Victoria School Holidays 2026: Complete Term Dates Calendar

Victoria school holidays 2026, taken directly from the Department of Education’s own published calendar rather than copied from another site: Term 1 begins Tuesday 27 January (a student-free day for staff planning — students start Wednesday 28 January) and ends Thursday 2 April. Term 2 is Monday 20 April to Friday 26 June. Term 3 is Monday 13 July to Friday 18 September. Term 4 is Monday 5 October to Friday 18 December.

One correction worth stating plainly, because it’s a common mistake: Term 1 does not start on Australia Day (26 January). Australia Day is a public holiday that happens to fall the day before Term 1’s staff-only start in 2026. The first day students are actually in a Victorian government school classroom is Wednesday 28 January.

Victoria school terms 2026 — the full table

These are the Minister-approved dates for Victorian government schools and kindergartens, set under Regulation 13 of the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017. Term dates are approved five years at a time — the current 2026–2030 block was approved on 28 June 2021, so these dates have been locked in for years, not recently guessed at.

“Span” is the calendar-day count from start to finish, including the weekends that fall inside each term — it isn’t a count of actual school-attendance days. The Department has also already published full 2027 dates: Term 1 runs Wednesday 27 January (staff only, students start Thursday 28 January) to Thursday 25 March; Term 2, Monday 12 April to Friday 25 June; Term 3, Monday 12 July to Friday 17 September; Term 4, Monday 4 October to Friday 17 December.

Curriculum days: why Victoria doesn't publish them centrally

If you’ve read a school holidays guide for another state, you may be expecting a table of centrally scheduled staff-only days. Victoria doesn’t work that way for most of them. Since 2023, school councils — not the Department — decide up to five student-free days a year, and the specific dates are set school by school, not published on a single state-wide calendar.

• The first day of Term 1 is centrally mandated as a student-free day at every government school, so staff can prepare for students arriving the next day — this is the one curriculum day fixed by the state itself.
• One further day is required for assessment and reporting.
• Two additional days are entirely up to the school council, based on local needs.
• A possible fifth day is available if the principal wants a common professional practice day for teaching staff.

The practical effect: your child’s specific curriculum days for 2026 are not something this article — or any state-wide source — can tell you accurately, because they genuinely differ from school to school. Your school’s own newsletter, compass account or website is the only reliable source for those dates.

The four holiday breaks

Unlike states that publish four separately labelled “school holidays” periods, Victoria’s own site currently highlights just one explicit range — the Term 3–4 break — while the calendar table itself only gives term start and finish dates. For the other three breaks, we’ve calculated the gap directly from those official start and finish dates, which is the most accurate approach where the Department hasn’t published a separate label.

Autumn break (April)

Term 1 finishes Thursday 2 April 2026, and Term 2 begins Monday 20 April — a 17-day gap, from Friday 3 April to Sunday 19 April. This break contains the Easter long weekend: Good Friday falls on 3 April, the same day Term 1 ends, and Easter Monday on 6 April.

Winter break (June–July)

Term 2 finishes Friday 26 June, and Term 3 begins Monday 13 July — a 16-day gap, from Saturday 27 June to Sunday 12 July. No public holidays fall inside this particular break in 2026.

Spring break (September–October)

This is the one break Victoria’s own site labels explicitly: “School holidays: Monday 21 September to Friday 2 October 2026.” The full calendar gap between Term 3’s finish (Friday 18 September) and Term 4’s start (Monday 5 October) is actually 16 days, Saturday 19 September to Sunday 4 October — a few days wider than the Department’s own highlighted range on either end. We’ve included both figures below so you can see exactly where they differ; we don’t have an official explanation for the gap, so we’re not going to invent one.

The Friday before the AFL Grand Final (25 September 2026) is a statewide public holiday and falls inside this break either way, so it doesn’t cost anyone an extra day off school.

Summer break (December–January)

Term 4 finishes Friday 18 December 2026. Using the confirmed 2027 dates, Term 1 2027 begins Wednesday 27 January (staff only; students start Thursday 28 January) — so the full break runs Saturday 19 December 2026 to Tuesday 26 January 2027, 39 days, covering Christmas, New Year and Australia Day.

Catholic, independent and other non-government schools

Everything above is the Victorian government (public) school calendar. Catholic and independent schools are not bound by it — each system or individual school sets its own dates, and while most track fairly close to the government calendar, differences of a week or more at Term 1’s start or Term 4’s finish are common. If your child is at a Catholic or independent school, use this page as a reference point only. We cover typical Catholic-system variations in our Catholic school holidays 2026 guide.

How Victoria compares with other states

Every state and territory sets its own school calendar independently, so Victoria’s dates won’t line up exactly with anywhere else — typically by one to two weeks at each term boundary. The four-term structure with a long December–January break is common to all of them, but the specific start and finish dates aren’t. If you’re coordinating travel with family interstate, check that state’s own page rather than assuming: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the ACT.

Public holidays around Victoria's school terms in 2026

Worth noting: Victoria actually loses three instructional days to public holidays falling on a weekday during term in 2026 — Labour Day, King’s Birthday and Melbourne Cup Day — more than most other states get this particular year, simply because of where the calendar falls.

Taking your child out of school during term time

Victoria handles this differently to a state with a dedicated travel-leave form. There’s no separate “holiday leave” application — instead, an absence for a family trip during term time is managed through the school’s general attendance process. In practice: you notify the school and provide an explanation, and the principal assesses whether it’s reasonable. Extended or recurring absences can be formalised through the Department’s exemption framework, but the categories set out centrally are mostly built around employment or full-time approved training, not family travel specifically.

The practical approach: talk to your child’s school directly and as early as possible once you know your travel dates, rather than assuming a standard national process applies — Victoria’s system leans more on individual school and principal discretion than some other states.

Getting these dates into your calendar

The Victorian Government publishes ready-made iCal calendar downloads that sync directly into Outlook, Google Calendar and Apple Calendar, sourced from the same data the Department itself maintains. That’s a more reliable way to track any future date changes than re-typing dates from any single article, including this one.

Planning around the breaks

• Vacation care places fill early for every break, especially the Summer holidays — ask your regular before/after-school-care provider what they run over each break as soon as dates firm up.
• The Child Care Subsidy applies to vacation care for eligible families the same way it applies to regular care — check your own rate through Services Australia rather than relying on a flat figure quoted elsewhere.
• The Autumn break overlaps Easter, one of the busiest domestic travel weekends nationally regardless of school calendars — book well ahead if you’re travelling then.
• Summer is the break to book earliest for, since every Victorian family is trying to travel in the same six-week window.

If you’re new to Australia and still working out how school enrolment, OSHC and the term system fit together day to day, our homepage indexes the rest of our settling-in guides.

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