Life In Australia

At the moment, my daughter is on holiday (vacation) from school for two weeks. She has the following school holidays during the year:

• 2 weeks in April (this year it coincided with Easter)
• 2 weeks in July
• 2 weeks in October
• 6 weeks from mid-December until the end of January (the summer holidays during which Christmas and New Year fall).

Unlike in the UK, there are no half-term holidays. The school year is divided into four terms, separated by two week holidays. This means that children are at school for 10 or 11 weeks continuously, without a break. This can be exhausting for the children (and the parents!).

The school year ends in mid-December and the children are on holiday until the end of January, when the new school year begins. This is the summer holiday as it is summer in Australia at the time of the year.

At least, this is the situation in New South Wales. I’d be interested to hear if it is different in other parts of Australia.