Harrow has fixed term dates to 2030. Schools return on Wednesday 1 September 2027, and the 2028 term starts on a Monday after headteachers asked for it.
Harrow Council has set school term dates for the next three academic years, taking the borough’s calendar to the summer of 2030.
The decision was signed on Thursday 24 September by Councillor Hitesh Karia, the Cabinet member for children’s services (decision notice). It can still be called in by councillors until 2 October. If it is not, it takes effect on 3 October.
The headline for parents: the 2027/28 school year starts on Wednesday 1 September 2027 and ends on Friday 21 July 2028.
One change came from headteachers
The dates follow a London-wide framework drawn up by the London Inter Admissions Authority Group, so that families with children in schools across borough boundaries get the same holidays. Harrow has departed from it once.
For 2028/29, the framework starts the year on Friday 1 September 2028. Harrow will start it on Monday 4 September instead, and finish a day later, on Wednesday 25 July 2029.
That change came from the consultation, which ran from 30 January to 27 February 2026 and went to every Harrow school and the Association of Harrow Governing Bodies. The council’s report says it drew six responses (portfolio holder report, PDF):
- four headteachers asked for the Monday 4 September start in 2028
- one headteacher asked for a two-week October half term, which the council turned down because it would shorten the summer holiday
- a couple of other individual requests, which were not taken up
The dates, year by year
These are the dates in Appendix A to the report. Each year has 195 days, which includes five staff training (INSET) days. Schools choose their own INSET days, so children are in class for 190 of them.
| Term | First half | Half term | Second half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn 2027 | Wed 1 September to Fri 22 October | Mon 25 to Fri 29 October | Mon 1 November to Fri 17 December |
| Spring 2028 | Tue 4 January to Fri 11 February | Mon 14 to Fri 18 February | Mon 21 February to Fri 31 March |
| Summer 2028 | Tue 18 April to Fri 26 May | Mon 29 May to Fri 2 June | Mon 5 June to Fri 21 July |
| Term | First half | Half term | Second half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn 2028 | Mon 4 September to Fri 20 October | Mon 23 to Fri 27 October | Mon 30 October to Fri 15 December |
| Spring 2029 | Tue 2 January to Fri 9 February | Mon 12 to Fri 16 February | Mon 19 February to Thu 29 March |
| Summer 2029 | Mon 16 April to Fri 25 May | Mon 28 May to Fri 1 June | Mon 4 June to Wed 25 July |
| Term | First half | Half term | Second half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn 2029 | Mon 3 September to Fri 19 October | Mon 22 to Fri 26 October | Mon 29 October to Fri 14 December |
| Spring 2030 | Wed 2 January to Fri 15 February | Mon 18 to Fri 22 February | Mon 25 February to Fri 5 April |
| Summer 2030 | Tue 23 April to Fri 24 May | Mon 27 to Fri 31 May | Mon 3 June to Thu 25 July |
Longer breaks than Harrow’s own rules
Harrow has a set of principles for its calendar, agreed years ago by the former Education Strategy Consultative Forum. They include a 10 school day break at Christmas and another at Easter, and a summer holiday of no more than six weeks.
The London framework does not always fit them, and the report lists where the new dates go over:
- 2027/28: an 11 day break at Christmas and an 11 day break at Easter
- 2028/29: an 11 day break at Christmas and an 11 day break at Easter
- 2029/30: a 12 day break at Christmas and an 11 day break at Easter
The longest of them is Christmas 2029. Schools break up on Friday 14 December and go back on Wednesday 2 January 2030.
If your children are at schools in two boroughs
The report checks Harrow’s dates against its neighbours:
- Ealing and Hillingdon have set the same dates for all three years, except that they start 2028/29 on Friday 1 September and finish on 24 July.
- Brent is using the same dates for 2027/28, and the same for 2028/29 apart from that Friday start.
- Barnet and Hertfordshire have set the same dates for 2027/28 and have not consulted on the later years.
So for 2027/28 the calendar lines up across the whole area. The one known gap is the first and last days of 2028/29.
What it means for you
If your child is at a community school, these are the dates to plan holidays around. Two things can still move them for your school:
- Governing bodies can add up to three extra closure days to mark non-Christian religious festivals. If they do, the same number of days is added to the end of the summer term.
- Each school picks its own five INSET days, so check the school’s own calendar before booking.
If your child is at an academy, a voluntary aided school, a free school or a foundation school, the council’s dates do not bind it. Those schools set their own. Many follow the council calendar closely, but not all do: this school year, Nower Hill and Bentley Wood add days to the October half term, and Harrow High breaks up a week early at Christmas.
We keep the current year’s dates, school by school, on our Harrow school term dates page. What is on in the coming break is on Harrow October half term.
Sources
- Harrow Council: decision details, School Term Dates 2027-2028, 2028-2029 and 2029-2030, published 25 September 2026, with the call-in deadline.
- Portfolio Holder decision report and Appendix A, updated 23 September 2026 (PDF), for the dates, the consultation responses, the neighbouring boroughs and the principles.
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