School holidays schedule 2022-2023 in the Netherlands

Schools in the Netherlands are planning holidays in accordance with the School Holiday Regulations 2022-2025. (Regeling vaststelling schoolvacancies 2022–2025). There are five holidays for schoolchildren during the school year. The Christmas and May holidays have fixed start and end dates across the country, but the schedule for the rest varies by region, as reported annually by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, OCW).

Mandatory holidays

Primary 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. To do 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

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 22 to 30 April 2023.

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. The shift in the dates of the beginning and end of vacations by region makes it possible to prevent overloading of public transport - with the beginning of the holidays, schoolchildren massively go on vacation and visit their relatives.

Holidays in 2022-2023

Principles of plotting

When developing the schedule of school holidays, the government tries to take into account the interests of different parties. First of all, these are 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 industry 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.