Perth and Kinross pupils will get a week's holiday in February 2028

A council committee also approved scrapping the May Day holiday and lunchtime closures before the Christmas and summer holidays.

Perth and Kinross pupils will get a week's holiday in February 2028 and end-of-term half days and the May Day school holiday will be scrapped.

The changes were approved by Perth and Kinross Council's (PKC) Learning and Families Committee on Wednesday, September 16, and will come into force in 2027-28.

PKC's education chief David Macluskey told councillors there was evidence to suggest younger children in particular might benefit from a longer break in February during what is a lengthy term.

Perth and Kinross pupils currently get three days off school in February: one in-service day followed by two days classed as "occasional holidays". This will remain the case in February 2027 when pupils will be off from Wednesday to Friday, February 10 to 12.

But in 2028, pupils will be given a whole week's holiday in February from Monday to Friday, February 14 to 18. The Monday will be an in-service day for teaching staff followed by four days' holiday for all.

In order to help facilitate a week-long holiday in February, and avoid impacting the full six-week break in summer, the May Day holiday will be scrapped.

End-of-term half days will also be scrapped in 2027-28. Pupils will be in school for a full day on the final days of term before Christmas and the summer break, ending the traditional end-of-term lunchtime closure.

PKC's strategic lead for Education and Learning told the committee having a longer break in February might benefit pupils.

Mr Macluskey said: "You'll notice the introduction of a week-long break for pupils in term three. This reflects evidence, particularly in terms of distressed, challenging, violent or aggressive incident data suggesting that pupils, particularly younger children may benefit from a longer pause during what is a lengthy demanding term.

"We know this part of the school year can be particularly busy for learners, families and staff and hope that this adjustment will support wellbeing, engagement and readiness to learn throughout the remainder of the session."

He assured councillors the new arrangements would be "monitored closely" and kept under review.

While PKC's education chiefs consulted their Education and Learning Senior Management Team, trade unions, head teachers and business managers on the proposed school term and holiday changes, they confirmed - when asked by Conservative councillor Noah Khogali - there had been no consultation with parents and families.

Mr Macluskey said: "We've not gone to widespread consultation with parents and families round about this. We have shared this information with parent councils and chairs, as part of our regular engagement and asked them to communicate it as well.

"What will be crucial, as we move through this process, is monitoring the impact as we go.

"We believe that 2027-28 gives a significant amount of time to allow families to plan round about this."

The council's scheme of dates for school terms and holidays has to comply with the statutory requirement of 190 school days for pupils and 195 days (which includes five in-service days for additional training and development) for teaching staff .

Moving the proposed 2027-28 and 2028-29 school term and holiday dates for approval, the committee's convener John Rebbeck said monitoring the effects of the week-long break in February would be "really important to see if that makes a difference to what goes in our schools".

The changes were seconded by fellow SNP councillor Steven Carr and unanimously approved by the committee.