School holidays 2024-2025
16.04.2024Primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands must adhere to the holiday schedule contained in the School Holiday Regulations 2022–2025. You can deviate from the schedule only in special situations, for this you must request permission from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
The country's education system provides for 3 periods of compulsory school holidays:
- 2 weeks for Christmas
- 6 weeks in summer
- 1 week in May
Note! Secondary vocational education institutions (middelbaar beroepsonderwijs, MBO), colleges and universities develop the holiday schedule themselves.
Autumn and spring holidays
The schedule of autumn and spring holidays from the government is advisory in nature. Schools may deviate from recommended dates without special permission from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Extra holidays
In addition to holidays, schools may plan additional days off. For example, you can extend the May holidays by one week. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science recommends dates for this: from 19 to 27 April 2025.
School guide (schoolgids)
Accurate information on the vacation schedule in a particular school is contained in the so-called school guide - each school offers such a guide for the convenience of parents. At the beginning of each school year, parents receive a new school guide. Additional information is often also available on the school website.
Regions
For scheduling vacations, the Netherlands is conventionally divided into three regions: Northern, Central and Southern. Shifting the start and end dates of holidays by region makes it possible to prevent overloading of public transport - with the start of the holidays, schoolchildren en masse go on vacation and visit their families.
Holidays in 2024-2025
Каникулы | Regions | ||
Northern | Central | South | |
Autumn | from October 26 to November 3, 2024 | from October 26 to November 3, 2024 | from October 19 to October 27, 2024 |
Christmas | from December 21, 2024 to January 5, 2025 | from December 21, 2024 to January 5, 2025 | from December 21, 2024 to January 5, 2025 |
Spring | February 15 to February 23, 2025 | February 22 - March 2, 2025 | February 22 - March 2, 2025 |
May | April 26 - May 4, 2025 | April 26 - May 4, 2025 | April 26 - May 4, 2025 |
Summer | from July 12 to August 24, 2025 | from July 19 to August 31, 2025 | from July 5 to August 17, 2025 |
Principles of plotting
When developing the school holiday schedule, the government tries to take into account the interests of different parties - primarily schools, parents and the tourism sector. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science always coordinates the dates of school holidays with the tourism sector, parent organizations and sectoral councils for primary and secondary education.
Balance
It is important for students to have a balanced distribution of holidays throughout the school year. This means that after 7-8 weeks of schooling, holidays usually come. For example, if the summer holidays in the region end late (late August or early September), then the autumn holidays start later.