Academic Year setup including travel dates

Travel dates in I-GTM work on the principle of an academic year with holidays. A holiday has one or more outbound and inbound travel dates. An academic year has one or more start travel dates and end dates.

For example, a school might require all Upper VI and new pupils to arrive one day earlier than the rest of the school. Both of these dates are official school travel days and both are associated with the start of term.

The video below shows how to set up the academic year and add holidays and travel dates.

Academic Year & Holidays — Configuration Guide (for Admins)

A holiday in the system is a period of time when students are away from school. Every holiday must have:

  1. a Leave date (the day students go home), and
  2. a Return date (the day students come back to school).

A term end or term start is not a holiday. It is simply the boundary between a holiday and a term.

Core model

  • Academic Year: has a Start date (usually early September) and an End date (late June/July).
  • Holidays: each has Name, Leave date, Return date.
  • Final departure at the end of the year: students leave and do not return within this academic year. This is not a holiday entry; it is the Academic Year End.

Think in contiguous blocks: Term → Holiday → Term → Holiday → … → Academic Year End.

Golden rules

  1. Every holiday = two dates: a Leave and a Return.
  2. Term boundaries are not holidays: do not create entries like “Autumn Term ends” or “Lent term starts”. Instead, configure the holiday that spans between them (e.g., “Christmas holiday”).
  3. Names are descriptive, not events: use names like “Michaelmas Half‑term”, “Christmas holiday”, “Easter holiday”, “Summer Half‑term”. Avoid “Term ends/starts”.
  4. All configured holidays must both start and finish within the same academic year. The post‑Summer break is captured by the Academic Year End, not as a holiday return in the same year.

Visual timeline (example)

Academic Year Start (Sep 2) ── MICHAELMAS (Autumn) TERM ──▶
                               ▲                 ▲
                               │                 │
                     [Half‑term holiday]  [Christmas holiday]
                       Leave: Oct 18        Leave: Dec 13
                      Return: Oct 27       Return: Jan 6

…then…

LENT (Spring) TERM ───────────────────────────────▶
      ▲                                 ▲
      │                                 │
[Half‑term holiday]               [Easter holiday]
 Leave: Feb 14                     Leave: Mar 28
Return: Feb 23                    Return: Apr 14

…then…

SUMMER TERM ──────────────────────────────────────▶  Academic Year End (Jul 4)
      ▲                                           
      │                                           
[Half‑term holiday]                                
 Leave: May 23                                     
Return: Jun 1

Notice how Christmas holiday bridges Autumn Term end (leave) and Lent/Spring Term start (return). There is one holiday entry with two dates, not two separate “term start/term end” entries.

How to enter holidays (step‑by‑step)

  1. Identify the away periods in your school calendar (the blocks when students are not in school).
  2. For each away block, create one holiday with:
    • Name: e.g., Christmas holiday, Michaelmas Half‑term, Easter holiday, Summer Half‑term.
    • Leave date: the last school day (or the calendar date when students depart).
    • Return date: the calendar date students come back.
  3. Do not add entries for “Term starts/ends”. Those are implied by the holiday you enter.
  4. Final departure: when Summer Term ends and students go home, you do not create a “Summer holiday” return date inside the same year. This is covered by Academic Year End.

Examples of correct entries

  • Christmas holiday
    Leave: Fri 13 Dec 2025
    Return: Mon 5 Jan 2026
    (Bridges Autumn Term → Lent/Spring Term)
  • Easter holiday
    Leave: Fri 27 Mar 2026
    Return: Mon 13 Apr 2026
    (Bridges Lent/Spring Term → Summer Term)
  • Michaelmas Half‑term
    Leave: Fri 17 Oct 2025
    Return: Sun 26 Oct 2025
  • Summer Half‑term
    Leave: Fri 22 May 2026
    Return: Sun 31 May 2026

(Your school may use different names: Michaelmas/Autumn, Lent/Easter/Spring. Use whichever term naming your school prefers — the holiday logic is identical.)

Common mistakes (and how to fix them)

  • ❌ Creating two entries around Christmas such as:
    “Autumn Term ends” (with only a Leave date) and “Lent Term starts” (with only a Return date).
    ✅ Fix: Replace both with a single holiday: “Christmas holiday” with both a Leave and a Return date.
  • ❌ Entering the Academic Year End as a holiday with a Return date.
    ✅ Fix: Do not add a return for the summer break inside the same year. The Academic Year End captures the final departure.
  • ❌ Naming holidays as events (e.g., “Term ends”).
    ✅ Fix: Name the away period (e.g., “Easter holiday”).

Major and Minor holidays

Each holiday can be classed as Major or Minor. This classification is so that Airport Guardians or other services associated with the holiday type can be provisioned automatically.

It is standard that full and half term are Major holidays and weekend leave-outs are Minor.

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