Borough’s parents and carers asked to share their views on school term times and holiday dates

Cheshire West and Chester Council is encouraging parents and carers with children who attend local authority maintained schools in the borough to take part in a consultation on proposals to vary the current Standardised School Year.

The Standardised School Year is a set of principles used to set out school term and holiday dates for schools in an area.

Term dates and holidays in England are set by the Council for community and voluntary controlled schools, by the governing body for foundation and voluntary aided schools and by the academy trust for free schools and academies.

The proposal is to vary the current Standardised School Year for Cheshire West and Chester’s community and voluntary controlled schools based on feedback from schools and parents.  

Councillor Robert Cernik, Cabinet Member for Children and Families said: “In 2012 the Council consulted on and adopted the current Standardised School Year, which aligned our school term dates with other neighbouring authorities. In recent years, more councils have moved away from this model.

“We are aware that differing term dates for schools may be causing inconvenience for some of our families and school staff across the borough. At the moment some primary and secondary schools don’t always have the same holiday dates, and we are out of sync with our neighbouring areas, which can make it difficult for parents.

“The Council is now consulting on a proposal that will bring our term dates more in line with neighbouring authorities and will help parents with children at more than one school to know that their holidays will fall at the same time.

“We would like to hear from as many parents and carers of children attending west Cheshire schools as possible, to make sure we get it right.

“To take part in the consultation and view the consultation documents, please visit our consultation webpage where you can have your say in a number of different ways.”

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/standardschoolyear