South Australia · government schools
No — government schools in South Australia are in Term 4.
Saturday 24 October 2026. Term 4 runs to Fri 11 Dec.
Friday
11December 2026
Last day of Term 4
in 48 days- Next school holidays
- 12 December – 26 January 2027 46 days off, weekends included
- Breaks still to start in 2026
- 1
- Term 1 2027 begins
- Wed 27 Jan Staff go back earlier, on days each school sets — see the rules
- Applies to
- Government schools Catholic and independent set their own
SA school holidays coming up
Measured the way a parent measures it: from the last day your child is at school to the first day they go back.
The rest of 2026
| Break | Last school day | First day back |
|---|---|---|
| Summer holidays 46 days off | Fri 11 Dec | Wed 27 Jan |
2027
| Break | Last school day | First day back |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn holidays 16 days off | Fri 9 Apr | Mon 26 Apr |
| Winter holidays 16 days off | Fri 2 Jul | Mon 19 Jul |
| Spring holidays 16 days off | Fri 24 Sep | Mon 11 Oct |
| Summer holidays Back-to-school date not published yet | Fri 10 Dec | Term 1 2028 not published |
Earlier in 2026 — 3 breaks already over
| Break | Last school day | First day back |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn holidays 16 days off | Fri 10 Apr | Mon 27 Apr |
| Winter holidays 16 days off | Fri 3 Jul | Mon 20 Jul |
| Spring holidays 16 days off | Fri 25 Sep | Mon 12 Oct |
The department's own dates, counted differently
The same breaks, counted the department's way. Where this is shorter than the table above, the difference is public holidays and staff days that sit inside the break.
| Period | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn | Sat 11 Apr | Sun 26 Apr |
| Winter | Sat 4 Jul | Sun 19 Jul |
| Spring | Sat 26 Sep | Sun 11 Oct |
| Summer | Sat 12 Dec | Wed 27 Jan |
Term dates
| Term | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | Tue 27 Jan to Fri 10 Apr | Wed 27 Jan to Fri 9 Apr |
| Term 2 | Mon 27 Apr to Fri 3 Jul | Mon 26 Apr to Fri 2 Jul |
| Term 3 | Mon 20 Jul to Fri 25 Sep | Mon 19 Jul to Fri 24 Sep |
| Term 4 | Mon 12 Oct to Fri 11 Dec | Mon 11 Oct to Fri 10 Dec |
Good to know: South Australia runs a long Term 1 that stretches past Easter, and usually publishes its holiday periods Saturday to Sunday, so they read longer than the school week suggests.
Whose school holidays are these?
The department's calendar is not everybody's calendar
These are the dates for South Australian state schools. Catholic and independent schools set their own calendars. Check your own school.
That is why a search for your state's school holidays turns up your state's education department, an independent schools association and somebody's individual school, all with slightly different dates. None of them is wrong. They are answering for different schools.
- Government schools — The dates in the tables on this page, set by the department.
- Catholic systemic schools — Catholic systemic schools are close to the government dates but not bound by them — dioceses set their own staff development days, and start and finish days can move by a day or two. Check your diocese or your school.
- Independent schools — Independent schools set their own calendar entirely. In practice most start a little earlier and finish a little earlier than the government dates, and their terms can be a few days shorter at each end. The only reliable source is your own school’s published calendar.
2026 at a glance
The school year on one screen: term breaks shaded, public holidays filled, today ringed. This is the view worth printing for the fridge.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Pupil-free days: when teachers go back
Most states and territories bring staff back before students, and the gap is why two calendars can give different answers for the same first day of school. South Australia calls them student-free days.
In South Australia most of these dates are set school by school
Each school sets its own. The Chief Executive has determined a maximum of three a year, approved by the principal and endorsed by the governing council — four in small schools of two or three teaching staff. The maximum drops to two if the school also closes for an event of local significance, and the procedure's own example is the Royal Adelaide Show: taking the show day costs the school a student-free day. Families must be given at least a month's notice.
Up to three a year, or two if the school takes a local-event closure day.
Source: Department for Education (SA), read .
The catches in SA's calendar
Things the dates alone do not tell you
- South Australia publishes its holiday periods Saturday to Sunday — the 2026–27 summer is the exception, ending on Wednesday 27 January — so the figures include the weekends at both ends.
- The department's published summer holidays end on 27 January — the same day Term 1 begins. Read literally that is a day too long; the last day off is the 26th and students return on the 27th. The published period is shown here as published, and the table above gives the day-by-day version.
Public holidays during the SA school year
Term time has public holidays in it too, and they are not the same days as the school breaks — see public holidays in SA, where every date is checked against the Public Holidays Act 2023 (SA) No 39 of 2023.
Frequently asked questions
When does school go back in SA?
When are the next school holidays in SA?
When do the 2027 school terms start and end in SA?
When are the pupil-free days in SA?
When are the Easter school holidays in SA?
Why is South Australia’s Term 1 so long?
It runs to 10 April in 2026 and 9 April in 2027 — eleven weeks, where Queensland and Victoria wrap Term 1 up in late March or the first days of April.
The effect is that Easter usually falls inside the South Australian school term rather than at the edge of the autumn break. Families planning an Easter trip here are often planning it around a school week, not a school holiday.
Which dates should I trust for SA school holidays?
The Department for Education’s. SafeWork SA also publishes school holiday dates alongside the public holidays, which is convenient but explicitly outside its remit — its own page says so.
We checked one against the other when building this page and every date matched, which is reassuring rather than surprising. Where two government sources disagree, the department that runs the schools is the one to follow.
Do Catholic and independent schools in SA follow these dates?
They set their own. South Australia has a large Catholic and independent sector and neither is bound by the state calendar.
If your children are split across sectors, check both calendars before booking. The gap is usually only a few days at the start and end of terms, which is exactly the size that ruins a booking rather than obviously breaking it.
Verified
Term dates from SA Department for Education, checked . Built for . These are government school dates — confirm with your own school before you book anything.