026
1 council · 7 school days24–30 October 2026
1 council · 5 school days* Worked out from the gap between terms, because the council publishes term dates rather than holiday dates.
Questions
- When is October half term 2026?
- For most councils in England and Wales, October half term 2026 runs from Monday, 26 October 2026 to Friday, 30 October 2026 - 130 of 145 councils. The earliest council starts on 19 October 2026 and the latest finishes on 1 November 2026.
- How long is October half term 2026?
- 5 school days for most councils. A half term is one week, though a few councils take two.
- Do all councils have the same October half term?
- No. 7 different sets of dates are in use for October half term 2026. 130 councils take 26–30 October 2026; the next most common is 19–30 October 2026, taken by 5. Academies and free schools can set their own dates again, so check your school's page.