Sheffield schools term times 2023/2024: Here's when kids go back with all this year’s school holiday dates

It's only a little under three weeks and counting until the summer holidays in Sheffield are over - we hope they haven't gone too quickly so far.

With children heading back to school in September, parents are often eager to get a start on planning their upcoming breaks and holidays, which starts with knowing when term starts and ends.

It comes especially after a new report found the past year was one of the worst for 'persistent absences' from schools in recent history, with over a quarter of the Steel City's secondary school pupils being missing for 1-in-10 sessions in class.

Sheffield City Council has now released the latest term dates for all schools across the city, which include Easter, October half-term and Christmas. With more bank holidays in store this year, it would be good to know when you can bring your children for a getaway.

Here is when children in Sheffield break up for their holidays and when their term dates are for the rest of the year.

What are school term times in Sheffield this year? When do kids go back and when do they break up?

Sheffield City Council is responsible for setting the term dates for the schools.

However, academies and free schools have the authority to determine their own schedules and it is best for you to contact them directly for information on their term dates.

Below are the term breaks for 2023/2024 in full.

• September 4 (Monday) - First day of school
• October 23 (Monday) to October 27 (Friday) - Autumn half-term holidays
• December 25 (Monday) to January 5 (Friday) - Christmas holidays
• February 12 (Monday) to February 16 (Friday) - Spring half-term holidays
• March 29 (Friday) to April 12 (Friday) - Spring holidays
• May 27 (Monday) to May 31 (Friday) - Summer half-term holidays
• July 24 - Summer holidays

Can I take family holidays during term time?

According to the Sheffield City Council, schools will not normally give a family permission to take pupils out of school for holidays during term-time. This means that if your child is off school because you are away on holiday the school will record this as an unauthorised absence.

The decision about the penalties to be applied in the event of an unauthorised absence rests with the educational authorities. However, there are circumstances where permission might be given for a holiday during term-time, including:

• A family needs time together to recover from distress.
• A family holiday is restricted to term-time because of the parent’s job (for example a parent is in the armed services or emergency services).
• There are other circumstances considered to be exceptional.

It comes after new figures last week revealed a fifth of Sheffield primary school children and more than a quarter of secondary school pupils are recorded as "persistently" absent from school.

Department for Education figures show 28.5 per cent of pupils missed at least one in 10 sessions in the school year of 2022-23, and were considered persistently absent.

The figures were not much better for the Steel City's primary schools, where 20.4 per cent - or one in five - children were also missing classes.

The Centre for Education and Youth said the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis were both having an impact on school attendance.