{"id":846487,"date":"2026-01-02T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=846487"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:33:53","slug":"here-is-the-school-calendar-for-2026-including-one-special-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/846487\/here-is-the-school-calendar-for-2026-including-one-special-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Here is the school calendar for 2026 \u2013 including one &#8216;special&#8217; holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Department of Basic Education has published the 2026 school calendar, which kicks off on 14 January 2026 for all learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Teachers and administrators will begin the year a bit earlier, starting on 12 January in preparation for learners to return. The dates for the school terms are as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Term 1:<\/strong>&nbsp;14 January to 27 March<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Term 2:<\/strong>&nbsp;8 April to 26 June<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Term 3:<\/strong>&nbsp;21 July to 23 September<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Term 4:<\/strong>&nbsp;6 October to 9 December<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2026 school year comprises 200 school days across the four terms, with 28 days set aside for school holidays and five public holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably,&nbsp;<strong>the department has declared one additional \u2018special\u2019 school holiday, granting an extra day off.<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>This is on 15 June 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders can grant special school holidays whenever they deem appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These stakeholders include representatives from the Department of Transport, religious groups, NGOs, the private sector, and the department itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When compiling the 2026 calendar, the Department of Basic Education and relevant stakeholders agreed to allow students and teachers a special school holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is because Youth Day is observed on Tuesday, 16 June, meaning the special holiday gives schools the Monday before then off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll possible steps must be taken to avoid a late start of the school year \u2013 that is, in the fourth week of January \u2013 as this pushes back all the terms,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEach 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe focus is on ensuring that there is no loss in terms of the number of days allocated for schooling,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The full-year calendar can be found below.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-10.49.09.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"816\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-10.49.09-816x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-846494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-10.49.09-816x1024.png 816w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-10.49.09-239x300.png 239w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-10.49.09-768x964.png 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-10.49.09.png 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Private schools<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For private schools, the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa\u2019s (ISASA) school calendar guidelines show that students will start term on the same day in 2026. However, private schools will also have slightly fewer school days than their public counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the ISASA school calendar guidelines, all independent schools will start on 14 January 2026 and conclude on 4 December. This is one day earlier than in 2025, when schools started on 15 January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some private schools\u2014such as those in Kwa-Zulu Natal\u2014follow a four-term system similar to that of public schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These schools will have 183 school days in 2026, one fewer than the 184 pencilled in for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, the majority of private schools that will follow the three-term system will have 180 school days, which is even fewer days than the four-term private schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It should be noted that&nbsp;<strong>there are no universal term dates or calendars that apply to all independent schools in South Africa<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many independent schools follow the public school calendar, while others follow an association calendar. Some independent schools follow their own specific calendars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ISASA member schools in the Central Region are not required to follow this calendar, although most do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.35.31.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"927\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.35.31-1024x927.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-846498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.35.31-1024x927.png 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.35.31-300x272.png 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.35.31-768x695.png 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-15-at-11.35.31.png 1520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The start of the 2026 year of schooling is just around the corner, and these are the important dates, including a &#8216;special&#8217; holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":743597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[853,21909,24406],"class_list":["post-846487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-south-africa","tag-the-department-of-basic-education","tag-the-independent-schools-association-of-southern-africas-isasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846487"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846924,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846487\/revisions\/846924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}