What are the standard Student holidays in Australia?
Question by Si: What are the standard Student holidays in Australia?
Dates of periods i.e. Half terms, Summer holiday, Christmas, Easter etc
Best answer:
Answer by Elizabeth
The actual dates change from state to state but in general the school year goes from very late January to early December.
For example in Queensland the dates are as follows.
2010 school holidays for Queensland state schools
Term 1 break: Friday 2 April – Sunday 11 April
Term 2 break: Saturday 26 June – Sunday 11 July
Term 3 break: Saturday 18 September – Sunday 3 October
School finishes: Friday 10 December
Term dates Queensland 2010.
Term 1: Wednesday 27 January – Thursday 1 April – 10 weeks
Term 2: Monday 12 April – Friday 25 June – 11 weeks
Term 3: Monday 12 July – Friday 17 September – 10 weeks
Term 4: Monday 4 October – Friday 10 December – 10 weeks
Edit: As arokh72 said we have nation wide public holidays but Labour Day is not on the same day in every state. In Queensland it’s in May, in some states it’s in March and others in October.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
As has already been mentioned school holidays vary from state to state, however they do follow general patterns and at most there is usually only a 1 week difference between states anyway. For example NSW may start their holidays when Qld is on their last week. There is no distinction between primary (elementary) and high school (both junior and senior high school here) school holidays, they all go off at the same time. Furthermore some private schools start holidays a week ahead of public schools giving them and extra week overall. Also Universities and TAFE colleges (trade school up to pre university Diploma) may have longer holidays, I’ll explain this further below.
Each states have 4 Terms (except Tasmania which has 3), holidays are generally as follows:
Term 1 – Term 2 holidays March – April 2 weeks, they try to fit these holidays in with Easter where possible. If it’s not possible (such as Easter in early March or late April) they have 4 days off over Easter from Good Friday to Easter Monday, which follow the national public holidays.
Term 2 – Term 3 holidays Late June – Early July 2 weeks. (Semester 1 – 2 for Universities and TAFE colleges 3 – 4 weeks)
Term 3 – Term 4 holidays Late September – Early October 2 weeks.
Christmas Holidays Mid December – Late January 6 weeks. This is both our Christmas break and summer holidays. When school returns for Term 1 of the New Year you start your next grade.
Universities and TAFE colleges break the year into 2 semesters, with mid semester breaks. Their breaks usually follow the school breaks above, with the semester 1 – 2 transition being 3 – 4 weeks allowing for marking weeks (when teachers mark final exams and assignments, no classes are held). Also Universities and TAFE colleges break up for Christmas usually at the end of Nov – beginning of Dec, again allowing for marking weeks. Their New Year usually begins around Mid February – Early March.
On top of these there are national public holidays, most of which fit into current school holidays. These are:
New Years Day 1 Jan – During Christmas break
Australia Day 26 Jan – school usually returns for the New Year the few days following this.
Easter varies Good Friday – Easter Monday – where possible they try to fit this into school holidays, sometimes at the beginning or end.
ANZAC Day 25 April – this has been known to fall into the school holidays, but is rare. Some state governments are happy to have a long Term 1 and short Term 2.
Queen’s Birthday Monday of the second weekend in June – rarely occurs during school holidays.
Labour Day Monday of the first weekend in October – Usually during the school holidays.
Christmas Day 25 Dec – During Christmas break.
Boxing Day 26 Dec – During Christmas break.
These are the Australia wide holidays, some states may have the odd extra day e.g in Melbourne they have the first Tuesday of November off for the Melbourne Cup.