How many days until the summer holidays?

The summer holidays are the long one — roughly six weeks off, starting in the third week of July for schools in England and Wales and running to the beginning of September. Scotland breaks up considerably earlier, around the end of June, and Northern Ireland's holiday starts at the end of June too, so "when do the holidays start" has no single answer across the UK.

The break dominates the British summer economy. Holiday accommodation, flights and campsites change tariff the moment the last term ends, which is why term-time absence and the fines that come with it are argued about every single year. Families without travel plans fall back on the standard rotation: soft play when it rains, the beach when it does not, holiday clubs, grandparents, and a lot of improvised childcare.

For pupils it is the longest uninterrupted stretch of freedom in the year, and it ends with results days — A-levels in the middle of August, GCSEs the week after — which cut through the middle of it for older students. Teachers get their own version, punctuated by preparation for September.

This page counts towards the usual mid-to-late July starting point for England and Wales rather than a date fixed nationally, since each local authority and academy trust sets its own. It runs to midnight at the start of that day.