Jul 19 2009
School Holidays 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.
Hi Marilynne - Yes, it can be tiring but my daughter always wants to do lots of exercise outside school, so that’s a good thing!
Hi Emm - Interesting to hear that the school hols are similar in South Africa - I guess it’s comparable in all southern hemisphere countries.
Hi Dawn - Gosh, 7 or 8 weeks is a long time to keep the kids amused!! I agree that it’s great that they can amuse themselves a lot outdoors in the summer - they can’t always do that in the UK in the summer!!
Hi Sher - Wow! A four-day school week sounds good - for parents as well as children!! Although, my daughter would probably get bored on three-day weekends, so it’s probably just as well we have a five-day week!!