Council To Consult On Set School Easter Holiday

22nd August 2018

A proposal to set a fixed school holiday for the first 2 weeks in April each year from 2019 onwards will go out to consultation by The Highland Council's Care and Learning Service.

The service will consult with Head Teachers, Parent Councils, the Local Negotiating Committee for Teacher representatives and other relevant educational establishments in Highland.

It is the responsibility of Local Authorities in Scotland to set their own school term dates and in-service days to ensure that schools are open for 190 pupil days and 5 in-service days each year. Eighteen other local authorities already have a fixed 2 weeks at Easter.

If in any given year, Easter Friday and Monday fall outside of the proposed 2 week break for Highland - schools would still close on Easter Friday and Monday

Members of the Council's Care, Learning and Housing Committee have agreed to the review of Easter school holidays.

Committee Chair, Cllr Andrew Baxter said: "Other local authorities are already following the model of a set school Easter holiday and officers understand from early discussions that some Head Teachers are keen to move to this proposal. It is important that the opinions of all Head Teachers, Parent Councils and the LNCT are heard, hence members have supported the consultation."

The 18 other local authorities are: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Orkney, Argyll & Bute, Western Isles, Glasgow, Borders, Edinburgh, East Lothian, Fife, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, North Ayrshire, Dundee, Inverclyde and Clackmannanshire.