Exam clash fears prompt change to West Lothian school holidays
Easter holiday dates for West Lothian schools are being changed after concerns were raised about the SQA exam dates.
West Lothian council has revised its term dates for the new school year in 2026-27.
The changes will see Easter holiday moved forward, and will also take account of the council election in early May 2027.
In a report to the Education PDSP Hannah Haywood, Customer Services Manager said: 'Easter is early in 2027.'
She added: 'Proposed dates for session 2026/27 were presented to Education PDSP on 1 April. Consultation on the proposed dates was still under way at that time.
'Four responses were received, two expressing satisfaction with the proposed dates, and two requesting that the Easter Break should be later.
'Since the meeting on 1 April 2025, new information about the SQA time-scales has been provided, and it is now clear that the previously proposed timing of the Easter break would potentially negatively impact on students meeting submission deadlines for SQA awards.
She added: ' Easter is early in 2027, and the original proposal was for the schools to break up on Friday 19 March, and resume on Monday 5 April, with the Easter weekend in the middle.
'A new proposal is now being presented, which moves the Easter break to make it one week later, starting on Good Friday 26 March, and resuming on Monday 12 April.
'As the Easter break is now two weeks and one day long rather than two weeks, the new proposal removes the Friday from the September weekend to make sure that we provide the required 190 teaching days in the session.'
As ever the West Lothian holidays are unlikely to tie with neighbouring councils, many of which have yet to be confirmed.
Chairing the PDSP Councillor Andrew McGuire said he and fellow councillors were unlikely to forget to move an in-service day to the first Thursday in May as this marks the end of their current council term.
The in-service day in May 2026 has also been moved from Tuesday 5 May to Thursday 7 May to coincide with the Scottish Parliamentary Election.
Term dates for 2026/27 are:-
Pupils return: Wednesday 12 August
September weekend: Monday 21 September
October holiday: Friday 16 October-Tuesday 27 October
Christmas holiday: Friday 18 December- Tuesday 5 January
Mid Term: Friday 5 February - Tuesday 16 February
Easter Holidays: Thursday 26 March - Monday 5 April
May Day holiday Monday 3 May
Staff in-service Thursday 6 May.
The new term dates will have to be confirmed by the Education Executive when it meets in two weeks' time.
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