How TermMinder checks a date before publishing it
Reviewed 2026-09-08 · TermMinder
TermMinder helps you find a published calendar and see the evidence behind it. A date page includes its authority source, the words recorded from that source and the type of verification. Those details matter when two schools or websites disagree.
Start with the authority that publishes the dates
Our sources are registered education authorities and official education documents. The GOV.UK term-date finder similarly directs visitors to the relevant local authority and explains that dates vary across the UK. A school may also set its own dates; an authority calendar should not be mistaken for confirmation by every school in the area.
Keep dates and evidence together
A published version records its source and quoted evidence alongside structured dates. That allows the page to show both the usable calendar and the wording it was extracted from. Follow the source link when checking a decision that depends on a particular date: a saved source quotation records an observation and may be older than the authority's current page.
Check the calendar's shape
The import process checks date ordering, overlaps, valid kinds of calendar rows and other calendar rules. It records whether each bound is exact, a permitted window or still to be chosen. These checks can catch inconsistent data; they do not establish a school-specific fact that the source does not provide.
Where a source publishes holidays only, TermMinder can show those holidays without inventing term boundaries. A school-chosen date remains a range or an explicit unknown. A half-term can fall inside the authority's overall term interval, so the next time off must account for both.
Read the verification label literally
A human check, a second extraction and a cross-check are different evidence. Our current automated cross-check re-reads the recorded official source. It is not a claim that an unrelated external dataset agrees. Verification reduces error risk; it does not remove the need to check a school's own exceptions.
The verification date describes that check. The date TermMinder first recorded a calendar describes our own history, not necessarily when an authority first published it. If a last-successful-fetch date is available, it is shown separately.
Understand the remaining limits
A page can have correct authority dates while lacking individual school INSET days. Kent's official guidance asks families to check their school's own arrangements. Use that same approach before making plans.
If coverage is missing, TermMinder says what it has not added and points to registered sources where available. If dates need rechecking, the page must make the uncertainty visible. Use the correction action when you find a discrepancy and include the official school or authority source that supports it.