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School term countdown South Africa - days until the next break
Count down to the next South African public school term, holiday or the end of the school year, using the gazetted DBE calendar.
Last reviewed 13 October 2026 · next scheduled review 1 February 2027 · runs entirely in your browser
How to use it
- Read the next event - The tool shows the next term opening or closing date and the days remaining.
- Check the term dates - All four terms for the current and next year are listed with their gazette source.
- Confirm private schools separately - Independent schools set their own calendars and often differ.
Countdown
Choose a term above
- Calendar days
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- School weeks (approx.)
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- Weekdays in term
- -
School weeks are a rounding of weekdays and exclude public holidays falling inside the term. The official learner-day total is published in the school calendar gazette.
This tool counts down to the next public school term opening, the next school holiday, and the end of the current school year, using the dates in our gazetted school calendar dataset.
Where the term dates come from
Public school term dates are published by the Department of Basic Education in the Government Gazette, after consultation with provincial education departments. The gazette gives the opening and closing dates of each term and the total number of learner days for the year.
Independent schools set their own calendars, and a few provinces adjust dates for local reasons. Where a provincial department issues a different date for a specific term, the provincial circular governs schools in that province - so a parent in Gauteng and a parent in the Western Cape should confirm against their own province's notice.
Learner days are not calendar days
The number of days between the first and last day of a term includes weekends and public holidays. The learner-day figure in the gazette counts only the days learners are actually at school, which is why a term of eleven calendar weeks can be reported as 48 or 50 school days.
This countdown shows calendar days and an approximate number of school weeks. The official learner-day total is the number that matters for the 200-day minimum prescribed for the school year, and it is published in the calendar itself.
Using the countdown for planning
The practical uses are mundane and useful: booking family travel inside a break rather than inside a term, arranging childcare for the weeks between terms, and knowing how much time is left before examinations or a promotion cycle.
Exam weeks sit at the end of Terms 3 and 4 for most grades. If you are planning extra lessons or revision support, work backwards from the last teaching week rather than from the closing date, because the final days of the term are usually taken up with exams and administrative work.
How this fits into the rest of the site
A calculator answers "what number", but the decision behind it is usually about a date and an official process. If you are checking whether a deadline has passed, the Important Dates Centre carries the published dates with their sources. If you are checking a government status, no calculator can help you and no website outside government can either - the relevant official link is listed at the bottom of this page.
We do not claim to be a government service and this tool has no official standing. It is an independent estimate published for planning, with its sources named so you can check every figure against the body that actually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Are these dates the same in all nine provinces?Toggle answer
Yes. Public schools follow one national calendar and the inland and coastal split no longer applies. Independent schools differ and set their own terms.
What is a special school holiday?Toggle answer
It is an extra day off declared by the Department of Basic Education that closes public schools only. It is not a public holiday, so banks, government offices and most businesses remain open.
Where the numbers come from
- School calendar - term dates - Department of Basic Education
- Government gazettes: school calendars - gov.za
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