Victorian School Term Dates 2027: The Holidays, NAPLAN, the Phonics Check and the Dates Parents Need

Victorian government school term dates for 2027 are: Term 1, Thursday 28 January (students start) to Thursday 25 March; Term 2, Monday 12 April to Friday 25 June; Term 3, Monday 12 July to Friday 17 September; Term 4, Monday 4 October to Friday 17 December. The holidays in between are two weeks each, plus Good Friday at the start of the autumn break. Term 1 is short: 40 school days, six fewer than in 2026, and NAPLAN opens on 10 March, in week 7 of those nine weeks.

Those four lines are the bit most families need, and you can screenshot them and stop here. The rest of this page is the calendar behind them: which week NAPLAN, the Year 1 Phonics Check and the reports fall in, which public holidays land inside a term, when the 2028 Prep and Year 7 applications are likely to open, and what a short first term means for a child who is sitting NAPLAN this year.

The 2027 term dates and holidays

These are the dates the Minister set for Victorian government schools and kindergartens, as published on the Victorian Government’s school term dates page. Term dates are approved in five-year blocks, and the 2026 to 2030 block was approved in June 2021, so these will not move.

• Term 1: Wednesday 27 January to Thursday 25 March 2027. Students in government schools start on Thursday 28 January; the Wednesday is for staff.
• Autumn holidays: Friday 26 March (Good Friday) to Sunday 11 April. Easter falls entirely inside the break this year, so there is no Easter long weekend to plan around during term.
• Term 2: Monday 12 April to Friday 25 June.
• Winter holidays: Saturday 26 June to Sunday 11 July.
• Term 3: Monday 12 July to Friday 17 September.
• Spring holidays: Saturday 18 September to Sunday 3 October.
• Term 4: Monday 4 October to Friday 17 December.
• Summer holidays: from Saturday 18 December. Term 1 2028 starts on Thursday 27 January 2028, with students starting on Friday 28 January 2028.

Catholic and independent schools set their own dates. Most land within a few days of these, but start and finish days, and especially the first day for Prep, differ from school to school. Check the school’s own calendar before booking anything.

Prep often starts gently. Many Victorian primary schools run a shorter week or staggered days for Foundation students in the first weeks of Term 1. That is a school decision, not part of the state dates, so the transition letter from your school is the place to look.

Why the first term is short this year

Term 1 2027 ends on Thursday 25 March, a week earlier than 2026’s Thursday 2 April. Counting weekdays and taking out Labour Day, that is 40 school days, against 46 in Term 1 2026. Term 2 makes it back: 54 school days against 49 in 2026, because it runs a full eleven weeks.

The part that matters for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 is where NAPLAN sits. The national window is 10 to 22 March 2027. Labour Day takes Monday 8 March, so the window opens on the Wednesday of week 7, which is school day 29 of the year, and closes on the Monday of week 9. The term then ends three days later.

So a Year 3 child sits their first NAPLAN about six weeks into the year, and a Year 7 child about six weeks into a new school. That is not a reason to drill over summer. NAPLAN reports against the curriculum of the years before the test, so it mostly shows what was learnt in 2026, and the honest preparation is a child who is rested, has seen the online test format once, and is not anxious about it. Our pages on what Year 3 NAPLAN actually tests and NAPLAN preparation without the stress go through that in detail.

If your child is starting Year 7, the shared Year 7 Orientation Day is Tuesday 8 December 2026, and starting Year 7 in Victoria has the rest of the transition timeline.

What lands in each term

Term 1 (28 January to 25 March)

• Labour Day, Monday 8 March. A public holiday, so a four-day week 7.
• NAPLAN, 10 to 22 March, for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Your school sets which days inside the window each test runs.
• The new Reading Assessment F–8. From Term 1 2027 the Department’s optional Foundation literacy assessment expands into a reading assessment for Foundation to Level 8, according to its assessment policy. It is optional for schools, so your child may or may not sit it.

Term 2 (12 April to 25 June)

• King’s Birthday, Monday 14 June (the second Monday in June, as set in Victoria’s public holiday law).
• Prep applications for 2028. The 2028 timeline has not been published yet. For 2027 entry, the Prep enrolment window opened at the start of Term 2 (20 April 2026), applications closed on Friday 31 July and families heard between 3 and 14 August. If 2028 follows the same pattern, applications would open on Monday 12 April 2027. A child starting Prep in 2028 needs to turn 5 by 30 April 2028.
• Year 7 applications for 2028. Also not published yet. In 2026 primary schools handed out the placement pack by 22 April, forms were due 8 May and offers came on 24 June, all inside Term 2. Expect the same shape, and watch your primary school’s newsletter in the first week back.
• The mid-year report. Victorian government schools must report at least twice a year and upload their judgements by 30 June, so the semester 1 report usually arrives in the last weeks of Term 2. Reading a Victorian school report explains what the levels and letters mean.

Term 3 (12 July to 17 September)

• The Year 1 Phonics Check, weeks 4 to 6: Monday 2 August to Friday 20 August 2027. Every Year 1 child in a government school sits it; the benchmark is 28 out of 40, and schools can reassess Year 2 children who did not meet it. Our page on Phonics Check results covers what a score means.
• The Year 1 Numeracy Check. It becomes mandatory in government primary schools from 2027, but the Department had not said which term it runs in when we checked. See the Year 1 Numeracy Check for what is known.
• AFL Grand Final Friday is the Friday before the Grand Final, and the date is only set once the AFL fixture is confirmed. If the Grand Final is on its usual last Saturday of September, the Friday falls in the spring holidays and costs no school day.

Term 4 (4 October to 17 December)

• Melbourne Cup Day, Tuesday 2 November 2027, in week 5, unless your non-metropolitan council swaps it for a local holiday. Some schools make the Monday a curriculum day.
• The end-of-year report, due to the Department by 31 December, so usually in the last fortnight of term.
• Year 7 Orientation Day for 2028 starters. In 2026 every government secondary school held it on the same Tuesday in December. The 2027 date has not been announced.

Curriculum days (pupil-free days) are not in the state calendar. Each school chooses its own and publishes them in its newsletter or app, often attached to a long weekend.

Using the dates: a light plan for the year

The calendar is more useful as a plan than as a list. Four habits cover most of it.

1. Put the fixed weeks in the diary now. NAPLAN (10 to 22 March), the Phonics Check (2 to 20 August) if you have a Year 1 child, and the last two weeks of Terms 2 and 4 for reports. Those are the weeks to keep calm and keep routines normal.
2. Use week 2 or 3 of each term as a check-in. Ten minutes on what last term covered, done from memory, shows what stuck over the holiday. Anything shaky is easier to fix in week 3 than in week 9.
3. Keep holiday practice small. Two-week breaks do not need a program. Ten minutes, three times a week, keeps facts warm; our summer holidays page has the longer version for the six-week break.
4. Read the report against the next term, not the last one. A mid-year report that says “working towards” in one area is a Term 3 plan, not a verdict.

Want those check-ins without making a worksheet? Sprout Tutor gives your child short practice on the Victorian Curriculum code they are working on, set around what they love, and it is free on every plan while it is in beta. Try it free.

If you home educate

Registered home-schooling families in Victoria are not bound by term dates; the requirement is to provide regular and efficient instruction across the learning areas, on your own calendar. Plenty of families still follow the school terms because friends, sport and classes do. If that is you, the dates above are the ones the clubs and libraries will plan around. Our guide to home school registration in Victoria covers the rules.

The short version

• Term 1: Thursday 28 January (students) to Thursday 25 March 2027.
• Term 2: Monday 12 April to Friday 25 June. Term 3: Monday 12 July to Friday 17 September.
• Term 4: Monday 4 October to Friday 17 December. Term 1 2028 starts Friday 28 January for students.
• Term 1 is 40 school days. NAPLAN runs 10 to 22 March, weeks 7 to 9.
• The Year 1 Phonics Check is 2 to 20 August. Reports come by 30 June and 31 December.

Sprout makes a lesson on the exact Victorian Curriculum code your child is working on, set around what they love. Start free.

How this page was checked

Checked against the current rules as at 1 November 2026. The term dates and the 2026 to 2030 approval are from the Victorian Government’s school term dates and holidays page. The NAPLAN 2027 window is from the NAP key dates page. The Phonics Check weeks, its benchmark, the Reading Assessment F–8 and the Numeracy Check status are from the Department’s assessment of student achievement policy; the reporting deadlines from its reporting policy. The 2027 Prep and Year 7 timelines are from vic.gov.au’s Enrolling in Foundation (Prep) and Moving from primary to secondary school pages; the 2028 versions were not published. Public holidays are from Business Victoria’s 2027 list and the dates the public holiday law fixes; the Grand Final Friday date depends on the AFL fixture. School days are counted as weekdays in term minus public holidays, before any curriculum days your school sets. These dates apply to government schools.

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