Cheshire West's October half term is 26 to 30 October, but The King's School and The Queen's School take two weeks. Every 2026/27 date, school by school.

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s October half term for 2026 is Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, and schools break up for Christmas on Friday 18 December. Those are the dates the council sets for community and voluntary controlled schools and recommends to everyone else. Chester’s two big independent schools do not follow them: The King’s School and The Queen’s School both take a two-week October holiday from 19 October, and both finish for Christmas before the state schools do. The staff training days are different at every school, so the table below shows what four of the biggest Chester calendars actually say.

The quick answer

  • October half term 2026: Monday 26 to Friday 30 October (council dates). The King’s School and The Queen’s School are off from Monday 19 October to Friday 30 October.
  • Christmas holiday: schools on the council calendar finish on Friday 18 December 2026 and return on Monday 4 January 2027.
  • February half term 2027: Monday 15 to Friday 19 February. Easter: Friday 26 March to Friday 9 April 2027.

The council’s term dates for 2026/27

These are the dates published on the council’s school term and holiday dates page, with the number of school days in each half term as the council gives them.

Cheshire West and Chester Council school term dates 2026/27
Half termStartsEndsDaysHoliday that follows
Autumn 1Tuesday 1 September 2026Friday 23 October 202639Mon 26 to Fri 30 October
Autumn 2Monday 2 November 2026Friday 18 December 202635Mon 21 December to Fri 1 January
Spring 1Monday 4 January 2027Friday 12 February 202730Mon 15 to Fri 19 February
Spring 2Monday 22 February 2027Thursday 25 March 202724Fri 26 March to Fri 9 April
Summer 1Monday 12 April 2027Friday 28 May 202734Mon 31 May to Fri 4 June
Summer 2Monday 7 June 2027Wednesday 21 July 202733Thu 22 July to Tue 31 August

Good Friday is 26 March 2027, the first day of the Easter break. The early May bank holiday, Monday 3 May, falls inside the first summer half term and the late May bank holiday, Monday 31 May, opens the half term holiday.

The council is clear that these dates are guidance for most families. It sets them for community and voluntary controlled schools only; voluntary aided and foundation schools set their own through their governors, and academies and free schools through their trust. It also allows a school with more than half its pupils from a neighbouring authority to follow that authority’s dates, which matters on the Welsh border and near Wirral.

Four Chester schools, four calendars

Every school takes five staff training (INSET) days out of the council’s 195, and it chooses where to put them. These are the calendars the schools themselves publish.

2026/27 dates at four Chester schools, from each school's own published calendar
SchoolPupils startOctober breakLast day before ChristmasSummer term ends
Council calendarTue 1 Sept26 to 30 OctFri 18 DecWed 21 July
The Bishops' Blue Coat CE HighThu 3 Sept (Y7, Y12), Fri 4 Sept (all)26 to 30 OctFri 18 Dec, 1.15pm finishTue 20 July, 1.15pm
Upton-by-Chester HighThu 3 Sept26 to 30 OctFri 18 DecFri 16 July
The King's School (independent)Tue 8 Sept19 to 30 OctThu 17 DecThu 8 July
The Queen's School (independent)Mon 7 Sept19 Oct to 1 NovWed 16 DecThu 8 July

The Bishops’ Blue Coat follows the council’s holidays but moves two of its training days into the middle of the autumn term: its calendar lists Friday 27 November and Monday 30 November 2026 as INSET days, so pupils there get a four-day weekend at the end of November. Its other training days were 1 and 2 September and Wednesday 21 July 2027.

Upton-by-Chester High has no training days during term at all. Its 2026/27 dates put two at the start of September and three at the very end, on 19, 20 and 21 July 2027, which is why its summer term finishes on Friday 16 July, five days before the council’s.

The King’s School publishes its 2026 to 2027 term dates with a two-week half term, Monday 19 to Friday 30 October, and ends the Michaelmas term on Thursday 17 December after the carol service in Chester Cathedral: junior pupils leave at 9.45am and senior pupils at midday. The Lent term starts on Wednesday 6 January 2027 and ends on Friday 2 April. The school also closes on a Friday before each open morning, with the specific dates still marked “tbc” on its calendar.

The Queen’s School gives the same two-week October break on its 2026/27 dates page, from 19 October to 1 November, and finishes earliest of all, on Wednesday 16 December. Girls return on Wednesday 6 January after an INSET day on the 5th.

If your child is at a school not listed here, its own website is the only reliable source. The council says so itself, and the two-week break at the independents shows how far a calendar can drift from the borough’s.

The Christmas holiday, in one line

On the council calendar the last school day of 2026 is Friday 18 December and the first of 2027 is Monday 4 January. The King’s School finishes a day earlier and The Queen’s School two days earlier; both go back on Wednesday 6 January.

Looking ahead: 2027/28

The council has already published the following year. Schools return on Wednesday 1 September 2027, the October half term is Monday 25 to Friday 29 October 2027, and the Christmas holiday runs from Monday 20 December 2027 to Monday 3 January 2028, which is the substitute bank holiday for New Year’s Day. The Bishops’ Blue Coat has published its 2027/28 dates too, marked “tbc”.

What is still to be confirmed

  • The King’s School’s open morning closure days in the autumn, listed on its calendar as “specific date tbc”.
  • The INSET days at most primary schools, which each governing body sets and publishes separately.

We will add more schools as their calendars are checked. For what is actually on in the October holiday, see our October half term page.