The NSW school holidays in September 2026 run from Monday 28 September to Friday 9 October. Term 3 ends on Friday 25 September, Monday 12 October is a school development day, and students return for Term 4 on Tuesday 13 October. That is two clear weeks, and it is the last full break before HSC exams begin and before the final term of the year for everyone else.
This guide gives you the dates, then what each year group should actually do with the fortnight. We have written it for NSW public schools; most independent and Catholic schools follow the same window, but check your school’s calendar.
When are the NSW school holidays in September 2026?
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Term 3 last day for students | Friday 25 September 2026 |
| School holidays | Monday 28 September to Friday 9 October 2026 |
| School development day (no students) | Monday 12 October 2026 |
| Term 4 first day for students | Tuesday 13 October 2026 |
| HSC written exams begin | Tuesday 13 October 2026 |
| HSC written exams end | Thursday 5 November 2026 |
Those term dates apply to both the Eastern and Western divisions, per the NSW Department of Education 2026 school calendar. A small number of schools near the Victorian and Queensland borders operate on different dates.
Why does this particular break matter more than the others?
Because of the collision at the end of it. Term 4 starts on Tuesday 13 October, and the HSC written examinations start on exactly the same day. For Year 12 this is not really a holiday, it is the last uninterrupted study block they will get. For every other year group it is the last reset before assessments, reports and, for Years 10 and 11, the start of the next stage of their course.
How much should a student study over these two weeks?
Less than parents fear and more than students want. The pattern we see work is a short daily block rather than occasional long ones, because retention comes from spacing rather than from hours. As a starting point:
- Years 3 to 6: 20 to 30 minutes on most days, mostly reading and number fluency.
- Years 7 to 9: 45 minutes on most days, focused on the one subject that slipped in Term 3.
- Year 10: an hour on most days, weighted toward whatever feeds their Year 11 subject choices.
- Year 11: an hour to 90 minutes, focused on the Year 12 course content that has already started.
- Year 12: three to five hours on most days, and at least three full days off across the fortnight.
The days off are not a kindness, they are part of the plan. Students who work every day of both weeks arrive at 13 October already depleted.
What should Year 12 do in the two weeks before HSC exams?
Past papers under timed conditions, in the order of your personal exam timetable. Not notes. Not rewriting summaries. At this point the marginal value of new content is close to zero and the marginal value of exam technique is high.
A structure that works: mornings for the subject you sit soonest, afternoons for the subject you are weakest in, and one full paper under proper timing every second day. Our guide on how to actually use HSC past papers in the final weeks sets out the marking and review loop, which is the part most students skip.
Check your personalised timetable before you plan the fortnight, because the gaps between your exams matter more than the overall window. Our HSC exam timetable guide for 2026 explains how to read it, and the HSC exam day checklist covers what to sort out before the first morning rather than the night before.
What should Year 11 do?
Year 11 students are already several weeks into their Year 12 courses, which is the thing families most often miss. The HSC course started when the Preliminary course finished, and content from these two weeks will be examined in October next year.
The highest-value work is consolidating the first Year 12 topic in each subject while it is still small enough to fix. This is also the last comfortable moment to change a subject, and if scaling is part of that conversation, our guide to the highest scaling HSC subjects and our subject selection guide give the honest version rather than the folklore.
What should Year 10 do?
Year 10 has usually just locked in Year 11 subjects, so the useful work is preparation rather than revision. If a student has chosen Mathematics Advanced, Chemistry or Physics without the Year 10 foundation those courses assume, the September break is the cheapest time to close that gap. Doing it in February costs far more.
What about primary school students?
Keep it light and keep it daily. Twenty minutes of reading and a short number-fluency exercise will hold ground through the break, and that is the goal. Two weeks off entirely is enough for some children to lose fluency they spent Term 3 building, particularly in Years 3 and 4. Our K to 6 tutoring and primary school tutoring pages explain how we structure short holiday blocks for younger students.
Is holiday tutoring actually worth it?
It depends entirely on whether it is targeted. Generic “keep up over the holidays” sessions are usually a waste of a break. What works is picking one specific thing, naming it, and spending the fortnight on it: the topic that produced a bad Term 3 mark, the exam technique that keeps costing marks, the Year 11 course that has started badly.
We wrote about the same principle for the mid-year break in our July school holiday tutoring guide, and it holds here. One clearly defined goal beats a general tune-up.
An illustrative fortnight
Here is how a Year 11 student who struggled with Mathematics Advanced functions in Term 3 might use the two weeks. Week one: three 60 minute sessions on functions specifically, plus 30 minutes of mixed revision on the other days, and the weekend off. Week two: two sessions applying functions to the current Year 12 topic, one timed mini-assessment, and three days completely clear before Term 4.
That is roughly eight hours of focused work across a fortnight. It is enough to fix one problem properly, which is more than most students achieve with three times the hours spread across everything.
How do you stop the two weeks disappearing?
- Write the plan on the first Saturday, not the second Monday. Breaks that are not planned by day two are gone.
- Pick one goal per student and say it out loud. “Fix trigonometry” beats “do some maths”.
- Book the days off first, then fit the work around them.
- Put the work in the morning. Afternoon plans lose to everything else.
- Do not schedule anything for Monday 12 October. That day is for packing bags and, for Year 12, for resting before the first exam.
What comes straight after the holidays?
Term 4 begins on Tuesday 13 October and runs to Thursday 17 December 2026 for students. It is the shortest and most compressed term of the year, carrying HSC exams, Year 11 grades, end-of-year assessments and reports. Our guide to Term 4 2026 in NSW sets out the key dates and what each year group should focus on.
Can NextStepAcademy help over the September break?
Yes, online across NSW and in person around Sydney, in blocks built around one goal rather than open-ended weekly sessions. We work with primary students through to Year 12, including HSC tutoring in Sydney and high school tutoring in Sydney, and we can run entirely by online tutoring if that suits the fortnight better.
Our First Lesson Guarantee means that if you do not love the first lesson, you do not pay for it. Book a lesson today.
Frequently asked questions
When do the NSW school holidays start in September 2026?
Term 3 finishes for students on Friday 25 September 2026, so the holidays run from Monday 28 September to Friday 9 October 2026 in both the Eastern and Western divisions.
When does Term 4 start in NSW in 2026?
Students return on Tuesday 13 October 2026. Monday 12 October is a school development day, so students do not attend.
Do HSC exams start during the school holidays?
No. The 2026 HSC written examinations begin on Tuesday 13 October, the first day of Term 4, and finish on Thursday 5 November 2026.
How many hours a day should a Year 12 student study in the September break?
Three to five hours on most days, with at least three full days off across the fortnight. Past papers under timed conditions are worth more at this point than rewriting notes.
Are the September holiday dates the same for private schools?
Usually but not always. The dates above are the NSW Department of Education dates for public schools. Independent and Catholic schools set their own calendars and often finish Term 3 slightly earlier, so check your school.