When are the October school holidays 2021 in Edinburgh? Start and end dates of autumn half-term break

Pupils in Edinburgh have gone back to school after their summer holidays - here’s when the next break is in October 2021

Pupils in Edinburgh enjoyed a well-deserved summer holiday before recently heading back to classrooms.

Both schoolchildren and teachers alike have experienced a tumultuous year in education due to the Covid pandemic, but now most restrictions in Scotland have eased, the autumn term is looking more similar to “normal”.

Most significantly, the old system of “class bubbles” has been scrapped, to be replaced by only very close contacts having to self-isolate if there is a positive case in a classroom.

Pupils and teachers in Edinburgh will be looking ahead to the October holidays for a break from Covid classroom rules (Getty Images)

However, some rules - like mask wearing for secondary pupils - remain, meaning pupils and teachers will still be looking ahead to the October holidays for a break from coronavirus measures.

Here’s when Edinburgh schools break up in October.

When did the schools go back after summer in Edinburgh?

Edinburgh schools broke up for this year’s summer holidays on Friday 25 June 2021.

Pupils were off for more than seven weeks before the autumn term began on Wednesday 18 August 2021.

Schools across Scotland break up and go back on to school on different dates, so other institutions returned to classrooms on varying days.

When are the October school holidays?

The mid-term October break will take place from Monday 18 to Monday 25 October 2021.

There’s also an autumn holiday before that, on Monday 20 September.

After the October holidays, the term will end on Friday 17 December.

You can check the Edinburgh City Council website for more information.

Remember that schools set their own start and finish times, so you may have to contact your child’s school to find out what time pupils finish on the last day of term.

When are the Christmas holidays?

This year Edinburgh schools will break up for Christmas from Monday 20 December 2021 to Wednesday 5 January 2022 – a two-week holiday over the festive period.

Then, the spring term starts on Thursday 6 January 2022 in the new year.

When are the school holidays in 2022?

Following that, there will be a mid-term break for Edinburgh pupils from Monday 14 February to Friday 18 February 2022.

The spring term ends on Friday 8 April 2022.

Next year, the Easter holidays will take place on Monday 11 April to Friday 22 April.

And the summer term starts on Monday 25 April 2022.

There will be a May Day holiday on Monday, 2 May 2022. Then, on Tuesday 3 May, there will be a staff only day.

Victoria Day is another summer term holiday taking place on Monday 23 May 2022.

Next year’s summer holidays are scheduled to commence on Thursday 30 June 2022.