495. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she plans to revisit the school standardised calendar and have all schools opening and closing on the same dates, beginning and end of year; and if she acknowledges that afterschool care does not start in the main until 1 September which can mean that there can be childcare issues in those first days between school starting and afterschool starting. [64416/26]

The scheduling of the school holiday periods during the school year is agreed between the managerial authorities of schools, the teacher unions, the Department of Education and Youth, and the Department of Public Expenditure Infrastructure Public Service Reform and Digitalisation under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council for the purposes of standardising breaks at Christmas, Easter and mid-term. This is important to ensure certainty for the school community about the dates of school holidays.

The current agreement covers the school years 2026/2027 to 2028/2029 and is set out in Circular 0018/2026 . The arrangements in relation to the standardised school year do not require that the start of end of the school year should be standardised. However, it is the responsibility of the board of management of a school to ensure that primary and special schools are open for tuition for all pupils for a minimum of 182 school days, and that post-primary schools are open for tuition for a minimum of 166 days for all students.

The expectation is that the school year will normally commence during the week in which the 1st of September falls. However, a school year may commence in the week prior to that in which 1st of September falls in circumstances where otherwise it would not be practicable for the school to meet the overall requirement of a minimum of 166 days at post-primary level or 182 days at primary level and in such a case, the school should ensure that the date of commencement is as close as possible to the 1st of September.