From the various holidays to exam periods and when to register children for primary and secondary schools, keeping up with the various happenings in Belgian education can be chaotic both for pupils and parents. Find the key dates for the 2024-2025 academic year below.
Understanding Belgium's French- and Dutch-speaking education systems became particularly confusing after the Francophone school calendar was reformed in 2022, resulting in different school holiday periods. To give a clearer overview, The Brussels Times has listed the most important periods to be aware of during the upcoming school year.
Individual days off
This school year, pupils in the French-speaking education system will have five days off for recognised bank holidays, while in Dutch-speaking schools, there will be six. Pupils in both systems have a day off on:
- Monday 11 November 2024 (Jour de l'Armistice/Wapenstilstandsdag)
- Monday 21 April 2025 (Lundi de Pâques/Paasmaandag)
- Thursday 29 May 2025 (Jeudi de l'Ascension/Hemelvaart)
- Monday 9 June 2025 (Lundi de Pentecôte/Pinkstermaandag)
Children in Francophone schools will also enjoy a holiday on Friday 27 September for the Fête de la Communauté française (French Community Day). Meanwhile, in Dutch-speaking schools, pupils will have an extra day off on Thursday 1 May (Dag van de Arbeid), when pupils in French-speaking schools are on Easter holidays. They also have a day off after Ascension Day (Friday 30 May).
In both school systems, other additional days off can be scheduled both in primary and secondary school, and these usually vary per school. A maximum of two 'optional' holidays may be taken in full or in half days. For 'pedagogical study days', during which teachers receive further training, classes may be cancelled for 1.5 days per school year, which can be split into three half days. These dates must be communicated to parents and pupils by 30 June at the latest.
Schools can also stop lessons for half a day on the last school day before the summer holiday. If the last day of school falls on a Wednesday (which is a half day in Belgium), there will be no afternoon lessons.
Key dates for French-speaking schools
The following dates apply to pupils from nursery school to the end of secondary school.
- Week before school starts: Parents and children are expected to collect new school books when not bought second-hand (differs per school)
- Monday 26 August 2024: First day of school after the summer holidays (Rentrée scolaire)
- Monday 21 October to Sunday 3 November 2024: Two weeks of autumn holidays (Congé d'automne/Toussaint)
- Monday 23 December 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025: Two weeks of Christmas holidays (Vacances d'hiver/Noël)
- Between the end of January and mid-February, the registration phase to enrol pupils in the first year of secondary school begins. Parents must submit a single enrolment form (FUI) to their child's preferred school. Chronological registration will start in April and run until the end of August
- Monday 24 February to Sunday 9 March 2025: Two weeks of Carnival holidays (Congé de détente/Carnaval)
- Monday 28 April to Sunday 11 May 2025: Two weeks of Easter holidays (Vacances de printemps/Pâques)
- On Monday 23, Tuesday 24, Thursday 26 and Friday 27 June, pupils in the final year of primary school will take external exams to obtain the Certificat d'Études de Base (CEB), granting access to the first year of secondary education. Pupils in the second year of secondary education will sit the compulsory external tests for the CE1D, taken simultaneously in all schools. These cover mathematics, French, modern languages and science. Around the same time, pupils in the final year of secondary school will sit tests for the CESS, which is awarded to students who pass all subjects in the year of study
- Monday 7 July to Sunday 24 August 2025: Summer holidays (Vacances d'Été)
Apart from the compulsory external exams, many secondary schools (including the official schools of Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement (WBE) and athénées) no longer oblige students to sit exams in June or December, unlike in Dutch-speaking schools. Many French-speaking schools have different assessment systems throughout the year.
Dutch-speaking schools
The following dates apply to pupils from nursery school to the end of secondary school. (The holidays also apply to German-speaking schools.)
- Week before school starts: Parents and children are expected to collect new school books when not bought second-hand (differs per school)
- Monday 2 September 2024: First day of school after the summer holidays
- Monday 28 October to Sunday 3 November 2024: One week of autumn holidays (Herfstvakantie)
- In the first week of December, exams start for pupils in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth years of secondary school
- On the Friday before Christmas holidays, pupils in the final two years of primary school and the final four years of secondary school receive a school report
- Monday 23 December 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025: Two weeks of Christmas holidays (Kerstvakantie)
- Between 25 February and 18 March 2025, parents should start making applications for primary school. "Favourably-ranked pupils" can apply from 28 April 2025 to 19 May 2025, while free enrolments will start from 27 May 2025 for pupils who were not favourably ranked or without siblings in the same school
- Monday 3 to Sunday 9 March 2025: One week of Carnival holidays (Krokusvakantie)
- Between 31 March and 25 April 2025, parents should start making applications for their children going into the first year of secondary school in September 2025. Registration starts on 20 May for all schools, including those without an application phase
- Before the Easter holidays, some classes of Catholic secondary schools will have exams
- Monday 7 to Monday 21 April 2025: Two weeks of Easter holidays, including Easter Monday (Paasvakantie)
- From 22 April 2025, enrolment will start for all other secondary school years
- At the start of June, most pupils in secondary schools will have exams. On the final Friday before the summer holidays, pupils will receive their final school report
- Tuesday 1 July until Sunday 31 August 2025: Summer holiday (Zomervakantie)
