West Sussex half term runs 26 to 30 October 2026. Roman Army Week at Fishbourne, free lantern workshops and a parade from the city council, and nine more.

October half term for West Sussex schools is Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026. Here is what Chichester’s museums, galleries and venues have actually listed for that week, each taken from the organiser’s own page on 25 September. Several need booking.

The quick answer

  • Dates: Monday 26 to Friday 30 October for West Sussex schools. The Prebendal School breaks earlier, from Friday 16 October to Monday 2 November.
  • Biggest programmes: Roman Army Week at Fishbourne Roman Palace (26 to 30 October) and Plagues and Potions at the Weald and Downland Living Museum (24 October to 1 November).
  • Cheapest: Chichester City Council’s lantern workshops on Thursday 29 October and its parade and Spooky Disco on Saturday 31 October are free. The Novium Museum is free to enter, and its puppet show on Wednesday 28 October is £6 a child.

Updated 3 October: Chichester City Council has announced a free half term programme for its 800th anniversary, and the Cathedral’s Light Experience runs through the week. Both added below.

Updated 4 October: no trains run west of Chichester for the whole half term week, 26 to 30 October, while Network Rail replaces the Havant signalling. Fishbourne station, the nearest to Fishbourne Roman Palace, has no trains that week; buses replace them. Details in our story on the closure.

Some academies set their own dates: see our Chichester school term dates page before you book.

Eleven things on in half term week

1. Roman Army Week, Fishbourne Roman Palace

Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, 10am to 4pm, all ages. Children sign up as trainee Roman soldiers: drill in the palace gardens, sword and shield practice, spear throwing, writing their names in Roman letters, dressing up, Roman food and board games. There is also a Pumpkin Trail through the gardens. It is included in general admission, with activities an extra £1 per participant paid on arrival. Source: Sussex Past.

2. Plagues and Potions, Weald and Downland Living Museum

Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 4pm. A trail through the historic buildings, set in 1665, runs every day of half term, and Hambrook Barn becomes “Haunted Hambrook” with games such as an eyeball and spoon race and broomstick racing. Extra sessions from the museum’s event page:

  • Spooky crafts and Make a Medieval Plague Potion: 27 to 29 October, 10am to 3.30pm
  • Ghost stories with The Bard Dawn: 27 and 29 October at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm
  • Spooky Victorian School: 28 October, 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm

3. Halloween: All Hallow’s Eve, Weald and Downland

Saturday 31 October, 10am to 4pm. Costumes encouraged; mystics in the woodland making spell jars, a 16th-century “wise woman” in her cottage, and the Plagues and Potions trail. Book through the Halloween page.

4. The Tale of the Nightingale, The Novium Museum

Wednesday 28 October, sessions at 10.15am and 11.30am, 45 minutes. A puppet story about Florence Nightingale by Red Sauce Theatre for children aged 5 to 9. £6 a child, £2 an adult; all children must come with an adult. From the Novium’s what’s on listings.

5. ChichestHER, The Novium Museum

The museum’s new exhibition on women from the Chichester district opens on Saturday 17 October and runs to April 2027, with a free family day on the opening Saturday. The museum is free to enter, open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4.30pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm, and closed on Sundays and Mondays, which rules out the Monday of half term.

Thursday 29 October: 11am for ages 4 to 7, and 2pm for ages 4 to 11. Storytelling and a draw-along with illustrator Bryony Thomson. £5 a child; parents and siblings under four go free. Under-18s get into the gallery free anyway. Source: the event page.

7. Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

Open every day from 10am to 5pm through October, with last entry an hour before closing, and daily until 29 November. Adults £15, children aged 5 to 16 £7, under-5s free, family ticket (two adults, two children) £37. Source: the museum’s tickets and visiting page.

8. Children’s Halloween Party, The Fishbourne Centre

Saturday 31 October, 3.30pm to 5.30pm, £2.50 to £7.50. Listed on the Fishbourne Centre’s own events page.

9. Free and cheap in the city centre

From the Chichester BID events calendar:

  • Board games for families, Chichester Library: Saturday 24 October, 9am to 4pm, drop in.
  • Rhyme Time, Chichester Library: Tuesday 27 October and Friday 30 October; the listing gives 2.15pm to 2.45pm on Tuesdays and 9.30am to 10am on Fridays. Numbers are limited.
  • Craft Club, Jam Cafe: Saturdays 24 and 31 October, 10.30am to noon and 1pm to 3pm, from £5.

10. Lantern workshops, parade and Spooky Disco, Chichester City Council

Free, for the city council’s 800th anniversary, from its half term announcement:

  • Lantern Making Workshops: Thursday 29 October, sessions at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2pm, in the Assembly Room at the Council House, North Street. Free, booking recommended; a few walk-in places if a session is full.
  • Lantern Parade: Saturday 31 October. Gather outside the Council House from 3.50pm; the parade leaves at 4pm for the Market Cross, where the Mayor reads a proclamation, and ends at the Guildhall in Priory Park about 4.30pm. Lanterns are provided on the day, and there is free face painting under the Council House portico from 2pm to 4pm.
  • Spooky Disco: Saturday 31 October, 4.30pm to 6.30pm, the Guildhall, Priory Park. Free, booking essential.

Workshops and the disco are booked through the council’s Ticket Tailor page, linked from the announcement.

11. Chichester Light Experience, Chichester Cathedral

Friday 23 to Saturday 31 October, timed evening entry. Luxmuralis’s Illuminating Art projections and sound fill the Cathedral. Adult £13, child £8, students £11, family (two adults, two children) £36, from the Cathedral’s event page.

Halloween itself

Halloween is Saturday 31 October, the day after half term ends. Pumpkin picking at Dell Quay and Northlands Farm, the lantern parade and the Spooky Disco are all on our Halloween in Chichester page.

Straight after half term

Fontwell Park’s ticketed fireworks night is on Saturday 31 October, West Dean’s bonfire is on Friday 6 November and Petworth’s free display at Hampers Green on Saturday 7 November; details on our Bonfire Night page.

Still to be confirmed

We could not read the National Trust’s Petworth House half term page on 25 September; its site blocked our request. Chichester Festival Theatre had no half term family show listed for 26 to 30 October. We will re-check both, and Chichester Cathedral, in mid October.