New regulations have been made which come into force on 15 March 2023. They are called – The Education (School Day and School Year) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.
Essentially, these regulations have had to be made because, without them, schools would not have been allowed to close on 19 September 2022 and would not be allowed to close on 8 May 2023. Now for why….
Please see the full explanation below:
These Regulations amend the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999 (“the 1999 Regulations”), which set out the minimum number of school sessions that must be held during a school year at every school maintained by a local authority, and every special school not maintained by a local authority in England.
Each school day typically consists of two sessions.
Regulation 3(2) of the 1999 Regulations gives the minimum number of sessions in a school year as 380. These Regulations add a new paragraph (8) that reduces the minimum number of sessions in the school year 2022-23 to 376.
This is to allow for schools’ closure for two additional bank holidays in that school year: the bank holiday on 19 September 2022 for the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the bank holiday on 8 May 2023 for the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.