If you or any of your family members are attending one of the best international schools in the Netherlands, you may be interested in learning more about the school holidays in the country.
The Netherlands is divided into three regions for school holidays – North, Central, and South. This division is helpful in controlling peak holiday traffic. You can find an overview of these regions, along with their provinces and municipalities.
Some school holidays in the Netherlands, such as summer, Christmas, and May vacations, are fixed. The May holiday cannot be moved, but schools can extend it by one week. Therefore, it is essential to check the precise dates with your school.
Schools are allowed to deviate from the advised holiday period for spring break and the autumn holiday. For example, schools in the south of the Netherlands often shift their spring break forward to correspond with Carnival, instead of having it later like the rest of the country. Autumn vacation dates can also be flexible for school districts, but usually, these remain the same as the advised dates.
Please note that when a national holiday is not mentioned, it means that it’s already included in a school break period of time (e.g., 2nd day of Christmas, King’s Day).
Below are the school holidays in the Netherlands for 2020:
Autumn break:
– From 19-10-2019 to 27-10-2019 (Only North and Central)
– From 12-10-2019 to 20-10-2019 (Only South)
Christmas break:
– From 21-12-2019 to 05-01-2020 (All regions)
Spring break:
– From 15-02-2020 to 23-02-2020 (Only North)
– From 22-02-2020 to 01-03-2020 (Only Central and South)
Good Friday: 10-04-2020 (National holiday)
Easter Monday: 13-04-2020 (National holiday)
May break: From 25-04-2020 to 03-05-2020 (All regions)
Ascension Day: 21-05-2020 (National holiday)
Whit Monday: 01-06-2020 (National holiday)
Summer break:
– From 04-07-2020 to 16-08-2020 (Only North)
– From 18-07-2020 to 30-08-2020 (Only Central)
– From 11-07-2020 to 23-08-2020 (Only South)
Schools in Holland are broken out by province across three regions: North (‘Noord’), Central (‘Midden’) and South (‘Zuid’).