Decision details

Thepurposeofthisreport is toask thecabinet member to agreetheschool termand holiday datesfor 2016/17forWiltshire’sCommunity, Voluntary Controlledand Community Special Schools.

To approve the school term and holiday dates for 2016/17 for Wiltshire’s Community, Voluntary Controlled and Community Special Schools.

This decision was published on 22 October 2015 and will come into force on 30 October 2015.       

As dictated by Section 32 of the Education Act 2002, the local authority is responsible for determining the term dates for all community, voluntary controlled or community special schools in Wiltshire.

It was decided to consult on a 195 term day calendar for 2016/17 based on the results of previous years’ consultation. This had revealed that the majority of schools were not in favour of options showing less than 195 days due to the lack of flexibility offered for the setting of teacher development days and therefore the difficulties in securing quality trainers.

A protocolfor the settingofschool term & holidaydateshas beenendorsedby theTeachers JointConsultativeCommitteeand County Secretaries (see Appendix A). In linewith the recommendationssetoutinthisprotocol, one195 term daycalendarwasproposedfor consultation.

Consultationswithschools,neighbouringauthorities, members,publicand otherinterested partieshavebeen completed(seeAppendix B).

TheTeachersJoint ConsultativeCommitteeand County Secretariesconsideredand notedthe consultationresponsesatitsmeetingon 28th March (see Appendix C)and is recommending the consultationdatesproposedinAppendix C.