Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th February 2024.

b)  Matters arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Report of the Director of Children’s and Education Services

The Cabinet Member considered a report which set out the outcome of consultation and sought approval of the School Terms and Holidays calendar for 2026/27.

Currently the Local Authority was required to set term and holiday dates for community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools. All schools in England were free to decide when their school day should start and end. Governing bodies were required to set term and holiday dates in foundation and voluntary aided schools. Academies and free schools were responsible for setting their own terms and holiday dates.

The consultation ran for 8 weeks from 18^th March to 13^th May 2024. Consultation documentation was shared with headteachers and governing bodies of Coventry schools and academy trusts, and Trade Unions. It was also available on the Coventry City Council Let’s Talk Coventry webpage. A total of 48 responses were received to the consultation. In total, 42 (87.5%) agreed with the proposed term dates and 6 (12.5%) did not. A large proportion of responses were from headteachers (43.8%) and parents/carers (35.4%) with teachers and  Trade Unions also commenting.

Respondents were invited to provide any additional comments if they did not agree with the proposed term dates. There were a number of reasons stated, with the main reason being the cost implications on holidays and breaks by aligning with neighbouring authorities- the length of the Autumn term was also referenced.

Through consultation, the majority of responses were positive. Previous consultations have highlighted the importance of aligning term dates with bordering and other neighbouring authorities. Local authorities within the West Midlands (including the bordering local authorities, Warwickshire and Solihull) have proposed or published these dates.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills:

1)  Approves the adoption the School Terms and Holiday calendar for 2026/27 as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

2)  Invites the Catholic and Church of England Diocesan Authorities and the Governors of Trust Schools and Academies to recommend the same calendar for their schools.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

Any other items of public business which the Cabinet Member decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of public business.