# The Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 W.S.I. 2026/107 · made 22 June 2026 The Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 (“the 2003 Regulations”) make provision about the length of the school day and school year. The 2003 Regulations provide that the school day is ordinarily divided into two sessions with a break in the middle, and for schools to meet for at least 380 sessions during any school year. Made under: Education Act 1996 (Section 551, Section 569) PDFs: Printed copy https://openlegislation.uk/education-school-day-and-school-year-wales-amendment-regulations-2026/pdf/wsi_20260107_mi.pdf ## Introductory text EDUCATION, WALES Made 22 June 2026 Coming into force 1 September 2026 The Welsh Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by sections 551(1) and 569(4) and (5) of the Education Act 1996 and now vested in them, make the following Regulations. ## 1 Title and coming into force (1) The title of these Regulations is the Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. (2) These Regulations come into force on 1 September 2026. ## 2 Amendment of the Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 (1) The Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 are amended as follows. (2) In regulation 4— (a) in paragraph (2), for “380” substitute “390”, and (b) omit paragraph (8). (3) For regulation 5 substitute— “5 (1) In every school year, 12 school sessions must be used wholly or mainly for the following purposes— (a) the provision of training or preparation and planning, in relation to one or more of the following— (i) the operation of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal​ (Wales) Act 2018 for pupils at the school; (ii) the curriculum to be provided at the school under Parts 2 and 3 of the​ Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 (“the 2021 Act”); (iii) the assessment arrangements to be made for pupils at the school under Part 4 of​ the 2021 Act; (iv) the national priorities as defined in regulation 2(1) of the​ Education (School Development Plans) (Wales) Regulations​ 2014 (“the 2014 Regulations”); (v) the school improvement priorities as defined in regulation 2(1) of the 2014​ Regulations; (b) the provision of any other training the governing body considers appropriate. (2) Any training or preparation and planning provided under paragraph (1)— (a) includes training or preparation and planning attended by both teaching and non-teaching staff, (b) includes training or preparation and planning conducted jointly with other schools, and (c) subject to paragraph (3), must be mainly for the purposes set out in paragraph (1)(a). (3) The duty in paragraph (2)(c) will be regarded as met if the majority of all training or planning and preparation provided under paragraph (1) in a school year is for one or more of the purposes set out in paragraph (1)(a). (4) Where paragraph (1) applies, that school session is to be regarded for the purposes of regulation 4 as a school session on which the school has met.” (4) Omit regulation 7. ## Signature Anna Brychan Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, one of the Welsh Ministers 22 June 2026 ## Explanatory note (This note is not part of the Regulations) The Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 (“the 2003 Regulations”) make provision about the length of the school day and school year. The 2003 Regulations provide that the school day is ordinarily divided into two sessions with a break in the middle, and for schools to meet for at least 380 sessions during any school year. These Regulations amend paragraph (2) of regulation 4 of the 2003 Regulations to provide that there will be at least 390 school sessions during any school year (regulation 2(2)). These Regulations also substitute regulation 5 of the 2003 Regulations to provide that 12 school sessions in a school year will count as sessions on which the school has met and those sessions must be used for the purposes prescribed (regulation 2(3)). These Regulations omit regulation 7 of the 2003 Regulations (regulation 2(4)). The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Leadership Branch, School Practitioner Division, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ. --- Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2026/107 (the official version) Page: https://openlegislation.uk/education-school-day-and-school-year-wales-amendment-regulations-2026 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.