Should a school have organised term dates by now?

[BusyCM]

Dd starts high school in September. She's not our first but the other dc have gone to a different one; they are linked to each other so very similar/same academy/share facilities.

The other school is very organised and we have term dates for the next 18 months at least. The new one don't even have September start date published yet.

We've booked our summer holiday but have now decided to come back 2 days earlier than everyone else on our trip just in case the first day is sooner than expected.

Is this unusual or a sign of poor organisation that the school don't know yet? I have also emailed in case it was me being thick and not able to find it on their website.

The term dates will have been established. However, which day the year 7s start might not have been, if they school is not fully staffed, and if staffing timetables are not finalised.

You will be able to find the overall first date though

Does it not just follow the county councils term dates?

We have term dates until 2028.

We have the council terms dates but whether they take 1 or 2 (or more) inset days and when they want year 9 and 12s to start vs the rest of school is down to individual schools. We also know it's not necessarily the same as others in the same academy.

I’ve never heard of this. Every school I’ve ever known has their term dates for the current academic year and the next one or two published at all times. Are you sure they’re not on the website?

The term dates will be established, but they might not have nailed down information like when individual year groups start back. Around here we have dates until 2027 so I'd presume baring inset days they were roughly in line with the other schools in the area.

When booking holidays baring Scotland schools as long as it falls in August you're usually fine. I think we've only very gone back in August once and that was as a staff member not the students.

Our primary is the same, I just use the council dates now and know that we will have inset days to add in. DC2 starts school in September so know idea when that will be as new teacher last year and they get to make up their own schedule.

I'm sure and as I said I emailed the school to check I wasn't missing it. The reply confirmed they hadn't set the start date yet.

So you have the the council term dates but don't know inset days etc.

The school sounds very unorganised I've genuinely never heard of a school, even an academy which didn't set out term dates for a few years at a time. I suspect you're going to find the school inherently disorganised and this is just the start of years of frustration!

What dates have you booked for the holiday?

We're coming back on 30th August, everyone else is 1st September as they know school isn't until later in the week.

I would have come back on the 30th anyway to be fair. A few days at home to prep and get organised is sensible and I'm sure term starts right at the beginning of September this year for a lot of schools.

Either way I would prepare for years of last minute communication from this particular school not much you can do about it but at least you know how disorganised they are from the beginning.

Given its a Monday 2 September this year, I'd fly on Sunday 1st if required.

I know our council dates, but no idea when inset days are.

That is very strange tbh. I would say they are still recruiting / deciding maybe for a Head of Year as they will be deciding on the induction programme.

Having worked in schools for many years, this is what happens in my experience. Check this years dates and see if they had one inset day or two in September. As Monday is the 2nd, it makes it slightly easier to work it out. Many schools have 1 inset day and then on Tuesday 2nd, Y7 and Y12 will
come in in the morning and will have the school to themselves for registration p1-2. Then others arrive after break. If the school has 2 inset days, they may get their y7’s and 12’s in on the second day for part of the day. I would work on the assumption that she will start on Tuesday 2nd but it could potentially be Wednesday 3rd depending on the school.

School was not going to start on a weekend so coming back on the 1st would have been fine.

I was a school governor until about 5 years ago. We always had to publish term dates for the full academic year about 18 months in advance (so we'd now be agreeing and publishing 2025-2026 dates). That included inset days.
They may just mean that they've not decided how to phase the start of term (eg Year 7 only on x date and years 7-9 the next day, for example). Year 7 are nearly always in on the first day of term, it's the rest of the school that usually start a day or two later.

30 is a Friday
1 is a Sunday.
Unless it's long haul or very late then 1st could have been find, though most people probably wouldn't leave it so late before starting a new school ime.

If long haul id like at least a day at home after landing ideally.

I would always go by term dates when booking holidays before the very start of school years . Not all inset days will be set as sometimes schools need to wait to hear from external providers, etc.

DS is at 6th form college and they have put the dates up for the next academic year, but the September starting date is provisional.

I'm just surprised that's all. It's usually first schools that are a bit more laid back. By High school you expect a machine of organisation.

It's late flight and I don't want her to rush back tired. I'd also like to do something for her birthday that week. It's just lack of being able to plan I find frustrating. I'm a planner!

6/7 hour flight medium haul!

I find that odd. We have dates for all of next year so we know when the inset days are.
This September was published maybe a year ago!