Schools close 23 September as matrics get 13 days before finals run

Public schools close on Wednesday 23 September for the September-October break, and reopen on Tuesday 6 October. For the country’s matrics the fortnight in between is the last clear block of revision before the National Senior Certificate written exams begin on 13 October.

The Department of Basic Education’s published calendar puts the close of the third term on 23 September. Heritage Day falls on Thursday 24 September, a public holiday, and Friday 25 September is a working day for adults but not a school day, so learners leave the term on a long weekend. The fourth term runs from 6 October to 9 December, a stretch of ten weeks and 47 school days with no public holidays in it.

As The South African reported on 19 September, the break runs for just under two weeks and the fourth term opens on 6 October.

The fortnight that matters most

For Grade 12 the calendar is tighter than it looks. The National Senior Certificate written exams start on 13 October, one week after the fourth term begins. Matrics therefore return to class for a single week of school before the first paper.

That makes the September break the final stretch in which a candidate can work through past papers, finish a subject they have fallen behind in, or sit with a teacher who is willing to give up part of a holiday. The practical assessments in subjects such as Visual Arts, Design and the Performing Arts are already being wrapped up around this time, ahead of the written papers.

A fortnight is not a long time. It is roughly the length of a school reporting cycle, and it arrives after a third term that carries the bulk of the year’s assessment. For a candidate who is on track, it is enough. For a candidate who is behind in two subjects, it is the last chance the timetable offers.

What the break does not fix

A holiday is not a study plan. The difference between a matriculant who returns on 6 October ready and one who does not is usually not talent. It is whether there is a quiet room to work in, a table, electricity that stays on, and an adult who can hold the household to a routine for two weeks.

That is where the country’s tutoring and support programmes do their work. The Department of Basic Education runs its matric support programme through provincial education departments, and community and faith organisations across the country run holiday study camps at this time of year. Many of them take learners from the same streets they are held in. The schools that use the break for extra classes are usually the ones whose results were already improving, which is the quiet inequality of every school holiday.

Parents should also know that the calendar is not uniform across the system. Independent and private schools affiliated to ISASA and others do not always follow the department’s dates, and families at those schools must confirm closing and reopening dates with the school directly. A parent who assumes the public calendar applies will be caught out.

The fourth term

The fourth term is ten weeks and 47 school days, with no public holiday to break it. It runs to 9 December, when the academic year ends. The National Senior Certificate results are released the following January, and the matric pass rate is one of the few education numbers the whole country reads.

Last year’s cohort wrote under the same broad timetable. The written exams are administered by the department and marked by provincial marking centres, with Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in general and further education and training, moderating the papers and the results.

For the rest of the school, the fourth term is a short run to the end of the year, with exams, reports and the December break in sight. For matrics, it is a single week of school and then the papers.

What parents can do with the fortnight

A few things are worth doing before 6 October. Confirm the school’s reopening date and the exam timetable in writing, because the two are not the same document. Check which practical assessments have been completed and which have not. Ask the school whether holiday classes or a study programme are running, and whether transport is provided, because a study camp a learner cannot reach is not a study camp. And keep the last week before the exams light on anything that cannot be moved.

The Department of Basic Education publishes the National Senior Certificate timetable on its website, and schools are required to make it available to candidates. The department’s 2026 examination guidelines for each subject set out what the papers will cover.

Schools reopen on 6 October. The first National Senior Certificate paper is written on 13 October. Between the two there are five school days, and the country’s matrics will spend them doing the last revision the timetable allows.

Source: The South African, Countdown to the holidays: SA schools close next week