The Scottish Government

Section 14: USE OF PREMISES AND OCCASIONAL HOLIDAYS

This section provides for School Boards to control the use of the school premises out-of-hours and to fix occasional holidays; and for authorities to influence the exercise of these powers.

Section 14(1) The purpose of the restrictions is to provide for a degree of co-ordination of out-of-hours use on an authority-wide basis. It is expected that in fulfilling their duty to encourage the use of the school premises by the local community, Boards will take into account the views of that community generally, and of user groups within it, whether by setting up formal committees of the Board under section 6(3), or otherwise.

Section 14(2) allows School Boards to fix occasional holidays during school terms. These provisions do not apply to the setting of term dates. Under the terms of Regulation 5 of the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975 (as amended), public schools are to open for 190 days in every school year (the 'school year' is defined as 1 August to 31 July). Within the overall stipulation, education authorities establish term dates and make arrangements for occasional holidays. The requirement to ensure that schools are open for the necessary 190 days, taking account of the term dates set by the authority, will affect Boards' discretion to set occasional holidays. The subsection therefore stipulates that Boards are required to consult their education authorities before setting dates for occasional holidays. This will enable education authorities to ensure that Boards are aware of the relevant term dates and, for example, to inform Boards of the holidays proposed by other Boards in their area and to advise Boards of the authority's own plans for closures for reasons such as in-service training of teachers.