Term Dates
Term Dates
Term Dates 2023/24
Many of our regular services take place during term time only, and will indicate where this is the case. As our services are open to the general public – who won't necessarily know when term time is – this schedule has been provided as a reference.
Michaelmas/Autumn Term 2023
Monday 25th September 2023 - Friday 15th December 2024
The first Sunday service of term will be on Sunday 24th September.
Lent/Spring Term 2024
Monday 8th January 2024 - Friday 29th March 2024
Trinity/Summer Term 2024
Monday 29th April 2024 - Friday 14th June 2024
Please note
Friday 29th March is Good Friday and a Bank Holiday. There are also Bank Holidays on Monday 6th May and Monday 27th May 2024; there is no teaching on Bank Holidays.
These dates are for standard University terms, but the dates of required attendance for programmes of study may vary.
Michaelmas and the Feast of St Michael and All Angels
The Autumn academic term is sometimes referred to in Christian circles, and still to this day in some universities by way of tradition, as the 'Michaelmas term'.
The origins of this name bring together ancient ecclesiastical and agricultural traditions, because it falls near the autumn equinox of the Northern Hemisphere, when the hours of daylight here are noticably shortening. As the daily hours of darkness grow longer, in the Christian story we are reminded of the triumph of good over evil, through the most dramatic of scenes when Michael the Archangel triumphs over Lucifer.
The Feast of St Michael and All Angels on September 29th commemorates the biblical account found in Revelation 12,
'And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.'
Some thoughts about Michaelmas for Wednesday 29th September 2021 by the Lazenby Chaplain, the Rev'd Hannah Alderson: