South Australia · government schools
No — South Australia government schools are in Term 3.
Tuesday 8 September 2026. Term 3 runs to Fri 25 Sep.
South Australia runs a long Term 1 that stretches past Easter, and publishes its holiday periods Saturday to Sunday so they read longer than the school week suggests.
Saturday
26September 2026
Spring holidays begin
in 18 days- Last day of this term
- Fri 25 Sep
- Length of the next break
- 16 daysLast day of school to first day back
- Breaks left in 2026
- 2
- Applies to
- Government schoolsCatholic and independent set their own
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
SA school holidays in 2026
Measured the way a parent measures it: from the last day your child is at school to the first day they go back. The department publishes its own, narrower figure too, and both are shown.
| Break | Last day | Back at school | Days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn holidays | Fri 10 Apr | Mon 27 Apr | 16 |
| Winter holidays | Fri 3 Jul | Mon 20 Jul | 16 |
| Spring holidays | Fri 25 Sep | Mon 12 Oct | 16 |
| Summer holidays | Fri 11 Dec | Wed 27 Jan | 46 |
What the department itself publishes
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 – Fri 10 Apr | Wed 27 Jan – Fri 9 Apr |
| Term 2 | Mon 27 Apr – Fri 3 Jul | Mon 26 Apr – Fri 2 Jul |
| Term 3 | Mon 20 Jul – Fri 25 Sep | Mon 19 Jul – Fri 24 Sep |
| Term 4 | Mon 12 Oct – Fri 11 Dec | Mon 11 Oct – Fri 10 Dec |
The catches in SA's calendar
Things the dates alone do not tell you
- South Australia publishes its holiday periods Saturday to Sunday, 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 Public Holidays Act 2023 (SA) No 39 of 2023.
Frequently asked questions
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.