UK Easter Holidays 2027: Dates for All Four Nations

Key Takeaways

• Most English schools break up 26 March and return 9 April 2027. Wales genuinely splits in two: 13 councils (including Powys) break up a week earlier, 19 March, returning 5 April, while 9 councils match England's dates almost exactly.
• Scotland doesn't take a break around Easter weekend at all. Most Scottish schools stay open through Easter itself and take a longer spring break afterwards, commonly 5 to 16 April.
• Northern Ireland's break is shorter and closer to the Good Friday and Easter Monday weekend, confirmed by the Department of Education as 25 March to 2 April.
• Easter falls unusually early in 2027, which is the direct reason Wales split into two groups rather than one shared date. Confirm which pattern your own council follows rather than assuming.

You're trying to book Easter travel or work out childcare for two weeks, and the date everyone quotes doesn't match what your school's newsletter said. Easter is the one UK school holiday that moves every year by design, and 2027 is an early one, which is exactly when the standard pattern stops being reliable.

For most schools in England, the 2027 Easter break runs Friday 26 March to Friday 9 April, with term resuming Monday 12 April. Wales doesn't have one shared date this year: the majority of Welsh councils break up a full week earlier than England, while a smaller group matches England's dates almost exactly. Scotland works completely differently again: most Scottish schools stay open through Easter weekend itself and take a longer break afterwards, into mid-April. Northern Ireland's break is shorter again, closer to the Good Friday and Easter Monday weekend than a full two weeks.

The dates below cover all four nations, but Wales specifically is the one place in the UK where you cannot assume a single national pattern this year, because of how the Welsh Government chose to handle 2027's early Easter.

When are the Easter holidays in 2027?

Easter Sunday falls on 28 March 2027, with Good Friday on 26 March and Easter Monday on 29 March. Most English schools close from Friday 26 March to Friday 9 April, returning Monday 12 April. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all structure their breaks differently, covered in the table below.

Treat this table as a starting point. Even in England, an academy near you can set its own dates independently of the council's.

Why does Scotland's Easter break look nothing like the rest of the UK?

Because Scotland isn't building a holiday around Easter weekend, it's building one after it. Most Scottish schools stay open through Good Friday and Easter Monday, taking those two days off individually rather than closing for the fortnight either side of them. The main spring break then follows, commonly running from the first week of April into the second, roughly two weeks long once it starts.

This isn't a quirk of one council. Scotland's 32 local authorities each set their own calendar, and the "spring break comes after Easter, not around it" structure is consistent across them even though the exact dates aren't. Scottish Borders confirms its 2027 spring break as 5 to 16 April. Edinburgh confirms the same start date but a longer break, running to 19 April. Same structure, same starting point, still a different number of days off.

The practical effect: a family with children at an English school and a Scottish one aren't looking at the same fortnight shifted by a few days. One child is off for Easter weekend and back in class the following Tuesday. The other is in school over Easter weekend and doesn't start their break until roughly a week later.

Why is 2027 an unusual year for Easter dates?

Because Easter falls early. Its date isn't fixed. It's the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, which is why it can land anywhere between late March and late April depending on the year. In 2027, that calculation puts Easter Sunday on 28 March, near the earliest end of its normal range.

An early Easter squeezes the spring term, and Wales is the clearest example of what that squeeze actually does. Rather than impose one date on every council, the Welsh Government split local authorities into two named groups for 2027. The larger group, 13 councils including Powys, takes the earlier option: spring term ends 19 March, a full week before Good Friday, and summer term starts 5 April. A second group of 9 councils delays its break instead, finishing 25 March and returning 12 April, closer to England's dates. Both groups are equally official. Neither is the "real" Welsh date, which is exactly why checking your own council matters more this year than most.

What should you check before booking Easter leave or travel?

Confirm your own school's dates before booking anything, since 2027's early Easter makes deviations from the standard pattern more likely than usual, not less.

• Travel and leave. Easter fortnight flights and family leave both get booked early, and an early Easter means everyone is booking earlier too. Confirm your dates, then move quickly.
• Wales specifically. Don't assume either date applies to you. With councils split roughly into two groups a week apart, check gov.wales or your own council directly rather than going with whatever a friend in a different part of Wales tells you.
• Scotland's later slot. If you're coordinating with a Scottish school, don't plan around "Easter fortnight" as a shared concept. Ask for their actual spring break dates, since the two nations' breaks may barely overlap.

Who else needs your Easter dates?

Grandparents planning a visit, a childminder juggling several schools, or a co-parent in a different nation are all working from whatever Easter date they assume is standard, and this is the one year that assumption is more likely to be wrong.

A grandparent used to "Easter holidays start the Friday before" from previous years may not know that your specific council shifted its 2027 dates. A co-parent with children at a Scottish school isn't just on a different week to you, they're on a structurally different holiday that starts after Easter weekend rather than before it. The only fix is making sure everyone is working from your actual confirmed dates this year, not a general rule that happened to hold in previous ones.

Working out that this is an unusual Easter is the easy part once you know to look for it. Making sure a grandparent, childminder or co-parent in a different nation has your actual confirmed dates, not last year's assumption, is where it usually goes wrong. Maxie's School Holidays feature turns your school's confirmed dates into calendar blocks the whole family can see, and its Shared Family Calendar keeps everyone working from the same version. Try it free with no card required.

Related Resources:

• UK Summer Holidays 2027: Start Dates for All Four Nations
• When Is Half Term 2026? Dates for All Four UK Nations
• INSET Days and the UK School Calendar Explained