For years, booking a family holiday in the UAE meant waiting for your school to publish its dates, then hoping the other one your children attend published something similar. In February 2026 the Ministry of Education removed most of that guesswork by fixing term dates for three academic years at once: 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29.
This guide covers the dates and nothing else. Every figure below comes from the Ministry's published calendar, and every day of the week and break length has been checked against the actual calendar rather than copied from a press release.
All three years at a glance
Four fixed points per year: the first day, the first-term mid-term break, the winter break, the spring break, and the last day.
| Academic year | First day | Mid-term break | Winter break | Spring break | Last day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | Mon 31 Aug 2026 | 12 to 18 Oct 2026 | 14 Dec 2026 to 3 Jan 2027 | 5 to 11 Apr 2027 | Fri 2 Jul 2027 |
| 2027-28 | Mon 30 Aug 2027 | 11 to 17 Oct 2027 | 13 Dec 2027 to 2 Jan 2028 | 27 Mar to 2 Apr 2028 | Fri 30 Jun 2028 |
| 2028-29 | Mon 28 Aug 2028 | 16 to 22 Oct 2028 | 11 Dec 2028 to 1 Jan 2029 | 29 Mar to 1 Apr 2029 | Fri 29 Jun 2029 |
Two patterns hold across all three years, and both are useful if you book flights early. Every academic year starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday. And every break begins on a Monday, with one exception we come to below.
The exact return dates
The break end dates above are the last day off, not the day back. Here is when children are actually in a classroom again.
| Academic year | Back after mid-term | Back after winter | Back after spring |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | Mon 19 Oct 2026 | Mon 4 Jan 2027 | Mon 12 Apr 2027 |
| 2027-28 | Mon 18 Oct 2027 | Mon 3 Jan 2028 | Mon 3 Apr 2028 |
| 2028-29 | Mon 23 Oct 2028 | Tue 2 Jan 2029 | Mon 2 Apr 2029 |
How long each break actually is
Break length is where the three years stop looking alike. The mid-term break is a steady seven calendar days throughout. Winter and spring are not steady at all.
| Academic year | Mid-term | Winter | Spring | Total inside the year | Summer that follows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | 7 days | 21 days | 7 days | 35 days | 58 days |
| 2027-28 | 7 days | 21 days | 7 days | 35 days | 58 days |
| 2028-29 | 7 days | 22 days | 4 days | 33 days | not yet published |
The summer figure is the gap between the last day of one year and the first day of the next. It lands on exactly 58 days both times it can be measured, in 2027 and in 2028. The 2029 summer cannot be calculated yet because the 2029-30 calendar has not been published.
The spring 2029 outlier
Spring break in 2028-29 runs Thursday 29 March to Sunday 1 April 2029. That is four calendar days, and because the UAE school week runs Monday to Friday, only two of them are school days. It is the one break in the three-year set that does not start on a Monday, and it is a little over half the length of the spring breaks in the two years before it.
Winter moves in the opposite direction, though only slightly: 21 days in the first two years and 22 in 2028-29. The bigger winter story is the comparison with the year before this calendar started. Winter break used to run four weeks. From 2026-27 it runs three.
The stretches that matter: school with no break in it
Break dates tell you when you can travel. The gaps between them tell you something more useful, which is how long your child goes without a rest. Here is 2026-27 broken into its four unbroken runs.
The January to April run is the hard one. In 2026-27 it is thirteen straight weeks from Monday 4 January to Sunday 4 April with no scheduled break in it, which is more than twice the length of the opening run in September. It stays long in the other two years without being quite the worst stretch on the calendar.
In 2026-27 that January stretch is the longest run of the year. In 2027-28 and 2028-29 the longest run moves to the final term instead, at 12.7 weeks from the spring return to the last day in both years. Either way, the back half of the UAE school year carries the long unbroken runs and the front half carries the breaks.
One structural change is worth flagging for 2028-29. In the first two years the autumn term is split six weeks, then a break, then eight weeks. In 2028-29 it becomes an even seven and seven, because the mid-term break moves later into October.
The shape of the 2026-27 year
Alongside the dates, the Ministry published the operational detail for the year starting this month. This part applies to government schools and to private schools teaching the national curriculum.
| Item | 2026-27 |
|---|---|
| Teaching days | 185 |
| Length of year | 37 weeks |
| Term 1 | 13 weeks |
| Term 2 | 12 weeks |
| Term 3 | 12 weeks |
| Teachers return | 24 Aug 2026, one week before students |
| Staff winter break starts | 21 Dec 2026, one week after students |
| Staff on duty until | 16 Jul 2027, two weeks after students finish |
The arithmetic is clean: 37 teaching weeks at five days each is 185 days. Note the asymmetry at both ends of the staff year. Teachers start a week early and finish two weeks late, so the adult calendar is roughly a month longer than the child one.
Which schools this actually binds
This is the part most summaries skip, and it is the part that decides whether the table above applies to your family.
| School type | Position |
|---|---|
| Government schools | Follows the calendar |
| Private schools, most curricula | Follows the calendar |
| Private schools outside Sharjah | Limited flexibility on the October break |
| Private schools in Sharjah | No mid-term flexibility, emirate framework applies |
| Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi curricula | Not covered |
Three points worth reading closely.
- British, IB and American schools are covered. The calendar is not limited to the national curriculum. The only curriculum-based carve-out named by the Ministry is for schools following the Indian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani systems, which run their own academic year.
- The October break can move, a little. Private schools outside Sharjah may split that break between October and February, provided the total does not exceed five school days. So a school may give you three days in October and two in February instead of a single week. Check with your school before booking anything around that week.
- Sharjah is stricter. Private schools in Sharjah do not get the splitting option and continue under the emirate's own regulatory framework.
What the calendar does not tell you
Three things are still missing after you have the dates, and all three catch families out.
- Public holidays are not in it. Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha and Islamic New Year move with the lunar calendar and are confirmed closer to the time, so they sit on top of the dates above rather than inside them. This is most of the difference between the 195 weekdays that fall inside the 2026-27 teaching window and the 185 teaching days the Ministry has set.
- Assessment weeks are not in it. Curriculum completion and final assessments are expected in the last week of each term, so the week before a break is rarely a soft landing.
- Individual school calendars still vary. Staff training days, sports days and, for schools using the October splitting option, the break itself. The Ministry sets the frame. Your school fills it in.
Planning notes
- Book the summer early and be precise. Fifty-eight days is a long window, but it is bounded by a Friday finish and a Monday start, and flights either side of both are contested.
- Treat February as a pressure point. With thirteen weeks between the January return and spring break in 2026-27, a long weekend in February does more good than one in October.
- If you have children at two schools, check the October week first. It is the only break where two schools in the same emirate can legitimately differ.
- Do not assume spring 2029 is a holiday week. Four calendar days, two of them school days, is not a travel window.
If you are also working through applications rather than just holidays, our UAE school admissions timeline covers the registration and assessment cycle that sits alongside these dates.
Frequently asked questions
When does the 2026-27 school year start in the UAE?
Monday 31 August 2026 for students. Teachers at government schools and private schools on the national curriculum return a week earlier, on 24 August 2026.
When is the winter break in 2026?
14 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, with students back in class on Monday 4 January 2027. That is 21 calendar days, down from the four-week winter break of the previous year.
When does the 2026-27 school year end?
Friday 2 July 2027. The next year starts on Monday 30 August 2027, giving a summer break of 58 days.
Do private schools in Dubai have to follow these dates?
Yes, with one narrow exception. Private schools outside Sharjah may split the October mid-term break between October and February as long as the total does not exceed five school days. Schools following the Indian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani curricula are not covered by this calendar at all.
How many teaching days are there in 2026-27?
185, across 37 weeks, split 13 weeks in term one and 12 weeks in each of terms two and three. This figure applies to government schools and private schools teaching the national curriculum.
Why is the 2029 spring break so short?
The published dates run 29 March to 1 April 2029, which is four calendar days covering a Thursday, Friday and the weekend. It is the shortest break in the three-year calendar and the only one that does not begin on a Monday.
Sources
- Academic Calendar for the Academic Years 2026 to 2028, Ministry of Education.
- Ministry of Education announces the academic calendar for the next three years, MOE Media Centre, February 2026.
- UAE schools to have 185 teaching days in 2026-2027 academic year, Gulf News.
- UAE announces public and private school academic calendar for next three years, Khaleej Times.
- UAE cuts length of winter school holiday under new academic calendar, The National.
Day-of-week labels, break lengths and the intervals between breaks in this guide were calculated from the Ministry's published dates. Confirm the October break and any school-specific closures with your own school before booking travel.
Written by
Talem Team
The Talem editorial team writes practical, independent guides to choosing schools, universities and nurseries across the UAE. We draw on KHDA and ADEK inspection data, published fees and hands-on research so families can compare with confidence.
