Here is the school calendar for 2025 – including a ‘special’ holiday week
The Department of Basic Education has published the 2025 school calendar, which kicks off on 15 January 2025 for all learners.
In 2024, the department made a significant change to school start dates, setting it so that schools in both coastal and inland regions would start at the same time. This will continue into 2025.
Teachers and administrators will begin the year a bit earlier, starting on 13 January in preparation for learners to return. The dates for the school terms are as follows.
- Term 1: 15 January to 28 March
- Term 2: 8 April to 27 June
- Term 3: 22 July to 3 October
- Term 4: 13 October to 10 December
The 2025 school year comprises 200 school days across the four terms, with 27 days set aside for school holidays and six public holidays.
Notably, the department has declared three additional ‘special’ school holidays, granting an extra week off. This is the week of 28 April (public holiday) to 2 May.
Commenting on why inland and coastal schools are now starting on the same day, the National Department of Basic Education noted that changes in public holidays and other calendar determinants mean that the department must adjust to ensure no delays in the term.
“All possible steps must be taken to avoid a late start of the school year – that is, in the fourth week of January – as this pushes back all the terms,” it said.
“Each year, the Department reviews the impact of the policy and considers the number of days that will be available in the coming years based on the national calendar.
“The focus is on ensuring that there is no loss in terms of the number of days allocated for schooling,” he added.
The full-year calendar can be found below.
Private schools
For private schools, the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa’s (ISASA) school calendar guidelines show that students will start term earlier in 2025, and private schools will also have slightly fewer school days than their public counterparts.
According to the ISASA school calendar guidelines, all independent schools will start on 15 January 2025 and conclude on 3 December.
This is two days earlier than in 2024, when schools started on 17 January.
Some private schools—such as those in Kwa-Zulu Natal—follow a four-term system similar to that of public schools.
These schools will have 184 school days in 2025, two fewer than the 186 pencilled in for 2024.
Interestingly, the majority of private schools that will follow the three-term system will have 181 school days, which is even fewer days than the four-term private schools.
It should be noted that there are no universal term dates or calendars that apply to all independent schools in South Africa.
Many independent schools follow the public school calendar, while others follow an association calendar. Some independent schools follow their own specific calendars.
The calendar committee of the ISASA Central Region (Gauteng, Free State, North West and Northern Cape) publishes a Central Region Calendar as a guideline for member schools in the region.
ISASA member schools in the Central Region are not required to follow this calendar, although most do.
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