The 2027 school year runs from 4 January to 19 November. Every term, break and day off in one page, so the family calendar gets set before the tuition calendar does.
By Marcus Toh · 2026-07-30
MOE released the 2027 school calendar on 14 July 2026, which gives families a good half year of runway to plan leave, trips and, yes, revision blocks around the actual dates rather than guesses. The year is the usual four terms in two semesters.
| Term | Starts | Ends |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | Monday 4 January | Friday 12 March |
| Term 2 | Monday 22 March | Friday 28 May |
| Term 3 | Monday 28 June | Friday 3 September |
| Term 4 | Monday 13 September | Friday 19 November |
One detail for families with a child entering the system: Primary 1 and Kindergarten 1 start school on Monday 4 January 2027, one day ahead of everyone else, and Primary 2 to 6 and Kindergarten 2 start on Tuesday 5 January 2027. That first quiet morning belongs to the newest kids, so plan your leave for it. If your child is going into Primary 1 through the current registration exercise, our P1 registration guide covers how the balloting side works.
| Break | Dates |
|---|---|
| March holidays | Saturday 13 March to Sunday 21 March |
| June holidays | Saturday 29 May to Sunday 27 June |
| September holidays | Saturday 4 September to Sunday 12 September |
| Year end holidays | Saturday 20 November to Friday 31 December |
On top of the four vacations, schools observe four scheduled school holidays: the Youth Day school holiday on Monday 5 July (Youth Day itself falls on Sunday 4 July), the day after National Day on Tuesday 10 August, Teachers' Day on Friday 3 September, and Children's Day on Friday 8 October, which applies to primary schools and MOE Kindergartens only. Secondary students still have school that Friday, a detail that catches families with kids on both sides of the divide.
The junior college year does not start with everyone else. JC Year 1 and Millennia Institute Year 1 begin on Wednesday 3 February 2027, after the O-Level results and posting cycle plays out, while MI Year 2 starts earlier on Monday 11 January 2027. So a Secondary 4 student sitting O-Levels in late 2026 has a genuine stretch of open runway from November to February, and how that stretch gets used is worth a deliberate conversation rather than a default. Millennia Institute's three year rhythm, and who it suits, is explained here.
Book the family holiday first. I know that sounds like strange advice from a tutor, but I have seen enough exam years to know the calendar gets eaten from both ends, school fills one side and tuition quietly fills the other, and the family ends up planning rest around work instead of the other way round.
So now that the 2027 dates are out a full half year early, use that head start the way it is meant to be used. Put the non negotiables in first, the trip, the grandparents, the one week where nobody touches an assessment book, then build the study plan around what is left. A child who gets real rest in June comes back sharper in Term 3 than one who did a fourth revision programme, and that is true even in a PSLE or O-Level year.
And if 2027 is an exam year for your child, the calendar above is exactly why you can afford to be calm about it. The dates are known, the breaks are known, so the pacing can be decided by you in advance, not improvised in panic when the year is already moving.
Because two public holidays land on Saturdays. Labour Day falls on Saturday 1 May 2027, so Monday 3 May is a designated day off for schools, and Christmas Day falls on Saturday 25 December, so Monday 27 December is a designated day off, though that one sits inside the year end break anyway.
The ones that actually interrupt school weeks are Chinese New Year on 6 and 7 February with Monday 8 February as the public holiday and Tuesday 9 February a designated day off for schools, Hari Raya Puasa on Wednesday 10 March, Good Friday on 26 March, Hari Raya Haji on Monday 17 May, Vesak Day on Thursday 20 May, National Day on Monday 9 August, and Deepavali on Thursday 28 October.
The 19 November 2027 end date applies to primary and secondary schools. Graduating cohorts sitting national exams run on the national exam timetable instead, which SEAB publishes separately closer to the year, so a PSLE, O-Level or A-Level candidate's real finish line is their last paper, not the official last day of school.