What is an exeat weekend? How many there are, how long they last, and when the 2026–27 exeats fall

An exeat is a short, scheduled break from a boarding school, usually Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, when boarders go home or to a guardian. Of the 1,045 independent-school calendars we read for 2026–27, 136 publish exeats; six a year is the most common pattern (38 of those 136), and four Fridays dominate: 25 September 2026, 20 November 2026, 22 January 2027 and 30 April 2027. The word is Latin for "let him or her go out".

What does "exeat" actually mean?

Exeat is Latin, literally "let him or her go out", and Merriam-Webster still defines it as "British: a permit for temporary absence". In a boarding school it is the weekend when that permission applies to everyone at once. Caterham School's 2026–27 term dates put it plainly: "An Exeat Weekend means that boarding pupils are expected to leave the House once lessons have finished at 4.00pm on Friday to spend the weekend away from school with their family or guardian." Bryanston is briefer: "pupils leave the school apart from those international pupils who have pre-booked to stay".

The thing to establish is whether your school's exeats are fixed (closed, compulsory) or optional (open). Millfield calls a fixed exeat one "where the school closes for the weekend", and says it has only one of those a year, in the autumn term, with optional exeats agreed with houseparents. All Hallows, a Somerset prep, says its exeats "are optional and students who prefer to stay on campus can do so"; St Lawrence College in Ramsgate says its five are "completely optional". We found no sector-wide rule, so the school's own calendar is the authority.

How many exeats are there in a school year?

Six a year is the most common pattern: 38 of the 136 schools in our register that publish exeats list six for 2026–27. Packwood Haugh in Shropshire is the textbook case: its calendar has exeats on 25–27 September, 20–22 November, 22–24 January, 5–7 March, 1–3 May and 18–20 June. The range is wide: Caterham and Canford publish four each, St Lawrence College five, Millfield one fixed exeat. The counts are floors; see the methodology.

How long is an exeat?

Friday to Sunday, three calendar days, is the most common length in the register. The finish time is what matters, because "the weekend" can start at lunchtime. Packwood releases pupils at 3.30pm on Friday and takes them back from 5.30pm on Sunday. Canford runs 2pm Friday to 9.30pm Sunday, Bryanston 1.15pm to 9pm, and Caterham 4pm Friday to a house that reopens between 5.30pm and 8.30pm.

A bank holiday stretches one. The 30 April 2027 exeat runs to Monday 3 May, the early May bank holiday, at Caterham, Canford and Felsted alike, while Packwood and Bryanston shift the whole weekend to Saturday 1 May–Monday 3 May.

When are the 2026–27 exeats?

Four Fridays dominate the register.

Second spring and summer exeats vary far more: Packwood takes 5–7 March and 18–20 June, Caterham neither. Of the 974 schools with an identifiable autumn half term, 57% start it in the week of Monday 19 October 2026, and 511 of the 968 with a published Christmas break (53%) finish on Friday 11 December 2026, which leaves 20 November in the middle.

Exeat vs half term vs leave weekend

• Half term closes the whole school for a week or two — a median 10 weekdays in October across the independent calendars we read. Every pupil is off; see the 2026–27 school year in dates.
• Exeat is a weekend. Boarders leave, or may leave; day pupils may finish early on the Friday, and Monday is a normal school day unless the exeat runs into a bank holiday.
• Leave weekend, leave-out, long leave: other names for the same thing, sometimes inverted. St Edward's, Oxford calls the weekend off a "Leave Weekend" and uses "Exeats" for half-term weeks. Caterham's "Activities Weekend" is the opposite: "one in which all boarders stay at school".

Does my day pupil get an exeat?

Strictly, no: an exeat is a boarders' break, which is why Caterham labels each one "Boarders' Exeat Weekend". Where there are Saturday lessons, St Lawrence College says they are paused on exeat weekends, giving day pupils a full two-day weekend. And where the calendar gives one whole-school finish time — Canford's exeats start at the same 2pm it uses for the end of term — the Friday may be short for everyone.

What if we cannot collect?

Ask the houseparent early, not the office on the Thursday. Where exeats are optional, as at All Hallows and St Lawrence College, staying is allowed. Where they are fixed, the routes are a guardian — Caterham's wording is "family or guardian" — a friend's family, or pre-booking to stay, as Bryanston lets international pupils do.

Planning the Friday pick-up

• Calendar the time, not the date. "Exeat 20 Nov" is useless at 1pm on the day; "collect 3.30pm Fri, house reopens 5.30pm Sun" is a plan.
• Book travel the week before. Many schools move pupils on the same four Fridays, and Friday 30 April 2027 is a bank-holiday getaway too.
• Check the siblings. A day-school sibling's council calendar has nothing on 25 September or 20 November; one child home, one in school is normal.
• Split the two journeys. Friday collection and Sunday return are separate trips; decide who does which for the year, as in how two working parents share pickups. Do not arrive on the Sunday before the house opens.

Frequently asked

How many exeat weekends are there in a school year?

It varies by school, but six a year is the most common pattern: of the 136 independent schools in our register that publish exeats for 2026-27, 38 list six. Others publish fewer, with Caterham and Canford on four each, St Lawrence College five, and Millfield saying it has only one fixed exeat a year. Your school's own term-dates page is the only reliable count.

How long does an exeat last?

Usually Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, three calendar days, which is the most common length in our register. Friday finish times vary from 1.15pm at Bryanston to 4pm at Caterham, and an exeat that meets a bank holiday runs on: the 30 April 2027 exeat ends on Monday 3 May.

Is an exeat the same as a half term?

No. Half term closes the whole school for a week or two and every pupil is off. An exeat is a weekend break for boarders inside a half of term, and day pupils are back on Monday as normal unless it runs into a bank holiday. A few schools invert the words and use exeat for half-term weeks, so check the key on your school's calendar.

When are the 2026-27 exeat weekends?

Each school sets its own, but four Fridays dominate the 136 calendars we read that publish exeats: 25 September 2026 (75 schools), 20 November 2026 (80), 22 January 2027 (73) and 30 April 2027 (58), the last running into the early May bank holiday on Monday 3 May. Second exeats in March and June vary much more.

Do day pupils get exeat weekends?

Not as such: an exeat is a boarders' break. But St Lawrence College says Saturday lessons are paused on its exeat weekends, and where a school publishes a single whole-school Friday finish time day pupils leave early too. Check whether that Friday finish applies to day pupils and whether clubs and fixtures still run.

Never miss a Friday pick-up

Exeats are the boarding parent's version of the inset-day ambush: up to six Fridays a year, each with its own finish time, buried in a term-dates PDF you read once in August. Fred reads it for you. Forward the school calendar and every exeat lands on the family calendar, with the Friday collection reminder going to whichever parent is doing that run and a nudge the week before to book the train. Fred lives in WhatsApp, so there is no app to install, and the first month is free with no card needed.