South African School Terms and Public Holidays 2024

Date: December 29, 2023 | Posted in News | Public Holidays & School Terms | Tourism

South Africa has two different school calendars – for the government schools which breaks the year into four terms, and for the private schools which breaks the year into three or four terms. The vast majority attend government schools, so traffic at holiday destinations is busiest when they are on holiday. All schools are on holiday during Christmas and New Year which is the longest holiday break, being summer. For visitors wishing to visit South Africa in summer, and who want to miss the holiday rush, November or January, from the school opening date onwards is perfect.

Government Schools 2024 School Terms:

All nine provinces have the same school calendar for 2024.

A breakdown of School Calendar Days for Public Schools

Dates and days in brackets ( ) are applicable to educators.

The school terms for all schools in South Africa will now be standardized, with the same start and end dates. Here are the term dates for all schools in 2024:

Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West Provinces
Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, Northern Cape, and Western Cape Provinces

Duration	Number of Weeks	Number of Days	Number Of Public Holidays	The Actual number of School Days
(15) 17 January – 20 March	10	46 (48)	0	46 (48)
03 April – 14 June	11	53	1+0	52
09 July – 20 September	11	54	1+0	53
01 October – 11 (13) December	11	52 (54)	0	52 (54)
Total	43	205 (209)	2+0	203 (207)

Public and School Holidays 2024

01 January	New Year’s Day	17 June	Public Holiday
21 March	Human Rights Day	09 August	National Women’s Day
29 March	Good Friday	24 September	Heritage Day
1 April	Family Day	16 December	Day of Reconciliation
27 April	Freedom Day	25 December	Christmas Day
01 May	Workers’ Day	26 December	Day of Goodwill
16 June	Youth Day

School Terms for Independent Schools in South Africa 2024

Please note: Only Public Holidays falling during term time are shown on this calendar.

Also, note that this calendar is only a guideline. Central Region member schools are not required to follow these dates and individual schools may vary their calendars to cater for specific requirements.

There are no universal term dates or calendars that apply to all independent schools in South Africa.

Many independent schools follow the public school calendar, while others follow the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (ISASA) calendar.

Some independent schools follow their own specific calendars.

The calendar committee of the ISASA Central Region (Gauteng, Free State, North West, and Northern Cape) publishes a Central Region Calendar as a guideline for member schools in the region. ISASA member schools in Central Region are not required to follow this calendar, although many do.

Dates may vary slightly in different provinces and for different schools. Check with your school.

4 TERM CALENDAR

Term 1 (46 days)
Start	Wednesday 17 January	Close	Wednesday 20 March

Term 2 (46 days)
Start	Tuesday 9 April
Close	Friday 14 June
Public Holidays	Wednesday 1 May (Workers’ Day)
	Thursday 2 May (School Holiday)
	Friday 3 May (School Holiday)