When Do Schools Go Back in Australia?

The short answer for 2026

Government school students return for Term 1 in 2026 anywhere from 27 January to 5 February, depending on the state or territory. There is no single national "back to school" date — each state and territory sets its own, and the table below shows every 2026 return-to-school date across the whole year, not just Term 1.

Term 1 2026 return dates, every state and territory

Figures shown are the government school term dates published on this site’s 2026 state pages, sourced from each state’s official education department. Some states also list a separate student start date a day after the official term start — check the specific state page for that detail.

Every 2026 return-to-school date, all four terms

Term 1 gets most of the attention, but families also need to know when school goes back after the autumn, winter and spring breaks. Here’s the full year for every state and territory.

Why the dates are so different between states

Each state and territory education department sets its own calendar independently, so there’s no coordinated national start date. A few patterns are worth knowing: Victoria, Queensland and South Australia tend to start Term 1 earliest, in late January, while Tasmania, NSW and WA tend to start latest, in early February. The gap between the earliest and latest state can be more than a week in some years.

This also means the length of the summer holiday break varies by state — a state that finishes Term 4 later but starts Term 1 later too doesn’t necessarily get a longer break overall. See each state’s own page for the exact break length.

Related pages

How Australian school terms work · School holiday planning guide

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