We were walking back from drop-off on a Wednesday when one of the school mums mentioned her daughter had already finished for the year. Done. Gone. See you in February. My son still had another week and a bit left at his Catholic primary and I did that thing where you nod along and go “oh nice” while secretly doing maths in your head, because we live on the same three streets, how is this even possible.
I got the calendar out that night instead of just stewing on it on the walk home. Between my own two and half their mates I’ve had a kid or a kid’s best friend in public, Catholic and independent schools over the years, so figured I’d stop guessing and actually go look it up for once.
The Actual Dates
She wasn’t exaggerating. NSW public schools finish Term 4 on 17 December this year, that’s straight off the Department of Education calendar, not me making it up. MLC in Burwood finishes on 7 December for years 3 to 12, and Pre-K to Year 2 are done even earlier, the 4th. Their term dates are here if you want to check. Ten days. Sometimes closer to two weeks depending which school. I looked at a couple of other Sydney independents too while I had the tabs open and it’s the same every year, everyone’s out by the first week of December once the year 12s have had speech night, the rest trickle out a day or two after.
Ten days. And I’m still doing the 8:40am run in my pyjamas with a coat thrown over the top.
What It’s Actually Costing You
You know the joke, the one that gets said every single December, someone works out private school fees per school day and says it’s basically $200 to walk your kid through the gate. I thought it was just one of those things people say for effect, like when someone says petrol’s “a kidney a tank.” Had a look anyway. Senior fees at a few of the pricier Sydney schools are $25,000 to $50,000 a year for year 11 and 12, spread that over 40 weeks and you’re at $150 to $250 a day.
Not really exaggerating then is it.
Not having a go, plenty of families have thought hard about this and know exactly what they’re signing up for. Just saying next time someone jokes their kid’s scholarship is “earning them $200 a day” that’s not really a joke either, that’s just what it costs.
The School Day Isn’t Actually Shorter
This bit properly surprised me, I was expecting the opposite. My son’s day at the Catholic school starts at 8:40. His old public school did the standard 9 to 3, same as basically every public school in NSW. His mate at an independent school starts around 8:30, earlier again on the mornings he’s got training before school.
Half an hour doesn’t sound like much on its own. I did the maths on my phone standing in the kitchen one night, over 40 weeks that half hour adds up to about 100 hours. Call it two extra weeks worth. It’s not missing, it’s just spread across every day of the year instead of sitting at the end of it in one block.
Then There’s The Weekend
None of that even counts what happens outside actual bell times. Couple of mums I know with kids at private schools do compulsory Saturday sport most weekends, one’s got training before school twice a week, a few of the others have music or drama on top. Nobody puts that on the open day tour when they’re showing you around the new science block, they show you the science block.
What My Daughter Noticed
The bit that actually got me sitting down to work all this out wasn’t the money at all if I’m honest, it was my daughter watching a bus go past half empty in that first week when everyone else had already broken up, asking me why some kids got to leave and we didn’t. She’s nine, she doesn’t know what a pupil free day is, she just knows it wasn’t fair.
Didn’t have a great answer for her standing at that bus stop. Best I’ve got is everyone does roughly the same amount of school across the year, it just gets cut up differently depending which school you’re at. Not a very satisfying answer for a nine year old but it’s the true one, so that’s what she got.
Check Your Own School Before You Book Anything
Every school shuffles these exact dates a bit year to year depending on pupil free days and when speech night falls, so don’t take any of this as gospel for your specific school, check their newsletter closer to the time. For the actual public school dates across NSW we’ve got the full 2026 term calendar here, plus NSW public holidays for 2026 if you’re trying to squeeze a long weekend out of the gap. Once they’re actually home, our things to do directory has bailed us out more than once in that first boring week before anyone’s holiday plans have started.