Christmas closures at your crèche: getting your ECCE calendar, parent notice and staff holidays right for 2026

Christmas closures at your crèche: getting your ECCE calendar, parent notice and staff holidays right for 2026

Short answer Schools finish on Tuesday 22 December 2026 and reopen on Wednesday 6 January 2027. If you're changing your ECCE calendar for Christmas, you need your County Childcare Committee (CCC) to approve it first, then give parents 20 working days' written notice. For a change starting 22 December, that notice has to be in parents' hands by Tuesday 24 November 2026 at the latest, so aim to have CCC approval well before then. Christmas Day (Fri 25 Dec), St Stephen's Day (Sat 26 Dec) and New Year's Day (Fri 1 Jan 2027) are public holidays.

The key dates

• School Christmas break: all primary and post-primary schools close on Tuesday 22 December 2026, the last day of term, and reopen on Wednesday 6 January 2027 (Citizens Information: school terms; Department circular 0018/2026).
• Public holidays: Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2026; St Stephen's Day, Saturday 26 December 2026; New Year's Day, Friday 1 January 2027 (Citizens Information: public holidays). Christmas Eve isn't a public holiday (WRC).
• ECCE Term 1 runs from 24 August 2026 to 1 January 2027, and Term 2 starts on 4 January 2027 (Hive: ECCE service calendar).

Changing your ECCE calendar for Christmas

If your Christmas closure is already on the calendar you submitted to the Hive, you don't need to do anything new. If you want to change it, the ECCE Programme Rules 2026/27 (rule 4.4) set out the order:

1. Get CCC approval first. Any change to your service calendar has to be approved in advance by your CCC before you tell parents.
2. Give parents 20 working days' written notice once the CCC has approved it, and keep copies of those notices on file. Email is fine if that suits the parent, but keep the emails for inspection.
3. Make the revised calendar available to parents. Rule 4.4 says an amended copy must be accessible to parents, and the Hive how-to guide adds that it must be displayed in the service and on any website or online page you use to advertise it.
4. Submit the change on the Hive. Past dates are locked, so you can't change a day once it's gone. If you really need to fix a past date, you have to raise a case on the Hive and explain why.

The ECCE Compliance Guide for Approved Providers 2026-2027 repeats the 20 working days' notice. It also says compliance inspections are only carried out on days your calendar shows you as open, so keep the calendar accurate.

Working out your notice deadline

Working days here means Monday to Friday. There are no public holidays between late November and 22 December, so the count is simple. Counting back 20 weekdays from Tuesday 22 December:

• December: 21, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 4, 3, 2, 1 (15 working days)
• November: 30, 27, 26, 25, 24 (5 more, 20 in total)

So written notice needs to reach parents by Tuesday 24 November 2026. To be safe, plan on Monday 23 November, and remember the CCC has to approve the change before that, so contact them early in November. If your change starts on a different date, count back 20 weekdays from that date instead.

Payable and non-payable weeks

On the Hive, a week with fewer than 3 open days is non-payable. Bank holidays get credited in the count: a bank holiday plus 2 open days is a payable week, but a bank holiday plus only 1 open day isn't (Hive ECCE service calendar how-to guide).

Term 1 (24 August 2026 to 1 January 2027) needs 15 to 19 payable weeks, and a 38-week service needs 38 payable weeks and at least 182 open days across the year (Hive guide).

For Christmas 2026 that means:

• Week of 21 December: Monday 21 to Thursday 24 are ordinary days and Friday 25 is a bank holiday. If you close from Wednesday 23, you'd have 2 open days plus a bank holiday, which counts as payable. Close from Tuesday and you're down to 1 open day plus a bank holiday, which is non-payable.
• Week of 28 December: Friday 1 January is a bank holiday. Close the whole week and it's non-payable.

The Hive shows a running total of open days and payable weeks at the bottom of the calendar, so check that after any change.

Staff: St Stephen's Day on a Saturday

St Stephen's Day 2026 falls on a Saturday. Under the WRC's guidance and Citizens Information:

• Staff who qualify still get the benefit of the public holiday even though it isn't a working day for the crèche.
• There's no automatic right to Monday 28 December off.
• The employer chooses one of: a paid day off within a month, an extra day of annual leave, or an extra day's pay.
• Someone who isn't normally rostered on the day gets one-fifth of their normal weekly pay as the extra.
• Full-time staff qualify straight away. Part-time staff qualify if they've worked at least 40 hours in total in the 5 weeks before the holiday.
• Staff can ask, at least 21 days before the holiday, which option will apply. If the employer doesn't answer at least 14 days before, the law decides for them. For a holiday on a day the person wouldn't work anyway, like this Saturday, that means an extra day's pay (Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, section 21). For 26 December, the request deadline is Saturday 5 December and the reply deadline is Saturday 12 December.

For Christmas Day and New Year's Day, both Fridays, qualifying staff who'd normally work that day get their normal day's pay if you're closed (WRC).

Checklist

• [ ] Decide your closure dates.
• [ ] Check payable weeks on the Hive, especially the weeks of 21 and 28 December, and Term 1's 15 week minimum.
• [ ] If it's a change from your submitted calendar, get CCC approval in early November.
• [ ] Write to parents by Tuesday 24 November at the latest, keep copies, and display the new calendar.
• [ ] Submit the revised calendar on the Hive.
• [ ] Plan the rota and staff leave, and decide how you'll give the St Stephen's Day benefit.

If you use TinyOrbit, you can track staff leave requests and set closure days like Christmas.

FAQs

Do I need CCC approval if my Christmas closure is already on my submitted calendar? No. Approval and the 20 working days' notice apply to changes to the calendar (ECCE Programme Rules, rule 4.4).

Can I fix the calendar on the Hive after Christmas? Not easily. Past dates are locked, and you'd need to raise a case on the Hive explaining why.

Does closing on 24 December make the week non-payable? Not on its own. Open Monday to Wednesday that week and you have 3 open days plus the bank holiday, which is payable.

Do staff get Monday 28 December off for St Stephen's Day? Not automatically. As the employer, you choose one of: a paid day off within a month, an extra day's annual leave or an extra day's pay.

Is Christmas Eve a public holiday? No, it's a normal working day (WRC).